TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 2, Episode 21: The Runaway Dinosaur [The CW]

The CW’s The Flash The Runaway Dinosaur TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 2, Episode 21: The Runaway Dinosaur was a very pivotal episode for Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) as he was forced to confront his true emotional fears after getting trapped in another realm with the Speed Force. This is also the debut of Kevin Smith as a TV director on The Flash, and it truly paid off in the end, as his episode has become the most exciting episode of the season so far.

With Barry trapped in this alternate dimension, he learned of the consequences for rejecting the powers that were given to him. Barry got to interact with the Speed Force as it manifested into the people who were close to him, including Joe West (Jesse L. Martin), Iris (Candice Patton), Henry (John Wesley Shipp), and his mother Nora (Michelle Harrison). Entering this season brought in some very powerful performances and this week’s episode has proven to be one of Grant’s best ones to date. Barry had to deal with a wide range of emotions as the Speed Force continued to taunt him and was forced to confront the death of Nora.

The episode took some risky moves by taking us back to that big moment where Nora met her fate. Barry was running with high emotions when he got a chance to speak with her on Earth-2, and the same thing is happening again when the Speed Force took on the form of her dead mother. Whether it was the Speed Force talking or if it was Nora’s spirit, it truly helped Barry in a big way as he finally accepted her death. More than just gaining his powers back, ‘The Runaway Dinosaur’ was an important episode for Barry as he finally learned that his speed may never always be reliable to save the ones he loves and that’s okay. After emerging from that realm and back to his world, Barry came out a changed man with more confidence in himself than when we last saw him.

Emotions were also high with Barry’s return as well for him and Iris. Even though Nora was there to push Barry back home, it was Iris who was there to pull him back into reality. It was still too soon for both Barry and Iris to get back together as a couple, but the two of them shared a powerful moment when Barry told her that he will always come back whenever she calls to him. It was really sweet of him to say that to him, showing how truly strong their relationship has been since this past season.

Bringing Girder (Greg Finley) back from the dead was one of the weak points in the episode, but it was also necessary for the narrative. Girder was one of the least compelling villains that the show had to offer last season, but it was all done just to give the characters something to do while Barry was missing. It did bring in some hilarious scenes with Cisco (Carlos Valdes) as he brought in some of his humor to lighten up the situation. The show tends to make fun of itself sometimes, especially with the complex nature of what these guys have to deal with.

There were some developments between Jesse (Violett Beane) and Wally West (Keiynon Loinsdale), which may suggest their roles in the future. It may be too soon to bring on some more speedsters into the show, but it will be interesting to see where their arcs will take them as we reach the finale next week and beyond. The writers do tend to keep us guessing on what is going to happen next with these characters, so expect some theories to be defunct if some of them end up not being true. It will also be interesting to see what Zoom’s (Teddy Sears) plans are for Earth as he brings in his Earth-2 metahuman army to invade Central City. Things are about to go down in the next two weeks, so hopefully we get to learn more on Zoom’s plans for Barry’s world.

Having Kevin Smith direct the episode may have been the best thing to come out of this season. He apparently is a fan of The Flash, which truly shows in his first outing as a director on television. Smith has been usually a hit-and-miss kind of director when it comes to his movies, but his directing for this week’s installment has brought out some great performances from his actors and made the action very compelling. He did exactly what a director does and made this a great Flash episode visually and emotionally.

Overall, ‘The Runaway Dinosaur’ turned out to be one of the most strongest episodes that season two had to offer thanks to the brilliant direction of Kevin Smith. We got to see such a powerful performance from Grant Gustin this week as well as a balanced tone between drama and humor. Girder was the only unnecessary variable for this week’s installment, but it was all out of necessity for Barry to learn the most important lesson as a superhero.

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