TV Show Review

TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 3, Episode 13: Attack on Gorilla City [The CW]

Grant Gustin Attack on Gorilla City The Flash

The Flash: Attack on Gorilla City Review 

The CW’s The Flash: Season 3, Episode 13: ‘Attack on Gorilla City’ has proven that shows like this can pull off some amazing visuals with a TV budget to make it Hollywood quality. We would never imagine seeing Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and his team taking on Gorilla Grodd and Solovar in Gorilla City. We were teased about this famed city last season, giving hope that we would revisit this place one day. Well, the day has finally come thanks to some great CGI work by the visual effects team. The episode was a big feat for the show in regards to using technology to create a world from the comics to the small screen.

‘Attack on Gorilla City’ put in a lot of effort to create some impressive visuals for both Gorilla City and the display of thousands of apes in a packed arena. The show has gotten better with the effects by making Gorilla Grodd into this menacing creature. What was interesting is the amount of CGI work used on the show, which wasn’t much at all. The jungle where the team entered Earth-2 seemed like a normal setting scouted by the show’s staff. Even the interaction with Grodd and Solovar happened through human vessels most of the time.

The episode could’ve done a lot more with the effects, especially with Gorilla City and Solovar’s screen time. It felt like a waste of talent giving a few lines to the great Keith David in order to voice the king of Gorilla City. However, the team did what they can with the limited budget they were given. The episode still managed to be pretty amazing in the visual effects department. There is always some fun to be had when you pit the Scarlet Speedster against a big ape in a coliseum.

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There was a lot of entertainment to go around in Gorilla City besides the apes. While Barry and the team were stuck in the jungles of Earth-2, we had some great moments with Tom Cavanagh, who got to return as Earth-2 Harrison Wells. It is cool having H.R. around, but nothing beats seeing the mean and domineering Wells from Earth-2. Even seeing Harrison reuniting with his less intelligent doppelganger had some hilarious results. Just seeing Harrison shocked to see that his dimensional look-alike who isn’t as smart as him has ended up being part of Team Flash. Sometimes too many Harrison Wells can be a good thing.

We had some time to check in on Earth-1, but there wasn’t much to see that held any interest as the Gorilla City plot. It was nice seeing the growing relationship between Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) and Jesse (Violett Beane), but their reconnection felt too overdramatic. It kind of felt rushed by having Jesse moving in to a different Earth in order to be with a guy she’s only reunited with for a few days. The relationships are the foundation of this show, but just having too much of that can be heavy. Even Julian’s (Tom Felton) quick attraction for Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) is going too far.

The episode didn’t quite win us over as it did with the first time that Team Flash came to Earth-2 for the first time. With that in mind, there was an interesting connection between this field trip and the overall Savitar dilemma. Barry has this positive outlook on life as he continues to change the future in order to save Iris (Candice Patton). He saw this as an opportunity to check off the list of items that can change the headlines in the future. Barry also faced the difficult choice of riding by his ‘No Kill’ code for the better good. He wanted to keep his moral compass in check while also finishing his objectives, but there are consequences to that. Perhaps his actions now will end up becoming the future he’s trying to change.

There will come a time where Barry may have to choose between being the hero and saving Iris. That will be something, which we hopefully get into during the second half of this event. These two-part events tend to become stronger in the second part since the first one would usually set up for something bigger. Seeing three speedsters taking on an army of gorillas should be tons of fun to watch.

This week’s first part of the epic two-episode event didn’t come short in the entertainment category. The episode brought in some amazing CG effects with the gorillas and the performance of Tom Cavanagh further increased the joy of watching the hour unfold. With this being the first part, Barry’s fight with Grodd is far from over.

Leave your thoughts on this review and this episode of The Flash in the comments section below. For more The Flash reviews, photos, videos, and information, visit our The Flash Page, The Flash Google+ Page, visit our The Flash Facebook Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+ or “like” us on Facebook.

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Mufsin Mahbub

**Fired from FilmBook for Plagiarism** Mufsin is a freelance writer from New York who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism at Long Island University. He has written for publications like HollywoodLife, Clubplanet, and Heavy. He is an avid lover for everything related to TV and film. He has gone to dozens of film screenings, press events, and loves to attend New York Comic Con every year. He gives an honest opinion on every TV show or film that people are going to be talking about.
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