TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 3, Episode 3: Magenta [The CW]

The Flash Magenta Review

The Flash: Season 3, Episode 3: Magenta seems to be at a good pace as we continue into the third season. Rather than having villains coming from the particle accelerator incident or from Earth-2, Dr. Alchemy has become a major problem for Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Team Flash. Even though Flashpoint wasn’t as big as everyone thought it would be, it is still nice for the show to go back to it’s original formula that made the first season great.

This week’s episode introduced us to another one of Dr. Alchemy’s creations in the form of Magenta (Joey King). This version of the character seems to be quite different from the comics, but these changes made Magenta a memorable villain for the show. King was amazing as both the scared foster kid Frankie Kane and her vengeful alter ego Magenta. It seemed like such a challenge to play two personalities in one character, but King pulled it off tremendously. Her magnetic powers were put into the mix in an entertaining way when we see her utilize them to the fullest in the last act of the episode.

The writers also handled the climactic showdown rather well. With every villain, Barry manages to knock out most of his villains without thought. This time though, Barry managed to use persuasion rather than speed to help Frankie out of her personality crisis and save the hospital without doing any serious damage. Barry would never hit a vulnerable teenage girl and just attacking her would’ve damaged the hospital and all the people inside once she drops the tanker. Barry was smart enough to calm her down like a negotiator and saved the day, with some help from Jesse Quick (Violett Beane).

Speaking of Jesse, the episode also brought back Violett and Tom Cavanagh into the fold as we discover that Jesse now has super speed. It was great to see Flash and Jesse teaming up together to take down Magenta. It’s a little worrisome that we are getting more speedsters this season, but we can’t ignore the fact that Barry and Jesse make an awesome team. Jesse’s optimism and determination balances well with Barry’s experience as a speedster. It seems like we may be getting more team-ups between these two, which should be loads of fun to watch.

Harrison Wells has played a huge part in Team Flash, so it was nice to have him back this season. Even though this is the Earth-2 version of him, it was cool to see another layer into his character as a worried father who doesn’t want his daughter to embrace the superhero persona. Besides worrying about Jesse, it was fun to see Wells discipline Barry about the effects of time travel after what he did on Flashpoint. It’s good that we have Wells and Jesse staying around for a bit in the new season.

Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) also shined during the episode when he also faced a similar problem with his son Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale). Seeing him do the ‘Dad Cop’ routine on Wally was hilarious to say the least, even when he said he treated Barry more like a second daughter which was a little confusing to some. However, Wally’s subplot in the episode was not so strong. It was clear that Wally was jealous of Jesse gaining super speed instead of him, causing the guy to become obsessed with getting powers like hers. His reaction to getting the short end of the straw had him end up trying to cause a traffic accident in order to jumpstart his abilities if he has any. It seemed a little rash and irresponsible on his part after that incident. However, seeing both Wally and Jesse catching up seems like a great way to start a possible romantic relationship between them.

Since we are mentioning romance, the subplot between Barry and Iris West (Candice Patton) had some good moments. It was a bit of a cliché when their night out was interfered by a metahuman activity, but that last scene between them on the patio was really romantic. The two lovebirds know that things are never going to be normal for them, especially when they are dating. So, it was nice that the two accepted that having the Flash around would always be a part of their lives.

One of the other weak points was the subplot with Julian Albert (Tom Felton). Julian seems to be more of a one-sided character and nothing more so far. There’s no doubt that Felton is wonderful playing the mean and bigheaded jerk, but there has to be more to his character than just being the mean employee at the office. It would be no surprise if he turned out to be Dr. Alchemy. Hopefully the writers can come up with something to make him more unpredictable with his character.

All in all, ‘Magenta’ brought The Flash back to basics in what made the show great. It brought in a convincing new villain while also creating the perfect team-up between Barry and Jesse Quick. Even having Harrison Wells back showed us why he is an important part of the team in the first place. Not all the subplots worked well in the episode, but the rest of it was just pure entertainment.

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