TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 2, Episode 10: Potential Energy [The CW]

The CW’s The Flash Potential Energy TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 2, Episode 10: Potential Energy had a dramatic and emotional starts for the second half of the season. The midseason premiere had a mix of drama and humor as we went into Barry Allen’s (Grant Gustin) relationship with Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten) that didn’t end well for the both of them. What started as a simple romance went down in flames as Barry was soon tested again with either telling Patty who he is or risk putting her life in danger with this big secret.

The episode brought back all the fun that we missed during the fall finale when they introduced to us The Turtle (Aaron Douglas), a metahuman who has the ability to slow down time. It was awesome to see Team Flash back in action after the winter break doing what they do best. The start of the episode was a nice way to remind viewers how fun this show can be despite it going into darker territory. However, it didn’t take long for the episode to go into all of the drama.

We got to learn a bit about Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), and he is turning out to be one of the best new characters so far this season. Lonsdale did a great job portraying Wally as this young adrenaline full of energy who also tries to stay away from getting to know his father Joe (Jesse L. Martin). We see Wally’s constant struggle in letting Joe into his life since he didn’t have a father growing up, but at the same time, he still is mad at him for not being there when Francine got sick. It seemed pretty harsh when Wally criticized Joe for not being smart enough to find out he had a son. It wasn’t really his fault that he didn’t know about it since his wife neglected to tell him about Wally.

Joe hasn’t been as important in these last few episodes, but it was nice for him to get a storyline dealing with this other part of his family that he had no idea about. Jesse L. Martin managed to give some great moments with Gustin and with Lonsdale. The sub-plot did end up being resolved on a touching note. Instead of forcing them to create a father-son bond that they never had, the episode managed to acknowledge that Joe and Wally still need some work in repairing their newfound relationship.

Barry had a lot going on during this episode. He was finally at the crossroads where he had to decide whether to tell Patty the truth or to keep lying to her hoping that she doesn’t break things off with him. It wasn’t easy for him, especially the nightmares he keeps getting about Zoom. The relationship between Barry and Patty has been the sweetest dynamics on the show. We get to see the funny and adorable chemistry that the two lovebirds have, which Grant Gustin and Shantel VanSanten pull off so well. We also get to see Patty get a little serious as she tries to keep the relationship together while also focusing on her career away from Central City and Barry. Seeing the two of them dance at that ballroom scene was bittersweet. Even after that fight with The Turtle, you already knew that this relationship was doomed from the start.

The Turtle turned out to be a great villain for Barry despite his weird nickname and how he looked. He was portrayed as a sociopath who tries to keep everything he steals and reserves them in his personal collection. The final battle between Turtle and Barry was the best we’ve seen as far as effects go and the struggle in seeing Barry trying to save Patty. Turtle became this new challenge for Barry, as the villain constantly pushed him physically as he had to mostly rely on his speed rather than using one of Cisco’s gadgets.

Seeing Turtle was a good return to the old-fashioned villains from season one. He was another victim of the particle accelerator rather than just one of Zoom’s lackeys from Earth-2. He also ended up being put in STAR Labs’ cells where they put most of the metahumans they capture. However, that routine changed when Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh) ended up taking his powers from him. Let’s not forget the pact he made with Zoom, but is he willing to betray everyone to save his daughter? Maybe, but we also witness that Wells isn’t about to give up and let Zoom take control of him.

What Wells has done towards the end of the hour has the potential to shake things up for the show. It looks like Wells is looking to use Turtle’s powers to go up against Zoom. Even the last scene was important, as we saw the return of Reverse-Flash (Matt Letscher). It will be interesting to see how this all plays out with Eobard Thawne back in the picture, whether he’s from Earth-2 or not. Zoom hasn’t come out as a compelling villain for the second season, but hopefully with Reverse-Flash returning, Zoom’s motives may become clearer to us.

Overall, this episode kicked things into high gear for 2016 with The Flash. ‘Potential Energy’ may not have come out as a strong episode with developments, but it did give us a new villain that is intimidating and creepy to say the least. Even the drama was strong whether it was Joe trying to reconnect with his long-lost son or Barry trying to repair his relationship with Patty. However, the show still has a long way to go in getting back to all the excitement from the beginning of the season.

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