The Flash Review: “Power Outage”

Time turns against the Wests when Barry loses his power—and the Clock King rolls into town.

Title: “Power Outage”

Directed by Larry Shaw
Written by Grainne Godfree and Alison Shapker

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash
Candice Patton as Iris West
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells
Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West
Robert Knepper as William Tocker / Clock King
Michael Reventar as Farooq Gibran / Blackout
Greg Finley as Tony Woodward / Girder
Patrick Sabongui as Captain David Singh

Full cast and crew information may be found at the imdb

Premise

The latest supervillain drains Barry of his power, just when the Clock King makes an untimely grab for hostages—including Iris and Joe West.

High Points

The episode begins with one of those amusing stock situations where a superhero uses his power in everyday life—and against a hopelessly overpowered street criminal. Then Barry loses his power, and everyone must cope with supervillainous threats using only their ordinary resources. What might have been an entertaining, throwaway scene actually serves a purpose.

Low Point

We expect some stilted dialogue: this is weekly television and the characters have to discuss matters that are a little out of the range of normal conversation. But a potentially effective chess metaphor really didn’t play this week.

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6

Effects: 5/6 The effects are the show’s usual mix of strong visuals and slightly cartoony CGI; the confrontation between Girder and Blackout carries an interesting Frankenstein meets the Wolfman vibe.

Acting: 5/6

Story: 5/6

The story arc concerning Barry’s future feels better-integrated this week. The finale felt a little like a deus ex machine.

Emotional Response: 5/6

Production: 5/6

Overall: 5/6 This episode gave the multiple villains some credible personality and sympathetic qualities.

In total, “Power Outage” receives 33/42

One reply

  1. The review hit the high notes right. I think the situation with the Clock King being resolved without Barry’s help may actually give him a boost of sorts as well. Knowing that things can happen and be OK without his intervention may prevent him from feeling obligated to take on every little thing possible and get weighed down by it all, which seems to be a common situation for such heroes.

    The result of Girder v Blackout also wraps up that plot point/reveal from the previous episode, with a dash of redemption.

    I’m ready for the Arrow crossover. The previews look great!

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