Grodd Returns For Tonight’s Antepenultimate FLASH!!

The super-brainy ape is back to further another’s agenda. How much does it cost to put this animal on your payroll?

The CW says of “Grodd Lives”:

Barry (Grant Gustin) must deal with the Reverse Flash's (Tom Cavanagh) latest threat to a member of the group. To make matter worse, Dr. Wells unleashes Grodd on the city in order to distract Barry and the team. Joe (Jesse L. Martin), Barry and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) head down into the sewers to catch Grodd but the gorilla quickly gets the upper hand after he kidnaps Joe. Iris (Candice Patton) and Barry have a heart to heart talk. Dermott Downs directed the episode written by Grainne Godfree & Kai Yu Wu.

A lot happened last week! Talkback legend Shermdawg is here to remind us:

Previously on "The Flash"...
* With mounting suspicion that their mentor Dr. Harrison Wells was up to no good and confirmation he's also not Dr. Wells at all, Barry along with Cisco and Caitlin do some digging at S.T.A.R. Labs and discover a hidden chamber containing the snazzy yellow suit of the Reverse Flash as well as a display of the April 25, 2024 edition of The Central City Citizen with the headline "Flash Vanishes, Missing in Crisis" which we've seen Wells staring at throughout the season.

* The trio come to the conclusion that "Wells" is from the future, notice the name on the byline "Iris West-Allen", and Cisco takes a liking to the brighter red and white logo on Barry's future suit. New costume for season 2?

* They meet Gideon, Wells' female voiced AI, who reveals that Barry creates her in the future, one day attains the rank of Director of Central City Police CSI Division, almost name drops him as a founding member of the Justice League before being cut off, and that "Wells" traveled back in time to kill him....but wants him to become The Flash first.

* Eddie Thawne meets Joe for coffee, tells him he's gonna pop the question to Iris, asks him for his blessing. Joe's like "nope", Eddie's all like "I don't need your permission!" He later asks Barry to find out why he got shot down. Joe tells him "she'll wake up one day and realize she married the wrong guy, but she'll stay anyway because she made a promise."

* We get several flashback sequences with a comatose Barry in the hospital after the particle accelerator explosion. Dr.Wells approaches Joe about bringing him to S.T.A.R. Labs, and Iris is shocked by a spark of electricity when attempting to hold his hand.

* Chloe...er..Iris reveals she's been doing her Wall of Weird thing the last few months and tells Barry all the stuff that's been happening is tied to the explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs.

* Barry reveals he went back in time and wonders if Cisco's recent dreams of being killed by Wells are actually temporal memories. Caitlin and Cisco create hypnotic goggles that allow him to relive his altercation with Wells and learn his real name is Eobard Thawne. Barry and the gang along with Joe and Eddie devise a plan to recreate those events, attempt to get a murder confession out of Wells, and protect Cisco behind a speedster proof force field. Which begs the question what happens if a speedster approaches a speedster proof force field at normal speed?

* The trap doesn't work, no damning admission of guilt was uttered, and we learn Wells used Hannibal Bates the shape shifting metahuman conveniently introduced the episode before to pose as him. He gets through the force field.

* Joe shoots and kills the Bates before he attacks Cisco.

* Wells is shown to be safe and sound elsewhere in the city as he makes his big "I'm evil and I saw it coming" speech, he reveals that he has come to love working with them at S.T.A.R. Labs, and tells Barry he doesn't want to kill him....he needs him, and they will "face each other again....very soon."

* Cisco alerts Barry that Wells is in the time vault, he races to catch him but finds an empty room, no suit, Wells wheelchair, and a wall of surveillance footage focused on the lives of each of the series' characters. He had been watching them all from the beginning!

* Fearing Iris is in danger, Barry races off to find her.

* Reverse Flash attacks Eddie just as he's about to propose to Iris, he runs off with him when Flash shows up. The Flash tells Iris to get to safety and as he lets go of her hand a spark of electricity springs forth. Iris quickly realizes it's Barry as he races off to save Eddie.