The Flash – The Fire Next Time review S8 E8

March 25, 2022April 1, 2022 Jeffrey Lyles 0 Comments Brandon McKnight, Candice Patton, Danielle Nicolet, Danielle Panabaker, Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Kayla Compton, The Flash

Every so often, The Flash will serve up an episode to remind us what it’s capable of when it’s not indulging in wackiness.

And maybe this episode simply worked because the focus was on the title character — an admittedly novel concept for a CW show.

For such a frequently corny show (say hello Chester), The Flash sure does love to revel in killing off random citizens. This time, a bar owner was killed and the main suspect is a flame-powered meta named Jaco (Max Adler).

Jaco insists he’s innocent, which triggers Barry as today is his father’s birthday. Barry recalls all the years Henry spent behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit and doesn’t want Jaco to have the same fate. Especially since Jaco’s bond with his son, (Nicholas Elia) is already strained from Jaco’s previous prison stint.

That motivates Barry to try and get Cecile to reconsider the case. Sadly, Jaco doesn’t help his cause at all by busting out of CCPD custody. He confronts the bartender who put the police on his trail and she ends up dead.

The rest of Team Flash just doesn’t get Barry’s insistence that Jaco might actually be innocent. This feels like an episode where Joe should have been around. Ahh, here he comes. He knows today is Henry’s birthday and like clockwork offers a tremendous motivational speech.

Jesse L. Martin should just offer to do these pep talks for people on OnlyFans or something. He makes them sound so genuinely effortless.

Chester figures out Jaco is innocent, but Flash has to calm down the underground reaction Jaco’s powers caused. And Barry even manages to get Jaco some points with his son by having him help stop the situation.

Barry gets some vindication and helps a father and son enjoy many more years together. A classic superhero make good episode is so much better than Frost and Caitlin working through their sibling drama.

Iris has to check Allegra because she forgot Iris is in charge. Allegra meets up with an old pal, who was an ex-con and decides she’s going to write that story instead of the fluff piece Iris assigned her to write with reporter Taylor.

Is Allegra better as a neophyte hero teaming with Flash or as a superpowered character that works for Iris’ media company? Working with Flash would at least be something different than Frost. And there’s something annoying about Allegra constantly doing her own thing despite being Iris’ employee.

Iris has to explain to Allegra her job again, but she still kinda gets her way as Iris decides to publish the story. Taylor isn’t thrilled with Allegra’s abuse of power and now I’m 100% not invested in this subplot. Why does it feel like the writers are so much more interested in these side characters than the viewers?

In the post-credit scene, Team Flash realized they hadn’t solved the actual question of who was killing people. Barry is rightfully concerned that there might be a meta-powered serial killer. Well, that sounds intriguing…unless it’s Taylor.

Dumb Allegra subplot aside, this was a good episode. Wild what focusing on The Flash will do, huh?