BWW Recap: THE FLASH Engages in Gorilla Warfare

Hyper-intelligent super villain Gorilla Grodd (voiced by David Sobolov) makes a monkey out of Barry (aka THE FLASH, played by Grant Gustin) when he kidnaps Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker). Strap on those running shoes, because we're off on this recap.

We begin with Barry still nursing his wounds from his fight last week with Zoom. He can barely walk six steps before collapsing. This is an improvement from the end of last week's ep though (when he was paralyzed). It seems Barry hasn't lost the ability to rapidly heal, but a busted spine takes time.

Joe (Jesse L. Martin), Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Iris (Candice Patten) try to cheer him up, but he is concerned that Zoom might come back and finish the job while he isn't 100% himself. Harrison (Tom Cavanagh) is a bit of a Debbie Downer when he tells the team that he doubts that Zoom has given up. And this is why he wants to use their tech to go back to Earth-2. Joe succinctly sums things up: "You show up on our world, screw everything up and now you want to go home?" Caitlin also isn't ready to have him go, telling him if he can stop Zoom on Earth-2, he can stop him on Earth-1. He informs the team he is going back to Earth-2 with or without their help.

Cisco lightens the mood when he reveals he has a date with Kendra Saunders (aka Hawkgirl, played by Ciara Renee).Barry also gets a call from Patty (Shantel VanSanten). She offers to bring some chicken soup by his place (seeing as he is still sick with that flu). He declines her offer.

Caitlin meets Harrison in a bar where he has been busy drawing up plans for his own inter-dimensional transporter. She tries to reason with him that he should stay on Earth-1. He still declines. She mentions he's lucky that Cisco and Dr. Stein didn't close all the breaches and that gives him an idea: close all the breaches but one, forcing Zoom to come and go from a single point of entry.

Cisco is taking Kendra to "The Princess Bride." She briefly touches him and he has a Vibe vision of her in full Hawkgirl armour. It freaks him out and he tells Kendra he has to leave.

Grodd finally makes his appearance. A scientist falls under his mind control, smashes through some glass to steal a canister of some chemical and delivers it to Grodd. Grodd thanks him by backhanding him into a wall. Patty and Joe arrive later to go over the crime scene. Seems as if this is the second scientist to go crazy and steal a cannister of some serum to treat a brain disorder.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry is back on the treadmill, but still not running at FLASH speed just yet. He keeps reliving his encounter with Zoom. He thinks about it too much and trips on the treadmill. Cisco, meanwhile, is telling Caitlin about his vision when she goes into a trance and she sucker-punches him. The Team watches her walk out of the lab and away with Grood.

Caitlin, it seams, was always kind to Grood when he was just a test monkey in S.T.A.R. Labs. He needs her help to make more of him. Trouble is, she has no idea how to do that.

Caitlin's kidnapping is motivation for Barry to get back on the treadmill and he runs with new purpose. He's still not at FLASH speeds, but we see traces of the Speed Force in the form of yellow bits of lightning sparking all over his body. He stops the machine as his dad Henry (John Wesley Shipp) shows up. It seems Iris had called him and explained that Barry needed both of his dad's (Joe raised Barry while Henry was in prison wrongfully accused for the death of Barry's mom).

Henry has been roughing it --camping and fishing in a national park. Cisco interrupts the father/son moment to reveal that Harrison has narrowed Grodd's hideout to three possible locations. Harrison's plan is to dress up as Reverse Flash and convince Grodd that he is the Harrison of Earth-1 (Grodd's "father").

Cisco has put togerther some mind control-cancelling ear buds for Harrison, but still has him practice his Earth-1 Harrison voice in case the earbuds fail.

Henry continues with his pep talk to get Barry out of the doldrums. Basically, Barry is the only one who never gave up on him. Henry had to embrace and own up to his failures in order to move past them.

Harrison's plan works out about as well as his last one. Grood knows he isn't Earth-1 Harrison when he asks Grood to free Caitlin (Earth-1 Harrison just did, never asked). He smacks Harrison around the room. Cisco enters with some earbuds for Caitlin. Barry radios them to inject as much of the serum into Grodd as they can. This will hopefully short-circuit his brain and allow Harrison to escape. And it works.

The second part of the plan is to send Grodd through to another Earth. Barry has to conquer his fears and deal the final blow that sends Grodd through the portal. Turns out, the portal the sent Grodd through is a gorilla sanctuary on Earth-2.

Back at the Lab, Cisco would very much like to destroy the Reverse Flash suit, but Barry wants him to figure out how the suit was able to be packed into a ring that Reverse Flash wore (it beats carrying around a gym back with your FLASH suit). The comic book FLASH uses a similar ring to stow his costume when not in use. Yeah!

Henry's time in Central City has left Joe wondering what it would have been like if he had his own son (instead of his foster son Barry). Iris had an opening to tell him about the fact that her mom revealed she has a brother, but she let's it go.

At the precinct, Patty lays into Barry for lying to her. He tries to sooth her by explaining he had to spend time with his dad (whom many still think is a murderer). She tells him she isn't sure she can trust him. He kisses her.

Cisco shows up to Jitters with a gift basket above his head (ala John Cusack with the boom box in "Say Anything"). Kendra opens the door (the coffee shop is closed). He tells her he works for the police department and got called away (a half truth). She thinks his efforts are sweet. She touches him again and he sees a vision of Hawkgirl. He still kisses her, though. So...progress.

Final moment: Grodd falls throgh the portal to the gorilla refuge. The gorillas are an advanced race; they have built an entire city. Grodd growls. He has found his home.Thoughts? Comment below and follow me @triggercric and follow @BWWTVWorld for all the latest updates, scoops and recaps.

NOTE: Next week is a repeat of the Season 2 opener. We'll be back Dec. 1st with the first night of the two-night ARROW crossover.

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