The Flash (7×05) Fear Me Review

For our review of the last episode of The Flash, click here.

Synopsis: When a powerful new villain channels and amplifies everyone’s fears in order to wreak havoc on Central City, Barry realizes that he must face his own worst fear in order to beat this new threat. (IMDb)

This week’s episode of The Flash introduces a new villain into the mix who looks he picked up his mask from the local Party City. I’m trying so hard not to hate on this show, especially because the Flash is my favorite DC Comics character, but what they’ve done with the show is so underwhelming.

Psych (Ennis Esmer), the cleverly named villain, preys on people by using their fears against them. And when it comes to Barry Allen, that is literally the worst thing you can do to him. He’s always a hop, skip, and jump away from emotionally losing it, and just as expected, it’s exactly what happens in tonight’s episode.

Fear Me kicks off with Barry trying to track down Fuerza (remember that ridiculous beast at the end of the last episode?) through the geothermal isotopes that she left behind. He gets distracted when he sees that Caitlin and Killer Frost are now two separate entities. They’ve finally split thanks to Mirror Monarch’s gun, and that was probably the best thing about the episode.

In the midst of their conversation, there is a bright flash of color in the lab, and coming out of the Speed Force unexpectedly is none other than the Speed Force itself coming out in the form of Nora Allen. It’s clear she’s had a run-in with Fuerza, and unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

While the Speed Force rests, Team Flash faces off with Psychic and realizes it’s pretty difficult to take him out. And it doesn’t help that he causes Barry to have a vision of his biggest enemies including Reverse Flash and Savitar hurting him. The next vision involves Barry inside of the CCPD as his friends and family lie dead all around him thanks to Fuerza. And then there’s Killer Frost, who has a vision of being turned in by Caitlin for all the crimes she committed before going “good. It is sad that we didn’t get to see what Cisco’s fears were, so hopefully they go back to that in later episodes.

Barry is shaken with fear (pun intended) by Psych’s abilities, and he feels that the threat of him feels bigger than anything they’ve faced before. Did he forget about Crisis on Infinite Earths or what? In his defense, he does say that it’s the most scared he’s been since Crisis, so I’ll give him that.

Unfortunately, Barry isn’t the only one struggling with Psych roaming about Central City. Cecile is overcome with pain every time Psych uses his powers, but luckily Barry has a plan. Not sure it’s the best plan, but it’s a plan. He has Cecile sit in the Thinker’s chair, which would make her powers stronger and hypothetically allow her to overpower Psych. This plan requires Barry to gather all his emotions and run towards Psych, who spreads his power all over Central City. Psych manages to get to the Flash but with Cisco’s help, Barry is able to face Psych and save the entire city. Yay! It’s just great to see Cecile was the one at the helm of all of this, now that is a welcome change!

While Barry’s system heals from the whole ordeal, the Speed Force (in the form of Nora Allen) wakes up and reveals that Fuerza and Psych are actually known as “Forces”. For those keeping up to date with Joshua Williamson’s somewhat recent comic book arc, then you’ll know all about the Forces, Fuerza, and Psych.

The hope here is that they don’t butcher this really cool storyline and give it the justice it deserves. They haven’t always done the comic book to TV adaptation really well so the jury is still out on how it goes.

Before signing off, it is worth mentioning that Caitlin and Frost are staying as two separate entities. In fact, Frost is moving in with her, but it seems like Frost has recently become a metahuman of interest for the governor who sends someone to Central City to arrest her. Uh oh, just when things were getting good!

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