The Flash (7×07) Growing Pains Review

Ariba BhuvadApril 14, 202165/10062010 min
Director
Alexandra La Roche
Writers
Sam Chalsen, Jess Carson
Rating
TV-PG
Running Time
43 minutes
Airs
Tuesdays 8pm
Channel
The CW
Overall Score
Rating Summary
Growing Pains sees Frost struggle to clear her name in light of a new ice-y metahuman lurking around Central City framing her--and we're not that amused.

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

Synopsis: When a mysterious ice-powered enemy frames Frost for a brutal crime, she must find a way to clear her name; Barry and Iris have a surprise houseguest; Joe continues to deal with Kristen Kramer. (IMDb)

We take a break from the three Forces this week on The Flash and gain some momentum on Killer Frost’s storyline, which is actually not as bad as I thought it would be. She’s worked hard to become a better human, er metahuman, and even though she’s hurt a lot of people in her past, she’s trying her best to make up for it. Unfortunately, it’s all coming together at a rather inopportune time because there is someone out there framing her, making it look she’s the one behind a recent crime spree in Central City.

While Killer Frost’s arc is one thing, it’s unclear what the series is doing with the Speed Force/Nora. First off, it seems ridiculous that they are making Barry deal with the human form of the Speed Force as his mother, and it’s even worse that Iris thought it was a good idea. Like, why would you put someone through that?

Nora’s constant presence has been troublesome for Barry especially because his speed is multiplied every time she’s around. And then there’s the fact that Iris keeps calling her by the name “Nora” instead of referring to her as the Speed Force. It’s all super weird for Barry who says as much because he’s clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Despite that discomfort, “Nora” keeps trying to be there for Barry. But it usually backfires when his speed goes out of control, she shows up at crime scenes uninvited, or when she destroys evidence they needed for Frost’s case by accident. It’s interesting is that it isn’t just Barry being weirded out that the Speed Force is using his mom’s human form, but there’s also the fact that he doesn’t even really trust the Speed Force. He did have some troubling history with the last one, so it makes it easier for him to just think of the Speed Force for what it is.

Iris comes to the rescue, if you want to call it that, and reminds Barry that he helped the Speed Force come back to life with his love for her. It’s different now and he ought to give it a chance. Still not sold on that front, because at the end of the day, the Speed Force can still do whatever it wants. All of this is definitely going to backfire at some point.

Anyway, moving on to Frost’s arc, the CCPD is after her for most of the episode because Kristen Kramer (Carmen Moore) is determined to put her behind bars. Of course, Team Flash is trying their best to get Kristen off of Frost, but it seems to be failing every sense of the way. She refuses to believe someone is framing Frost, and it doesn’t help that whoever is actually committing the crimes is leaving behind traces of ice everywhere they go. Frost is advised by Team Flash to lay low, but of course, she refuses to listen.

To get to the bottom of the mess, Frost heads to the bar, O’Shaughnessy’s, to see if the bartender has any information on who is behind these attacks. Mark (Jon Cor) the bartender immediately captures her attention with his insanely good looks but there’s something more to uncover here. He directs Frost to a warehouse but when she gets there, it’s empty and there’s a camera in the corner that seemingly scans her entire body.

In pursuit of trying to catch Frost, Kramer gets Joe to arrest Caitlin instead. They were given an anonymous tip which led them to Caitlin. Frost tries to break her out of the CCPD, but Caitlin refuses and says they need to do things the right way. Instead, Frost heads back to the bar because she realizes Mark has been the one behind this mess the entire time. And as it turns out Mark is actually Chillblaine (yup, that’s what he calls himself) and has been borderline obsessed with Frost and her powers. He’s been trying to recreate her powers and after scanning her with the camera, he finally has what he needs and is successful in gaining the same powers. But it doesn’t matter, because Frost takes him down and gets his confession on tape.

The CCPD shows up while Frost is at the bar and surrounds it, demanding her to come out. Instead of running away, Frost makes the decision to take responsibility for the crimes she has committed in the past. It’s about time to do that, or so she believes. It’s easy to forget about that or even care as, to be honest, she hasn’t done anything wrong in so long.

Guess we’ll see what goes down next week when Frost comes in front of the judge!


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