REVIEW: The Flash, S3 Ep18

The Flash had a much needed moment of levity last week thanks to the musical crossover episode “Duet,” but now we’re back in the dark, grim main plot of this season. It focuses on whether Iris West will be killed by Savitar or if Barry will be able to save her in the future. Adding fuel to the fire of this plot is a new villain from the future known as Abra Kadabra, who battles Team Flash with magic. What makes Kadabra so important to the plot is the fact that he knows who Savitar really is, which is information Team Flash would be able to use to their advantage. In addition to dealing with this new threat, Gypsy returns from her Earth in an attempt to capture Kadabra, while Caitlin faces problems of her own.

Joe defends his actions

“Abra Kadabra” guest stars David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man, Gotham) as the episode’s titular villain-of-the-week. For the most part Dastmalchian does a passable job as Kadabra. The character proves to be a formidable opponent for Team Flash and continues to be a nuisance once captured, teasing Barry with the knowledge he possesses. Gypsy has her own personal vendetta against Kadabra, as it’s revealed later on that Kadabra murdered her partner, which somewhat conflicts with Barry and Joe’s ideas of how to deal with him.

Even though Barry chooses not to make any deal with Kadabra, further conflicts arise when Joe makes his own deal. Joe’s behavior is irrational, but understandable considering Kadabra’s knowledge may be able to save his daughter. I didn’t mind Joe’s actions so much, even though they did backfire on him. But I would have liked to see Team Flash and Gypsy try to figure out a better plan that suited both parties, allowing Gypsy to capture Kadabra and send him back to her Earth and allowing Team Flash to gain his knowledge.

When Joe’s plan backfires and Kadabra escapes initially, Caitlin is caught in an explosive blast in S.T.A.R. Labs resulting in a tense scene involving her guiding Julian in removing shrapnel from her stomach. Caitlin refuses to take her necklace off to use her ice powers and heal herself, stating she’d rather die, but couldn’t she just take it off for a second and have a speedster put it back on really quick before she causes any damage as Killer Frost? Not much planning goes into this, but I’ll let the team slide considering the abruptness and stress of the situation.

The episode concludes with two major plot developments. After recapturing Kadabra and failing to get any information out of him, Barry ultimately makes the decision to travel back to the future in order to be a step ahead of Savitar, as Savitar has been a step ahead of Team Flash all this time. I look forward to seeing how this plays out and judging from the promo for the next episode of The Flash, Barry will travel to the year 2024.

Caitlin injured in explosion

The other occurence that happens is Caitlin once again becomes Killer Frost after her surgery backfires and she ends up dying anyway. Julian, who now has romantic feelings for Caitlin, rips off her necklace in order for her ice powers to revive her, but the necklace isn’t replaced soon enough leading to her inevitable transformation. Personally, I doubt Caitlin will be Killer Frost for long, but I will be pleasantly surprised if her subplot doesn’t just simply end with her going back to normal as it did the last time.

Overall, “Abra Kadabra” was an enjoyable episode filled with some fun super hero action as we see The Flash, Kid Flash, Vibe, and Gypsy team up to take down this week’s villain. “Abra Kadabra” also resonated on an emotional level in regards to seeing Joe do what he thought was right to save his daughter, seeing Cisco and Gypsy’s prospects of a relationship go down the drain, and seeing Julian and Cailtin’s relationship face some serious stress.

The next episode of The Flash, which will premiere April 25th, seems to be more depressing and grim as Barry travels to 2024 and we see how far down the team has sunk. Check out The CW’s official trailer for “The Once and Future Flash” below and feel free to let us know what you thought about “Abra Kadabra” in the comments.