‘The Flash’ episode 13 review: Firestorm, smoke, and mirrors

Tuesday night’s new episode of “The Flash” proved itself to be all sorts of interesting. On one side of the coin, “The Nuclear Man” was a flawed hour that spent way too much time on a romantic subplot that you know is not going to matter too much. Linda Park has come out of nowhere, and despite whatever effort Malese Jow makes to play her (she’s doing the best she can), the sports reporter still feels a little too much like that recent Cecily Strong character from “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live.”

So with that, we’re going to focus more on what was a heck of a story this week with Firestorm, beginning with some major kudos to Robbie Amell. In channeling Victor Garber’s Martin Stein, this was probably the best acting we’ve seen him do. Firestorm is an interesting, layered character with a deep history. He’s also not a villain. When he realized that there as no way that STAR Labs would likely be able to save him, he decided to send himself as far away from the city as possible before he went nuclear.

Did Caitlin and Barry manage to figure out a way to help him? It certainly seemed that way with their quantum splicer, but there was still that explosion. The synopsis for next week’s episode ultimately gives away too much, since we know already that Ronnie / Martin survive this. Still, the explosion was enough to set the stage for the big cliffhanger at the end, which was the return of General Eiling, who clearly wants to weaponize him in the same exact way that we saw him try with Plastique a little earlier in the season. (By the way, we’re still hoping that she is alive.)

Almost all of Firestorm was grade-A stuff. We love the character, and hope that we see as much of him as possible the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, time travel! This was a case of not being surprised by a reveal, but still excited at the same time. After being hesitant to even cross-compare sound blood found at the scene with Harrison Wells, Cisco learned that an adult Barry Allen was there the night his mother died. This means that there was probably an epic battle taking place there, and he is set to learn a thing or two about how to jump forward and jump back. Suffice it to say, this is going to be fun. A great end for what was, for the most part, a really entertaining episode that we didn’t want to see end. Grade: B+.

What did you think about “The Nuclear Man”? Let us know in the comments, and you can preview the next new episode over here. Also, sign up now to get a news flash (get it?) every weekend courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: The CW.)