‘The Flash’ season 3, episode 3 review: Jesse Quick is born; Magenta’s madness
Isn’t the birth of a hero exciting? A show like “The Flash” tells these sort of stories better than anyone, so from that vantage point lone, the birth of Jesse Quick on Tuesday night’s new episode “Magenta” was a fascination proposition.
As we learned over the course of the hour, it also proved to be a challenging one given how desperate Harry, returning to Earth-1 through a breach, was to stop his daughter from using her powers to fight crime. He wanted to protect her, and was looking for anyone who would be willing to convince her out of it. Unfortunately, there weren’t exactly many takers in that plan. Caitlin tried with a pitch, but it wasn’t exactly one that was well-received. It probably hurt her that she wasn’t willing to come clean with her own secret Killer Frost powers.
What also proved problematic was that Wally West became so desperate to get powers of his own that he was interested in jumping in front of oncoming traffic. We understand that it had to be painful for him, but the guy’s gotta use some sense … right?
Villain of the week – In terms of powers, Magenta was cool. She could control metal, and had a unique split-personality that almost made her a teenage version of the Hulk. She wanted revenge on her terrible foster father, and eventually things escalated so bad that she wanted to drop a ship on a whole hospital. It was the classic “villain who wasn’t really evil,” and was being controlled in some way by the blessing / curse handed over to her from Dr. Alchemy. It eventually took Jesse working alongside The Flash in order to convince Frankie, the girl inside Magenta, to come out and take back over. Think of this as that rare conclusion to a “Flash” episode that didn’t require someone being locked in a cell.
The good news about Frankie taking over was that she was able to give Barry some insight as to how Alchemy approached her, and how some of her powers first came to life in this timeline. Having faith in Frankie was the key here over locking her up; that may be an overly optimistic point of view for this team, but it’s a show that loves the positive message.
As for Jesse, Harry’s finally given her permission to use her powers, and even called her the Jesse Quick name herself. Huzzah! He admitted that he’s always going to be worried about her, but that’s just a sign that he’s a good father.
Your WestAllen update – They’re doing their best to try dating, and it just so happens that it’s awkward. At first, they struggled because they were trying to pretend Barry wasn’t the Flash anymore. Eventually, she came to realize that this was a part of him that wasn’t changing; this was their life now.
Episode Grade: B. There was a heavy procedural component to this story, and that part of it is a bummer since we would have preferred more recurring villain storylines. Yes, the introduction to Jesse Quick was exciting, especially since it seems she’s sticking around for now.
Next week – If you are curious to get some further scoop on what is coming up, be sure to head over to this link! (Photo: The CW.)