‘The Flash’ season 2, episode 4 review: The new Firestorm, Wally West (hopefully), and Harrison Wells

Did “The Flash” find a new Firestorm on Tuesday night? It did, but let’s just say that this was not as easy as just finding the first person off the street and hoping they are perfect. Caitlin Snow tried to do this with Henry Hewitt, a brilliant but troubled man who ended up becoming Tokamak, one of the most notorious villains from the Firestorm universe.

Instead, we found our new hero in athlete-turned-mechanic Jefferson “Jax” Jackson, a guy who was reluctant to take this on at first after failing to get many other opportunities in life. The whole Jackson vs. Hewitt debate probably was a little too on-the-nose and “don’t judge a book by its cover” for out taste, but there’s still few other people like Jax in this world. He’s probably most comparable to Roy Harper, and since we don’t have Arsenal around anymore, he gives the show a little bit of a different energy.

While we like the Jax character and the performance of Franz Drameh in this episode, this was still a problematic hour as a whole. It took Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein a while to become even competent as Firestorm, and yet Jax with Barry and Martin’s help was able to become decent overnight.

Also tonight, there was the story of Iris and Francine, her mother who came to Central City to try and “make things right.” We were starting to worry that she was going to welcome in her mother just because she was sick (which isn’t always a great reason given what she did to Iris over so many years). Then, Iris revealed that her mom has yet another secret: A son. Is this Wally West? We’re thinking so!

In the end, “The Fury of Firestorm” is a mixed bag. If you can forget about how much the show rushed Jax becoming a hero, you probably enjoyed it very much. Hopefully, some of the other surprises make up for it, including Harrison Wells 2.0 “meeting” Barry at the end. Grade: B-.

If you are interested in getting a preview and some other news related to “The Flash,” head over to the link here. Also, sign up here to get some other updates on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: The CW.)