This episode wasn't my favourite.
Firstly, no-one seemed to have any compassion for Griffin. Unless I missed it, his only criminal act was kidnapping Wells because he wanted Wells to develop a cure for his rapid aging. At no point did anyone suggest explaining to Griffin that if he stopped using his super-strength then he would at least stop aging at an accelerated rate which would potentially given them time to develop a cure or at least help him deal with aging over 20 years in just 2 years. I was really disturbed by their plan to force Griffin to exert himself until he died from old age. I really wish they'd shown the team trying (and failing) to negotiate with Griffin.
His plan from the very beginning was "Fix me or I kill you". Wells couldn't fix him. I don't know. I don't have any compassion for him, I'm not sure why the characters should. They walked the line too much between "should be sympathetic" but also "revenge filled violent sociopath". First thing he does on screen is a potentially fatal way of kidnapping wells. Then threats of murder. As far as we know, he's made no rational ways of trying to find a cure, instead of talking to someone he just starts hurting them.
Nope. Not deserving of my sympathy.
Secondly, the team were stupidly ineffective against Griffin. Isn't there now a meta-human taskforce which could have helped them? And what happened to all of the technology they have developed over the years to deal with other threats like "the boot", various tranquiliser darts, etc.
They had those fancy lazer/stun cannons that Harrison has been using.
Cisco can usually build something to counteract a meta, given time. But it seemed like the whole plot of finding harrison, learning what the meta could do and getting him happened in the span of a couple hours.
Or what about asking the Pied Piper for help? If he's willing to help them out with Time Wraiths (or whatever the Flash dementor was called), wouldn't he be willing to help in this instance? Or trying to track down Dr Light? Even something like Captain Cold's gun, which was built (and re-built) by Cisco, would be helpful.
We don't know if Pied Piper is even in town. Or what his deal is. Asking or expecting other characters who aren't connected to try and get to town in a potentially time sensitive situation is insane. Sure, Barry could have called Oliver, or Vixen, or something. But we already saw that in the time they took, the kid was going to kill Wells. They barely got there in time.
I seem to remember the cold gun being destroyed after it was used against Barry.
Not to mention Cisco's powers which no-one seems interested in mentioning or exploring unless the script demands it.
Cisco is terrified of learning how to use his powers. We already saw a good amount of character motivation there. He's not going to all of a sudden be able to vibrate the dude to the ground or something.
Thirdly, I can't recall the most recent development, but I thought that Caitlin had "perfected" Velocity 9 for Jay? Sure, it drove whatsherface crazy when she became addicted, but couldn't Barry use it on a once-off basis? At the very least that option could have been raised and dismissed for some reason (e.g. only Caitlin knew the formula and she was MIA).
Caitlin
thought she perfected V9. But "Jay" and then later Zoom confirmed that it was just a temporary fix. It was still killing his cells. Which is probably why it made the other girl insane. If it was going to (most likely) lead to Barry's death or both death and insanity, they wouldn't resort to that option.
