The Flash - Family Matters (Part 1)

The Flash follows up one Barry (Grant Gustin) has a bad idea episode with a second one. Unlike "Timeless," where the episode startled the line, "Family Matters (Part 1)" pushes Barry into full dick mode as he becomes convinced training an ill-prepared Alexa (Sara Garcia), who is still afraid of the monster inside her, is the only way to keep her safe. It's finally Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) who steps in with the personal experience that Alexa needs to hear. Despite the process of getting her ready not running smoothly, and Barry putting her into harm's way in a somewhat irresponsible manner, Alexa is able to get control of the monster and help reach Psych (Ennis Esmer) who has been using his powers to attack old friends who turned their back on him years before.

While much of the episode involves Alexa training or Iris (Candice Patton) and the others searching for Psych, it's a much smaller plot thread where the episode finds its best moments. After learning that Kristen Kramer (Carmen Moore) plans to arm officers with metahuman cure to subdue metahumans she feels are out of control, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) does some soul searching realizing the slippery slope the department is quickly sliding down. Unable to change Kramer's mind, and unable to prevent her from executing her plan, Joe makes one move Kramer didn't see coming - he resigns. While all Forces nonsense is front-and-center, including the team accepting the dangerous Psych into the club, it's Joe's much more human choice that resonates the most and is likely to have ripples, both large and small, over the next several episodes.