This week's episode of The Flash finally gives viewers the grudge match they've been waiting for - King Shark versus Gorilla Grodd. The idea's been teased for years, but has been delayed due to budgetary concerns. At last, with season 5, The Flash has pulled it off; the recent string of lower-budget episodes have allowed the show to create a CGI brawl between two of its most brutal villains.

Given the premise, it would have been easy to focus on the kaiju-esque battle, but instead The Flash went to great effort to humanize the conflict. It did this by adding an intriguing romance subplot featuring King Shark, one that added a level of heroism to him that's never been seen before. Meanwhile, although the threat of Cicada didn't exactly seem to be a looming one in this episode, the season's arc progresses with the Meta Cure now finished. Cicada has been something of a slow-burn threat, but hopefully the Meta Cure will mean things move at a faster pace.

Related: The Arrowverse in Chronological Order (So Far)

So let's run through the top questions from The Flash season 5 episode, 15, "King Shark versus Gorilla Grodd."

 

9. Who Won - King Shark or Gorilla Grodd?

The title fight was thrilling and well-executed, with a lot of twists and turns in the story. At first Gorilla Grodd seems to be a clear winner; he tricks King Shark into pursuing him, then knocks him aside and hangs him upside-down. This leaves King Shark in a sort of trance state, allowing Grodd to continue his plans unchallenged. Fortunately, King Shark isn't alone; Flash and XS generate a lightning blast that knocks Grodd off his latest perch, and also jolts King Shark awake. With his enemy mostly defeated for him, King Shark knocks Grodd out and tears the telepathic crown from Grodd's head.

All in all, it's a smart approach. While all attention was on the battle between the two beasts, the reality is that this is still an episode of The Flash, so it makes sense for the speedsters to be the deciding factor. In truth, King Shark won this round because he wasn't alone. The curious question is whether or not Grodd will seek a rematch when he inevitably awakens from his medically-induced coma.

8. How Powerful Will Grodd Be Next Time He Breaks Out Of A.R.G.U.S.?

Gorilla Grodd terrorizes the city in The Flash

A Gorilla Grodd episode has become something of an annual tradition for The Flash, and "King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd" actually sets up the next one. Exposure to the telepathic crown has enhanced Grodd's natural powers, meaning he's becoming more powerful than ever before. A.R.G.U.S. is forced to put Grodd in a medically-induced coma in order to keep him prisoner, clearly fearing that even power-dampening technology may not be effective against him. No doubt that means The Flash season 6's Gorilla Grodd episode will feature a version of the villain who's more powerful than ever before - and who perhaps doesn't need advanced technology to give him the ability to control an entire city. That said, don't expect The Flash to pivot and make Gorilla Grodd the season 6 Big Bad. Budgetary constraints will always restrict him to, at most, a two-episode plot. At this stage, it seems more likely that the villain of The Flash season 6 will be the Red Death, an evil Batman from another reality.

Related: Arrow Spoiled An Upcoming Episode Of The Flash

7. Are Sharks Really Colorblind?

"King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd" was written by Eric Wallace and Lauren Certo, and the two really seem to have done their homework. In one line of dialogue, the humanized King Shark reveals that he has no sense of color when in shark form. In actual fact, back in 2011 a study by Australian researchers suggested that sharks are probably color-blind. Although the eyes of sharks function over a wide range of light levels, they only have a single long-wavelength-sensitive cone type in the retina.

6. Do Sharks Really Enter A Trance State If They Are Turned Upside-Down?

The Flash King Shark 2

Gorilla Grodd's method of subduing Killer Shark in The Flash is also accurate to real life; some sharks do indeed go into a trance-like state - called "tonic immobility" - when they're upside-down that can last for up to 15 minutes. Once sharks "snap out of it," they revert to their normal positions, and then promptly resume their typical activities. Interestingly, just like Grodd some real-world predators actually use tonic immobility to give them an advantage against sharks in a confrontation pinning a shark upside-down and suffocating them. Marine researchers often use tonic immobility to safely subdue a shark.

Related: The Top 5 Most Popular Superhero Shows Of January Were All DC

5. How Vulnerable Are Sharks To Electricity?

King Shark on The Flash TV series

Flash and XS use lightning to jolt King Shark back into action, with Team Flash's scientists suggesting that sharks are uniquely vulnerable to electricity. Surprisingly, again The Flash is being fairly scientifically accurate; sharks are tremendously sensitive to electrical currents; when in the water, they have an additional sense called "electroreception" that allows them to detect the small currents generated when another creature moves a muscle. Presumably, King Shark has this sense; it wouldn't work in the open air, as air doesn't carry a charge in the same way as salt water, but it certainly would make him feel the impact of a lightning blast even more than a normal human.

Page 2 of 2: Flash Questions About Season 5's Story & The Cure

The Flash Team Flash King Shark

4. Should The Cure Be Applied Without Permission?

The Flash finally devotes a little time to discussing the ethics of the Meta Cure, and it's interesting to see the angle the show takes. Team Flash has decided that the Cure should only ever be applied when they've got a Meta's consent, but Barry doesn't seem particularly sold on that idea; he ignores the ethical debates and doses King Shark up on it regardless. As insistent as Cisco may be that the Cure isn't a weapon, the reality is that it is indeed a powerful one, a way of stripping the most dangerous Meta threats of their abilities, and in that split-second Flash intuits that fact.

This episode foreshadows the fact that the Meta Cure is one of the most important developments in the entire Arrowverse to date. It's good to see the show's ethics advance from the point where any Meta would be tossed in a cell for life regardless of the severity of their crimes; and yet, the ethical debate is sure to have only just begun. It's just a matter of time before Team Flash encounters another powerful and dangerous Meta, whether in this season or further down the road, and they'll always face the temptation to resort to the Cure. As an example, how different would season 4 have played out if Team Flash had just cured one of DeVoe's targets?

3. Did Team Flash Really Want A.R.G.U.S. To Know About The Cure?

Arrow ARGUS Deupty Director Bell and ARGUS Director Lyla Michaels

Along the same lines, no sooner has Team Flash perfected the Cure than they approach A.R.G.U.S. to get permission to try it out on King Shark. They may regret this decision; certainly at this early a stage, you'd expect them to want to limit the number of people who know about the Cure. Just the fact that it's even possible to cure Metas is a game-changer for the entire Arrowverse, and it's safe to assume the Government will now be attempting to duplicate it. What's more, not everybody will have the same concerns about consent.

2. Will Cicada Take The Cure?

The coda of "King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd" circles back to this season's overarching narrative, the threat of Cicada, with Flash deciding they need to offer him the Cure. Given Cicada is the current Big Bad, it's safe to assume he'll either reject the offer or try to find a way to use the Cure against Team Flash. Cicada has suffered a string of embarrassing defeats, but a Meta Cure - which could be used just as easily on any member of Team Flash as on their foe - would be a potential game-changer.

Related: Theory: The Flash's Future Cicada Is Actually Grace

The idea of subjecting Cicada to the Cure may well force Team Flash to revisit these critical ethical questions. At the moment, they appear to be on roughly the same page, with Barry accepting he was wrong to inject the Cure into an unwilling King Shark (even if King Shark was about to chow down on Cisco at the time). But will they all stick to the same line if Cicada once again puts them in a life-threatening situation? The question is especially pressing given he knows Iris is connected to Team Flash, and has already hunted her down once.

1. Why Did The Flash Museum Get So Much Wrong?

In one amusing moment, Nora suggests that she and Flash should be able to deal with Grodd because, as speedsters they're immune to his powers. But as any long-term viewers knows, Nora's completely wrong about this, and the other heroes are more than a little surprised at her believing that. It looks as though the Flash Museum got a lot of things wrong.

It's possible that the Flash Museum was just put together by someone who wasn't closely connected to Team Flash, and made huge errors when researching Flash's missions. Alternatively, another possibility is that - somewhere down the line - Flash will develop an immunity to Grodd's powers, which the Museum's curator assumed meant speedsters had always been resistant to telepathic control. There is some comic book precedent for this idea for sure.

More: Best Superhero TV Shows Of All Time

The Flash season returns with "Failure is an Orphan" on Tuesday, March 12 at 8/7 central on the CW.