Welcome back to Flashcaps, where we review previous seasons of the CW’s The Flash.
written by George Hatch
Good news this week: No Ralph! Yay! Bad news this week: Villain origin story.
Spoilers under the cut.
Quick episode summary: As we learn the origins of the Thinker and his wife/partner-in-crime the Mechanic, Barry crosses so many ethical boundaries, both as the Flash and as a CSI, in order to prove that DeVoe is a supervillain. DeVoe reveals himself at the end, and tells Barry that he knows everything about the Flash.
So I’m trying to do this thing where I discuss some good things from the episode and some bad things from the episode, then whatever floats my fancy after that. But there’s not a whole lot of good here. The performances from the cast are solid, if not spectacular. I’m super glad the comedy was toned waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down for this one, as it does make the Thinker appear more sinister. But physically handicapping DeVoe like they did, without any visual representation of the kind of threat he poses, removes all the tension from the episode and makes him seem small.
So that was the good. What about the bad? Again, there’s not a whole lot here. I didn’t like the team doubting Barry’s instincts, especially Joe, who by this point should really trust Barry’s gut on these things. I really didn’t like Barry deciding he has to act like Ralph did when he planted evidence and got fired from the CCPD. But other than that, this one is just not very engaging. So, in order to pad out the word count and because I try to have some fun with these reviews nowadays:
This is the very model of a modern meh episode
It gives you information, but rarely strings emotional
It tells what they’ve done but barely moves the plot aloooonnng
We get it, yes he’s clever, now just please do something notable
Maybe with the villain reveal out of the way, we can get to the Thinker’s actual plan and not keep trying to inflate a balloon with a hole in it. That’s all I got this week. Tune in next week for– Wait, this is the “Crisis On Earth-X” episode! I already wrote that review! Ha ha! I’m free, suckers! See ya in two weeks!
Seasons 1-5 of The Flash are available now on Netflix. George Hatch can be found on a beach sipping a frilly pink non-alcoholic drink…or more likely at a computer reading Twitter. You can read his own Twitterings at @Raeseti.