Welcome back to Flashcaps, where we review previous seasons of the CW’s The Flash.
written by George Hatch
This week, it’s a Barry-lite episode as we mostly focus on a short story involving Team Flash.
Spoilers under the cut.
The Plot: Barry asks Team Flash to look into Big Sir’s case to see if he’s innocent. At the same time, a new meta who can shrink things is on the loose. Turns out, this same meta (Dwarfstar) was responsible for the murder that got Big Sir imprisoned. Dwarfstar shrinks Cisco and Ralph, and the team only have a limited amount of time to get them back to full size before they die. They eventually take down Dwarfstar, but he refuses to confess and free Big Sir. So Barry breaks him out of jail and drops him at a monastery in China. Unfortunately, doing so reveals his identity to Warden Wolfe, who takes him to a cell for metahumans and prepares to sell him to Amunet Black.
The Good: So much this week. Cecille suddenly being a telepath and loving her powers; Barry trying to free Big Sir and give him back hope; Iris just being Iris and badass; even the time spent with shrunken-down Ralph and Cisco is pretty excellent. Honestly, the episodes that don’t feature Barry all that much are becoming real favorites of mine, as it shows just how much the rest of the cast around him rocks. Oh, and I’m so glad we didn’t get some variation of this scene between Cecille and Ralph.
The writing was pretty tight on this one, too. There were a few hinky things I’ll gladly nitpick, but nothing too egregious.
The Bad: I feel like the message at the end, with Joe being afraid Cecille will love him less if she knows every dumb thought that strays across his brain, was the wrong one. We all need privacy and boundaries, especially in our own heads. An invasive power like telepathy, especially when wielded without consent like Cecille does, would make anyone push those people away. The Harry stuff regarding his mental inadequacy is starting to wear thin. Barry palling around with ex-Mayor Bellows – who tried to have him and Joe whacked! – feels out of character, even with how they try to write it off.
I really liked this episode on the whole. It had the potential to be really, really goofy, but they managed to make it funnier by playing it mostly straight. Also, “I’m a gumshoe!” might be the most perfect pun this season.
Next week, Barry meets Amunet Black. In prison. Should be metal.
Seasons 1-5 of The Flash are available now on Netflix. George Hatch can be found on Twitter at @Raeseti. Feel free to send him your thoughts.