The Flash Review: Season 4 episode-22; “Think fast”

After the disappointing episode last week, The Flash was able to get back on the track at least to some extent by delivering a good episode this week. Starting on a high note the episode set the intensity right but then it faltered by delving into some unwarranted comic elements and unnecessary plot threads that added minimum value. There was also a reveal in the end which makes things more complex from Caitlin/ Killer Frost angle. Though it was not uniform in its pacing the episode was able to set things up for the climax.

The episode begins with Clifford DeVoe impersonating Diggle and attacking the ARGUS facility to free Fallout whose powers he need to launch the satellites. The scene where Devoe fights the ARGUS security is perhaps the best action scene delivered in The Flash till date. Great special effects and cinematography combined together with some innovative sequences, showed us for the first time that how powerful DeVoe really has become. Even though there must be budget constraints, hopefully The Flash will deliver more scenes like that in every season. DeVoe keeps a few guards alive as hostage and Team Flash had twelve hours till he is able to use Fallout. It seemed odd that no other forces in the Arrowverse, apart from team Flash come out to help in the midst of such a large crisis. Perhaps the others were too busy with problems of their own.

Cisco and Caitlin insist on helping Barry to help stop DeVoe and rescue the hostages by using Flash Time. Barry starts to train them but after the first session decides that he cannot allow them to risk their lives. The episode then delivers another great scene with a verbal confrontation between Barry and Cisco with both friends speaking out their hearts. Cisco ultimately is able to overrule Barry and he agrees to take their help. Both of them are burdened with the loss of Ralph and Cisco is right in thinking that Barry cannot unilaterally decide to cu t them off. Both Carlos Valdes and Grant Gustin perform superbly in the scene making it one of the most emotionally powerful scenes of the season. The team then goes into the ARGUS facility but not before DeVoe is able to use Fallout’s nuclear energy to launch his satellites. While Cisco and Caitlin save the hostages, Barry follows DeVoe and destroys one of the satellites with the meta bomb they acquired earlier.

In between the main plot the episode deals with the tragic-comic scenario of Harry who tries to help Iris by using his emotional side. Tom Cavanagh masterfully portrays Harry’s situation as the series tries to bring Harry from being a cold-hearted scientist to an emotional human being; in some ways the opposite of what DeVoe has become. But with the script keeping things light the viewers are not sure whether to laugh or feel sorry for Harry. The two of them were able to trace Marlize in England by studying her past and the duo visits her in her old apartment. Iris confronts Marlize and tries to convince her to join team Flash to save the world from her husband. It seems she will come around to help out Team Flash in the coming episode. The response of the Central City citizens to Iris’s blog is not explored any further in the episode which is rather unfortunate as it might have been an interesting theme for drama.

The episode also shows the scenario with Cecile who is in the last stages of her pregnancy. Her powers get further enhanced, resulting in some more comic situations. The plot line with Cecile does not make much impact in the main story and is just being used as filler material resulting in the episode losing its pace. If The Flash continues to deliver 23 episode long seasons, it will be best if the writers can add some relevant ideas building on the action quotient and intrigue, instead of inserting comic elements with no potential significance. The Caitlin/ Killer Frost issue is advanced further with Caitlin getting a childhood flashback as she gets injured while training in Flash Time. With the help of Cisco she finds out that Killer Frost has been her part since her childhood days. This new development may bring about some interesting turn in Caitlin’s character arc beyond her sudden desperate longing for Killer Frost.

DeVoe finally uses the satellite of Star Labs to take the place of the one Barry had destroyed and launches all five satellites. Team Flash has one episode left to outthink the thinker and save the world from turning brainless. This season has been unable to match the intensity of the earlier seasons with the stakes not reaching that height. The finale has one last chance to improve on that and let’s hope that the show creators can deliver on that.

The Flash returns on 22nd May with the new episode “We Are The Flash”.