If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: After hearing that Amunet has struck a deal to buy all of the metahumans in Iron Heights, Barry must decide if he should expose his powers in order to save his cellmates. After a visit from an old friend, Ralph is reminded of his shady past and wonders if he’s really a changed man. (TVGuide)
Writers: Jonathan Butler & Gabriel Garza
Director: Tara Nicole Weyr
Rating: TV-PG
Running Time: 43 minutes
With every episode, I have clung to hope that The Flash will have an episode worth gushing over. Unfortunately, this episode fell short of expectations once again.
After the events of last week, Barry was whisked away to a meta-wing by Warden Wolfe. This cage is housing the other bus-metas as well. Cue, Amunet. Amunet enters the episode for the purpose of buying all the bus-metas for “meta-trafficking” and strikes a deal with Wolfe to split the profits from the sale.
This episode highlights Ralph in a more tolerable manner–which was a welcome change. He starts to struggle with whether or not he is a changed man when an old friend, Earl (Paul McGillon), returns to his life. Earl wants him to help connive money out of someone, but Ralph chooses to walk away despite Earl’s ignorance of his resistance.
Iris and Cecile go to visit Barry, who to their surprise doesn’t show up for visitation. Enter, Warden Wolfe with an excuse for Barry’s absence. Thanks to Cecile’s gestational mind-reading abilities, she finds out about his meta-trafficking scheme with Amunet.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the team tries to come up with a game plan to stop Amunet’s deal from going through. A frustrated Ralph enters in talking about his friend Earl and suddenly begins to shape-shift into him. This gives the team a solution to disrupt Amunet’s plan by having Ralph shape-shift into Wolfe. This plan is flawless, right?
Meanwhile, Barry tries to come up with a solution for him and the other metas to escape With the help of a clogged toilet, plumber’s tools, and batteries, Barry is able to create a corrosive liquid that burns through the prison locks. This allows the group to escape through the sewer and get away from the meta-wing that is blocking their powers. It is to be noted that none of the metas are aware that Barry is The Flash–the person responsible for putting them all into jail.
The dynamic between Marlize and pseudo-Devoe is getting extremely boring–and monotonous. At this point, Devoe’s hatred for Barry has become lost and muddled in all the angst of torturing him. So, why does he hate him again?
After practicing shape-shifting some more, Ralph channels Wolfe and transforms into him completely. However, while convincing Amunet to delay the deal, he reverts back to himself and has to run away. This, once again, casts a shadow of doubt over Ralph’s abilities and pushes him to wallow in pity and self-doubt. Luckily, Caitlin channels Killer Frost aka “Frosty Oprah” to snap Ralph out of it.
Just as Barry and the metas make it out of the prison, the real Wolfe shows up to stop them–and exposes Barry as The Flash. With all the metas turning against him, Becky sides with Barry in an attempt to save him. However, Devoe shows up and takes over Becky’s body, murders Wolfe, and vibes out of there before anyone can blink an eye. Cisco and Killer Frost show up to vibe Barry out of the hot mess, but he decides he is going to stay in jail until they legally get him out of there.
Back in the courtroom, Cecile pleads for Barry’s appeal to go through. Just as the judge is about to deny the appeal, Devoe (the original Devoe) shows up in his wheelchair and all. In reality, Ralph has shape-shifted into him in order to save Barry. In an unexpected twist of events, Barry is cleared for Devoe’s murder since he is “alive”. Bravo, Ralph, Bravo.
As the gang celebrates Barry’s freedom, they realize that Devoe is after the bus-metas only, and needs them for something diabolical. You know who else is a bus-meta? Ralph! What does this mean for Ralph’s future? Is he in danger? Time will tell!
The final moments of the episode are odd, strange, and confusing as Becky a.k.a Devoe celebrates what she deems to be a success. Marlize is still flustered over Devoe killing Warden Wolfe, which wasn’t part of their plan. Taking it as a sign of weakness, Devoe “drugs” Marlize and the episode ends with them dancing.
This episode was extremely boring and didn’t really push the plot forward. Yes, Barry is out of jail but where will the story go from here? And what is Devoe’s master plan? These are questions that have no clarity and continue to be an annoying mystery. Every week the episodes fail to create excitement and hype with the overall premise. There is a lot of hope that the fan theories (WestAllen daughter or Daniel West) come true, but with the current state of the series, let’s not get our hopes up. The Flash will return in three weeks–and we really hope it starts picking up speed and momentum–pun intended.
Score: 6.5/10
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