You know what would make a great plot? One where Ralph acts selfishly but by the end of the episode he learns what it means to be a hero. I don’t know why they haven’t done that yet.
Not a bad episode. The Purple Flash effects looked neat.
I thought Iris’ speed effects looked better than Barry’s.
Well, the SFX people have had three seasons to refine their craft.
I’m sick of Devoe. When are Bell and Biv gonna show up?
They’re the last 2 bus passengers.
Now you know.
So all the evil Speedsters got boring so the TPTB said, “Here’s The Thinker” and he turned out kind of boring. Can this show just not make muti episode villains not played by Tom Cavanagh interesting?
I feel like this show would be better if instead of having one season-long villain, have 2-3 mini-arcs like Agents of SHIELD. 23 episodes is just too long to spend not beating someone until the last minute.
This + learn something from legends, they seem to be doing it reasonably well.
Green Arrow also sucks at this.
The irony of this is that the legends current villan dujour started on Arrow.
The Flash writers got some of that Legends self-awareness, when Ralph suggested they switch to improv comedy, move to Washington, and call themselves the “DC Comics”. Plus they finally put Jay and Silent Bob in the episode directed by Kevin Smith.
When did Barry become such as sourpuss? Wait, I know. It was in Season 3, when he despaired of finding a way to save Iris from the hands of Savitar. I thought, coming out of the Speedforce, he had moved past all that and returned to the more joyful Barry from Season 1, but apparently all that happiness has transferred over to Ralph.
Speaking of Ralph, I think I know where the rest of the season is going. Since Devoe has apparently thought of every contingency, including using the bus metas’ powers to keep his wife docile (obvious in retrospect), the way to defeat the Thinker is to throw all planning aside and wing it like Dibny.
One most unexpected development: Wells accessing the Time Vault and reactivating Gideon. Does this mean he’s gone over to the Dark Side, like Thawne? Or maybe he is Thawne?
Speaking of SMBC…today’s comic was topical.
I had the same thought. (I also wondered, though: okay, for the sake of argument, grant that DeVoe has plans and contingencies for the Bus Metas and Team Flash and everyone else on the planet. But — as this very episode reminded us — various other super-types are enthusiastically doing their thing on various other planets; does the evil schemer even realize that Supergirl exists? On the one hand, would he know where to get any kryptonite? On the other, would he know what kryptonite is?)
One does wonder about random things that Devoe couldn’t possibly know about. He knew about Barry and Iris’s wedding, but how could he have known that it would be invaded by transdimensional Nazis? Similarly, he couldn’t have anticipated a terrorist group stealing an ARGUS nuke to blow up Central City.
Well, the Green Arrow was able to get some, and somehow figured it would weaken a Kryptonian. DeVoe’s presumable smarter than Ollie.
I agree that improvising may be the key to stopping DeVoe, but I think his wife will wind up being his weak point. Yes, he controls her memory and emotions, but I think something going to go wrong and she’ll betray him somehow.
Or…could it be that a Thinker from another Earth will show up and defeat him–only to take over the planet for himself. (Or herself? Could an alternate Mrs. DeVoe be the Thinker on another Earth?) That would make a good cliffhanger.
Speaking of Lord Crucifer, Breacher and/or Caitlin should’ve chewed Cisco out for endangering Breacher’s life. He should’ve seen what Breacher did coming, even without Vibe’s powers. Cindy should rip him a new one. (I’m half surprised Killler Frost didn’t manifest just to yell at him.)
Or maybe “Lord Crucifer” --who hasn’t been defeated yet, after all, will show up, defeat DeVoe, and take over.
The revelation that Devoe’s wife has been brainwashed over and over was well done and creepy. Otherwise this was kind of a dud of an episode. How many “Ralph learns a lesson” episodes can we have (although I guess technically Barry learned a lesson here)?
Also, so is Wells going to be evil again? Hope not.
I liked the revelation about DeVoe’s wife too. Regarding the other, maybe someone is erasing Barry and Ralph’s memories of learning lessons about being a hero, so we see them learn those lessons over and over again.
The problem with Devoe is that I still don’t get what his plan is/was nor how/why he needs to stop Flash & co.
It seems to be that he wants to do something (not sure what). But it also seems to me that if he is truly that smart wouldn’t it just be easier for him to convince his enemies to go along with whatever-it-is? A hard core propoganda and/or brainwashing plan seems like it would be less problematic than this convoluted nightmare.
Agreed. Based on some hints Thinker has dropped, his plot involves brainwashing of the whole world (he refers to something upcoming called “The Enlightment” which given his personality mean “that glorious day when everyone agrees with me!”) - maybe metas are immune to his planned technique, leading to his desire to subdue them in some other way.