The Flash S04E23 “We Are The Flash” REVIEW

The Flash S04E23 “We Are The Flash” REVIEW

0 comments 📅23 May 2018, 17:12

Airing Tuesdays at 8pm on Sky 1
Writers:
Eric Wallace & Todd Helbing
Director: David McWhirter

Essential Plot Points:

  • Captain Singh is in line at the coffee shop, calling Barry to tell him he’s been reinstated when the Enlightenment hits. Because he’s a good cop, Singh books it outside to try and help and watches in horror as every piece of technology in the city turns off.
  • The team fall back to Star Labs, where Cisco gets the power up just in time for Cecile to probably have her baby in the Lab.
  • Cisco finds DeVoe’s power battery and they realize the truth; Harry was the dry run for the whole project. They have no idea what to do.

  • Until Iris and Marlize show up with a plan; put Barry inside DeVoe’s mind. Marlize is adamant her ex-husband is a good man warped by the dark matter in his brain. Marlize also gives them the truth behind the creation of the bus metas: They were designed to allow DeVoe to beat any of Barry’s allies. Oliver, Kara, Wally, the Legends. they’re all off the table.
  • Oh and Marlize also figures out that they don’t Cisco to get inside DeVoe’s mind. They need Cecile’s telepathy. With Barry in the chair wearing the thinking cap, Cecile hacks DeVoe’s brain and Barry arrives…
  • On the 405 bus. With the Thinker outside. Marlize explains that this is the core of DeVoe’s mind and that everything branches from there. She tells him to check their house and Barry goes inside. The house is empty. And Cecile is starting to go into labour. Once the baby arrives,. her powers leave. And Barry will be trapped in DeVoe’s mind. Suddenly Cecile grabs Caitlin’s arm and says ‘I found Thomas’. Caitlin looks confused, then leaves to get an inhaler to slow down Cecile’s contractions.
  • Cisco realizes Harry is making a run for the thinking cap, willingly sacrificing what’s left of his intelligence to help out. With no other option, Cisco helps him. Harry figures out where DeVoe is and, in tears as his intelligence fails, hugs Cisco. Cisco, barely keeping it together, gently takes the cap off his head.

  • Barry runs to DeVoe’s memory of Oxford. He doesn’t find DeVoe.
  • HE DOES FIND RALPH!
  • Ralph is intact inside DeVoe’s mind! Barry explains the plan and Ralph admits DeVoe visits him all the time. And then DeVoe shows up, attacks and Barry runs Ralph clear.
  • Cecile wakes up. DeVoe is coming. He arrives and, the team safe behind the chair’s force field, listen as DeVoe explains the plan; he’s going to use Barry to gain access to all of time.
  • And then Marlize jumps them away to DeVoe’s pocket dimension.
  • In DeVoe’s mind, Ralph and Barry track down the good DeVoe. He’s dead.
  • Ralph asks Barry to leave to spend whatever time is left with his family. Barry retorts ‘It’s OUR family’ and then puts it together. He’s keeping Ralph alive because DeVoe is IN Ralph’s body. He can’t kill him, but he can’t get rid of him. All Ralph has to do is get out of DeVoe’s mind and that means all they have to do is get back to the bus. And then, DeVoe shows up. With a twin…
  • With DeVoe closing in, Marlize shifts them to another dimension. Cecile hits another contraction and Joe cooks OFF at Marlize before Iris talks him down. The satellites are at 83%. Once they hit 100% the Enlightenment begins.
  • In DeVoe’s mind, he’s effortlessly kicking the heroe’s asses. Until Ralph suggests they stop thinking and just act. It works. Ralph thinks of food. Barry thinks of Iris. But DeVoe’s duplicates keep coming.
  • Harry starts repeating the exact words that Barry did when he first came out of the Speed Force and just as Cisco realizes that, Devoe appears. He disarms everyone, forces Joe to hold his gun to his own head and…Joe…BEATS HIM! WITH LOVE!

  • DeVoe knocks him out anyway.
  • In DeVoe’s mind, Barry uses Ralph as a super fast bludgeon to take the clones down. They race for the nexus and…
  • In the real world, DeVoe strangles Cecile and…
  • Barry opens his eyes. DeVoe screams as Ralph drags himself back to control of his body and RALPH DIBNY IS BACK IN THE BUILDING!
  • Marlize shuts the satellites down and the team teleport back to the Lab. Just in time for Cecile’s water to break.
  • And, unseen, DeVoe’s chair powers back up…
  • Caitlin helps deliver the baby and…a digital backup of DeVoe appears in the chair. His final backup plan. Marlize disconnects it but it’s too late, the STAR Labs satellite is in a decaying orbit. DeVoe has increased its mass by a thousand fold. When it hits, it’ll wipe out life on Earth.
  • Wreckage starts slamming into the city and its all the heroes (And Captain Singh!) can do to keep people safe. Barry winds up, generating a sonic punch to destroy the main satellite as Cecile delivers her baby and Barry lands the punch and….
  • time stops.
  • And rewinds.
  • And another speedster, with very familiar two coloured lightning tags in to help out.
  • Battered, bruised and unaware of the assist, Barry lands and is applauded by the grateful inhabitants of the city. The others arrive and they’re introduced to the newest member of the family, born safe and happy.
  • The following day, Marlize gives Cisco a device to help restore Harry’s mind. Barry and Iris offer her a job and she politely declines, deciding to heal the world like her original work did rather than harm it.
  • When she leaves, Barry reveals he saw the other speedster to Iris.
  • Cisco reboots Harry’s mind but not quite completely. He took some permanent damage but he’s overjoyed by the fact he’s no longer defined by his IQ. He’s finally balanced between his head and his heart and the first thing he wants to do is visit his daughter. He hugs them all and leaves.
  • Barry and the others throw a baby shower for Joe and Cecile. Barry toasts to Jenna Marie Flash, the newest member of Team Flash. Joe and Wally have a sweet moment together, Barry and Iris do too and then there’s a knock at the door.
  • It’s the waitress from the wedding.
    And who spilled coffee on Harry.
    And dropped the gift off a couple of episodes ago.
  • And she’s wearing Iris’ speedster jacket.

  • And she’s Nora Allen-West. Barry and Iris’ daughter from the future. And she’s worried she made a big, big mistake…

Review:

Where Arrow went small and intimate with it’s finale, The Flash runs headlong into it’s main science fiction concepts. Both work very well too and they make a great double bill. You’ll cry for the full two hours but watch The Flash second and you’ll at least finish on happy tears.

Ralph’s back! Joe and Cecile’s baby arrives! Marlize is redeemed! Surprise time travel! Harry is mostly saved! It’s all go and it’s all good too which is a massive relief. This season has been a stretch (Unintentional pun. We’re running with it.) and it’s been great to see the show flourish when there isn’t yet another evil speedster on the other side of the ring.

It’s also been great to see the show’s dynamic settle so well. More so, maybe, even than Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash is the show where heroism is a family business. The team’s shared love for Ralph, Joe being able to break DeVoe’s conditioning to defend his loved ones, Nora’s debut. Saving the world is a team sport and this team, after a rocky couple of years, have really found their feet.

It’s also worth noting that this entire plot has been about a war between emotionless rationality and fundamental decency and compassion. We’re not saying it’s all been biting, politically astute satire, because it hasn’t. But if you were looking for a beacon of hope in these occasionally very dark times, then this is most certainly it. Thanks, Team Flash. See you next year.

The Good:

  • RAAAAAAALPH!

  • Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes are fantastic this week.
  • Captain Singh! Serving and also protecting!
  • This episode is a Hug Singularity and we are absolutely here for that.
  • Arc plot hints galore for next season!
  • Nora Allen! Borrowing her mom’s jacket!
  • There are at least two shots in the run for the Nexus that HAVE to be throwing shade at the Burly Brawl from The Matrix Reloaded.

  • This sequence on the other hand, is GREAT.

  • There’s this little half turn Grant Gustin has started doing which is really helping sell the idea he’s just stopped running.
  • Joe crying with joy at the sight of his daughter AND OH GOD WE’RE CRYING TOO.
  • The Joe and Wally moment is adorable. And it’s so nice to see Wally settled and happy.
  • Barry losing his chill totally at the thought of being a dad is adorable.
  • Cecile’s powers paying off EPICALLY
  • Barry wearing Ralph as a cape!

The Bad:

  • The Army of DeVoes is perhaps a touch wonky. But if they are intended as a parody of The Burly Brawl, then that’s probably intentional.

And the Random:

  • So did Barry die stopping the satellite? Because it certainly looks like Nora either rewinds time or travels back to the moment he starts his run to change the outcome.
  • Eric Wallace has written for Eureka, Z Nation, Ben 10: Omniverse, Teen Wolf and more.
  • Todd Helbing has written for The Flash, Black Sails, Spartacus, Mortal Kombat: Legacy and more.
  • David McWhirter has directed for Blindspot. Valor, Major Crimes. The Flash and many other shows.

Best Lines:

  • ‘Everyone chill it’s not like Cecile is going to lose her powers when she has this baby…Cecile’s going to lose her powers when she has this baby?’
  • ‘I won’t lose anyone else today.’-OUR FEELINGS, CISCO.
  • ‘Rookie?’-OUR FEELINGS, RALPH
  • ‘They’ll be no defeating the big bad this year, Mr Allen.’-Is…is DeVoe so self aware he can tell he’s in a TV show?
  • ‘FORCE-FIELD, suckah!’
  • ‘It’s you and me, Iris.’-OUR FEELINGS, BARRY
  • ‘STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRLS!’-OUR FEELINGS, RALPH!
  • ‘HOW DID YOU BEAT ME?!’
    ‘I didn’t.We did.’
  • ‘THIS IS NOT MY WORLD.’
    ‘Not any more. It’s mine.’-RAAAAAAAAAALPH!
  • ‘Don’t worry. You have been, and will always be, my friend.’
  • ‘Family matters.’
    ‘You’re family too.’
    ‘Heck yeah you are. Each and everyone of you.’

Click here for more of our The Flash coverage

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