The Flash S04 EP18 Review
Flash was back again this week with an episode that started out innocent enough but ended up with major ramifications for the remaining episodes of the season along with a heartbreaking end to a fan favorite character. Spoilers for the episode, entitled "Lose Yourself," going forward.
The end stinger from the finale of last episode comes up here in the form of Henry's addiction to the thinking cap, an entertaining little subplot that lets Joe get solid moments of shine, as well as letting Harry wail out and destroy Cisco's model when he loses the cap. Harry couldn't stay away from it though and seemingly overcharged his brain with dark matter in the end of the episode, which we'll have to wait and see how that affects him going forward. There was also no answer given to Cisco's offer to be the new Breacher.
This is just a stray observation, but why does Team Flash think that Fiddler's soundwaves were the only thing that can hurt Devoe? I'm pretty sure anything can hurt him just like a regular person, it is just that Izzy got a lucky hit on him?
The main portion of the episode circled around the Thinker as usual and Ralph's determination in killing him rather than simply stopping him. We were also introduced to the Folded Man who did not get to do very much but entertained and delighted when he was onscreen, giving us yet again another metahuman who is not a criminal or a psychopath, thankfully. The conflict between Barry and Ralph was a great one to watch and Barry even recalled how he contemplated killing Zoom two years back, and it all lead up to a fight between the two of them that ended quickly with Ralph on the ground. Following that we got a touching scene between them in which Ralph explained that he wasn't trying to save himself, but save his friends who are constantly in danger from Devoe. It was a great moment for Ralph's development, and made it even harder to watch the finale of the episode.
Using Folded Man's powers, Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin jumped into Thinker's pocket dimension only to find it empty and as it turns out, Thinker planned ahead for them to try that exact course of action, and used their absence to attack STAR labs directly. Highlights leading up to the final confrontation included Joe taking down a samuroid with a katana, and Iris going up against Marleez, while Ralph found Melting Pot, Null, and the Folded Man all dead by the hands of Thinker. What followed was an iffy cgi scene between Ralph and the T-Rex skeleton from earlier in the season, but it was a heroic one and amusing to see Ralph stretching his legs so far. It all ended up heartbreak though as Ralph proved his heroic side and resigned not to kill Devoe, instead cuffing him just in time for Barry's return...only Devoe used Kilgore's powers to break himself out of the cuffs, and took Ralph's life in a devastating farewell to the character. Unable to help, Barry can only scream to Ralph to hold on and that he will save him, though Ralph calmly tells Barry that he already did, and his body is then taken by Devoe.
Thinker wipes the floor with Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin before warping back to his lair, and leaves Team Flash broken and defeated, wallowing in their defeat and loss. Barry packs of Ralph's office alone, lamenting the loss of his friend, while Cisco and Harry discover that Devoe used Melting Pot's powers to drain Caitlin's metahuman powers, effectively killing Killer Frost, leaving Team Flash with another hole in their team. I wasn't as sold on Caitlin's sadness about losing Killer Frost though, as I never started getting the sense that they were truly friends up until a couple episodes ago, and even them I still figured Caitlin didn't like having a murderer inside of her.
The episode ended with Devoe using Ralph's shapeshifting powers to return to his original actor's likeness, which I was happy about because it lets his characterization set in more as opposed to different bodies supposed to be the same person. Clifford then revealed that Harry's overload of dark matter also gave him the dosage of such matter that he needs to power whatever his enlightenment machine is, and we will no doubt find out what his grand plan is in just a few episodes.
Wow that was a jump forward in story; Devoe now has all the bus metas except for one, Fallout, who seems to be the focus of next week's episode, and Team Flash lost Ralph, which I can't even put into words just how painful that is. He was funny, he was sweet, and he had come far from his douchebag-ness in the beginning of the season. However, I am %100 sure he will be restored somehow, the writers have said that he was meant to be the character that shows bring in around halfway through the shake things up, which sounds more like a lasting character than a character who appears for one season. Also, the writers expressed interest in introducing his wife from the comics, but in a later season, which sure sounds like Ralph will have to be around for that. So it was tragic to watch, but I'm sure Ralph's death will be reversed later on. I miss him already.
The end stinger from the finale of last episode comes up here in the form of Henry's addiction to the thinking cap, an entertaining little subplot that lets Joe get solid moments of shine, as well as letting Harry wail out and destroy Cisco's model when he loses the cap. Harry couldn't stay away from it though and seemingly overcharged his brain with dark matter in the end of the episode, which we'll have to wait and see how that affects him going forward. There was also no answer given to Cisco's offer to be the new Breacher.
This is just a stray observation, but why does Team Flash think that Fiddler's soundwaves were the only thing that can hurt Devoe? I'm pretty sure anything can hurt him just like a regular person, it is just that Izzy got a lucky hit on him?
The main portion of the episode circled around the Thinker as usual and Ralph's determination in killing him rather than simply stopping him. We were also introduced to the Folded Man who did not get to do very much but entertained and delighted when he was onscreen, giving us yet again another metahuman who is not a criminal or a psychopath, thankfully. The conflict between Barry and Ralph was a great one to watch and Barry even recalled how he contemplated killing Zoom two years back, and it all lead up to a fight between the two of them that ended quickly with Ralph on the ground. Following that we got a touching scene between them in which Ralph explained that he wasn't trying to save himself, but save his friends who are constantly in danger from Devoe. It was a great moment for Ralph's development, and made it even harder to watch the finale of the episode.
Using Folded Man's powers, Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin jumped into Thinker's pocket dimension only to find it empty and as it turns out, Thinker planned ahead for them to try that exact course of action, and used their absence to attack STAR labs directly. Highlights leading up to the final confrontation included Joe taking down a samuroid with a katana, and Iris going up against Marleez, while Ralph found Melting Pot, Null, and the Folded Man all dead by the hands of Thinker. What followed was an iffy cgi scene between Ralph and the T-Rex skeleton from earlier in the season, but it was a heroic one and amusing to see Ralph stretching his legs so far. It all ended up heartbreak though as Ralph proved his heroic side and resigned not to kill Devoe, instead cuffing him just in time for Barry's return...only Devoe used Kilgore's powers to break himself out of the cuffs, and took Ralph's life in a devastating farewell to the character. Unable to help, Barry can only scream to Ralph to hold on and that he will save him, though Ralph calmly tells Barry that he already did, and his body is then taken by Devoe.
Thinker wipes the floor with Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin before warping back to his lair, and leaves Team Flash broken and defeated, wallowing in their defeat and loss. Barry packs of Ralph's office alone, lamenting the loss of his friend, while Cisco and Harry discover that Devoe used Melting Pot's powers to drain Caitlin's metahuman powers, effectively killing Killer Frost, leaving Team Flash with another hole in their team. I wasn't as sold on Caitlin's sadness about losing Killer Frost though, as I never started getting the sense that they were truly friends up until a couple episodes ago, and even them I still figured Caitlin didn't like having a murderer inside of her.
The episode ended with Devoe using Ralph's shapeshifting powers to return to his original actor's likeness, which I was happy about because it lets his characterization set in more as opposed to different bodies supposed to be the same person. Clifford then revealed that Harry's overload of dark matter also gave him the dosage of such matter that he needs to power whatever his enlightenment machine is, and we will no doubt find out what his grand plan is in just a few episodes.
Wow that was a jump forward in story; Devoe now has all the bus metas except for one, Fallout, who seems to be the focus of next week's episode, and Team Flash lost Ralph, which I can't even put into words just how painful that is. He was funny, he was sweet, and he had come far from his douchebag-ness in the beginning of the season. However, I am %100 sure he will be restored somehow, the writers have said that he was meant to be the character that shows bring in around halfway through the shake things up, which sounds more like a lasting character than a character who appears for one season. Also, the writers expressed interest in introducing his wife from the comics, but in a later season, which sure sounds like Ralph will have to be around for that. So it was tragic to watch, but I'm sure Ralph's death will be reversed later on. I miss him already.
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