The Flash S04 EP23 Season Finale Review
And with that final episode, season four of The Flash has come to a close on a stellar season that really raised the level of content on the show. No more sloppy story telling like when it came to Zoom and Savitar, no big deviations from the plot of the season, season four was focused, linear, and worked in a clear line towards the finale dealing with Devoe. It truly felt like the season finale too, which is something I feel the past two season have been unable to capture, so without further ado, lets look into the season finale of Flash's season four.
It began by giving us the return of the police captain, long time no see, as he is getting ready to let Barry over the phone know that he will be getting his job back. Then the Enlightenment hits, power goes out all over the city and a purple wash of light baths itself across the Earth, emitting from the satellites Devoe launched. Panic ensues, all while The Thinker watches over it all. Within STAR labs the team is lost for what to do until Iris arrives with Marlize, and the episode wastes no time in throwing us into the real meat of the episode. Using Cecil's powers of telepathy, paying off that entire side plot, they link Barry into Devoe's mind. (They even pull a huge comic book reference I had thought they weren't going to do, in which Barry is hooked into Devoe's thinking cap!) Marlize's plan involves finding the good part of Devoe which has been locked deep down inside the new villainous don of the Thinker. While inside Devoe's mind we are treated to the return of the floating chair version of the Thinker from earlier in the season, who acts as a creeping horror in the mind-space Barry must traverse.
During this, there is a brief moment of set up for Caitlin's story in season 5, if I'm reading into it right. Cecil grabs a hold of Caitlin during her contractions (Cause she's giving birth during the finale), and does her little trick of entering someone's mind and says something about "Thomas" "not always been this way", or something like that. What could that be? Guess we'll find out next season, probably something to do with Caitlin's father since his recent introduction into the show's canon.
At a loss for where to find the good Devoe, Barry implores Marlize and the team for help, and Harry, poor poor Harry who can barely speak at this point and stands around smiling, convinces Cisco to help him use the thinking cap once more. Hesitantly, Cisco agrees, and while Harry points them in the direction of the place where Marlize and Clifford met, then gives Cisco a loving hug, the last of Harry's brain is fried by the thinking cap and he is left in a muttering, mindless state of being. It was a touching scene between the two of them, and a heartbreaking goodbye to Harry (though it would not stick). Following this, the team pointed out that much of the garble Harry spoke was identical to what Barry was saying when he left the speed force earlier this season, and Harry was even scribbling out those symbols Barry was. This wasn't elaborated on, but I sure hope it will, because that seems like a major plot point, especially Harry writing the speed force symbols that Barry and coffee shop girl had been writing down.
So Barry goes to the picnic of the Devoes' first date and finds nothing to point them towards good Clifford, but then one of the definite highlights of the episode came when we hear the word, "Rookie?" spoken by someone off screen and Barry turns to find RALPH looking disheveled and lost. Trapped within Devoe's mind, we finally get the return of Ralph, and while he and Barry finally reunite, floating chair Devoe finds them and subsequently finds Team Flash. That was a tense point of the episode, seeing Cisco vibe to grab Harry and bring him back to the group felt like they were truly hiding and in genuine danger, but Marlize manages to use Devoe's chair that she had stolen to provide a barrier between them and him when he arrives, and she teleports them all sans Clifford to the pocket dimension the Thinker had used. It felt like a race against the clock of Devoe coming, especially since they had no way of defeating him in a real fight, and that danger of them having to run but having nowhere to hide was tremendously effectual for the stakes of the episode.
Ralph provides the idea of going back to when Clifford was a simple professor, and it is there that they find the good Devoe; dead. This is heartbreaking to Marlize who now knows that her husband is completely gone, and Barry comes to the conclusion that it isn't good Devoe that they need to find, they just have to return Ralph to the nexus of Clifford's mind, the point where Barry had entered it. It is Ralph's body, and once his mind takes control, Devoe will be eradicated from existence. So they set out, Ralph donning his old outfit once again, and the two face off again a legion of Devoes. During this, Thinker manages to track down Team Flash and subdues them all within moments, even turning Joe's gun against him...which then provided for one of the most badass moments of the finale in which Joe resisted Devoe's mind control and pointed the gun back at the villain. Of course it still did not work, and Thinker moved to choke out Cecil, planning on killing her which would severe the tether to pull Barry out of Devoe's mind, and Barry and all of his abilities would become another part of Devoe. He revealed that this was the reason he never hunted down The Flash during the whole season, because he knew that they would resort to the plan Marlize had given them, and it was then that he could steal Barry's powers and travel through time, amassing ultimate knowledge of the world. This does not come to pass, as Barry manages to get Ralph back in control, and Devoe hatefully loses control and transforms back into Ralph, while Marlize shuts down the Enlightenment with Devoe no longer controlling it. Villain vanquished, defeated...or so they thought?
Team Flash celebrates, but before being shunted out of Ralph's body, Devoe activated a procedure on his floating chair that created an AI version of himself to keep living. Another huge comic book reference that I am so glad they managed to fit into the season, even if just for the single scene it was in, because computer AI Devoe was something I was very hopeful to see, and almost poetic that Devoe resorted to technology in the end after despising it so. It turned out that he never planned on doing anything himself, as Marlize's tearful goodbye to her husband ended in her ripping out the power source of the chair, permanently dispatching him, while also setting the STAR labs satellite on a collision with Earth. Using Dwarfstar's powers, Devoe had multiplied the mass to the point where the impact would destroy everything, and it becomes the finale act of heroism to stop it. Cisco, Ralph, and the others move to help pedestrians from the smaller pieces of debris while Barry sets himself up for a super sonic punch that will obliterate the falling satellite. Marlize points out that at the rate the thing of falling, and its mass, it may very well destroy Barry upon impact, but the scarlet speedster still builds up his speed and launches himself towards the satellite...then everything stops. For a moment everything is still, and then its moving again, but backwards. We see the same scene of Barry running but in reverse, then it all starts again, only this time there is another speedster running behind him trailing purple and yellow lightning. We lead back up to Barry throwing himself at the satellite, but this time we see another arm outstretched to hit it as well. The satellite blows, Barry returns to everyone with a tattered costume, and the Team celebrates another victory over the big bad while Cecil gives birth to a new baby girl.
A baby shower takes place, in which we get the surprise return of Wally who looks to be sticking around for next season, and is sporting maybe his fourth new hair style this season. Marlize takes off, planning on helping the world once again with her technology just as she did before she joined Clifford, but before she goes she gives them a device that is meant to restore Harry's brain. It does, but not in the way they expected. He is back, but average, no longer super intelligent, and while Cisco is distraught by this, Harry is overjoyed and glad he can live his life undefined by his intelligence, and heartfully thanks Cisco and the team as his family before leaving to be with his daughter. Cecil's daughter is named Jenna Marie West (I think, may not remember correct but it was something along those lines), and Iris makes a comment to Barry that they will be next. Barry becomes flustered and anxious despite Iris assuring him their child will be something for the far future, nothing soon, and as if on cue there is intense knocking on the door and in comes the coffee shop girl. They all recognize her, and Iris recognizes the jacket that she is wearing, the same that goes with Iris' speedster costume. It is then that coffee shop girl reveals that she is Barry and Iris' daughter, Nora, from the future, and she made a very big mistake.
What a spectacular ride, and certainty the best season finale since the conclusion of season 1. This season started off a bit slow, a bit passable without stakes, but you wouldn't even remember that by how this season has panned out. Season four turned out better than I ever expected, there are times where I wonder if it might even be better than the first season! Devoe's plans was perfect, made sense, and every action he took felt right, every time he wasn't making a move it made sense, and each episode of the season (for the most part) contributed to the over all story. Clifford Devoe himself, The Thinker, was an extremely deep and well developed villain who understandably could stand a chance against Barry despite not being a speedster, and I'm excited for more non speedster villains in the future. The arc of Barry in prison was a touching one, and I still remember Big Sir after everything that has happened. Ralph is by far the best new character in a long time though, and one I am delighted will be sticking around for future seasons. Initially, I thought that the show would lose some of its magic without a big mystery of who was under the villainous mask, as the three previous seasons had done, but I think it was right for this season to do away with it as it managed to develop Devoe since day 1 instead of restricting that for a big reveal later on, which was the issue with Savitar. There was still a mystery person provided this season, being the revealed Nora Allen (though it wasn't much of a surprise that she was Barry's daughter), which was a good identity mystery that made us think without impacting the quality of the story at large. This season was great, brought out the best in the characters (despite some issues with Caitlin's story as a whole), and progressed each of their arcs in a meaningful way. Season four of The Flash was great, the Thinker has become one of my favorite new superhero villains of all time, and Elongated Man one of my favorite superheroes of all time, and I cannot wait for the show to return in the fall!
It began by giving us the return of the police captain, long time no see, as he is getting ready to let Barry over the phone know that he will be getting his job back. Then the Enlightenment hits, power goes out all over the city and a purple wash of light baths itself across the Earth, emitting from the satellites Devoe launched. Panic ensues, all while The Thinker watches over it all. Within STAR labs the team is lost for what to do until Iris arrives with Marlize, and the episode wastes no time in throwing us into the real meat of the episode. Using Cecil's powers of telepathy, paying off that entire side plot, they link Barry into Devoe's mind. (They even pull a huge comic book reference I had thought they weren't going to do, in which Barry is hooked into Devoe's thinking cap!) Marlize's plan involves finding the good part of Devoe which has been locked deep down inside the new villainous don of the Thinker. While inside Devoe's mind we are treated to the return of the floating chair version of the Thinker from earlier in the season, who acts as a creeping horror in the mind-space Barry must traverse.
During this, there is a brief moment of set up for Caitlin's story in season 5, if I'm reading into it right. Cecil grabs a hold of Caitlin during her contractions (Cause she's giving birth during the finale), and does her little trick of entering someone's mind and says something about "Thomas" "not always been this way", or something like that. What could that be? Guess we'll find out next season, probably something to do with Caitlin's father since his recent introduction into the show's canon.
At a loss for where to find the good Devoe, Barry implores Marlize and the team for help, and Harry, poor poor Harry who can barely speak at this point and stands around smiling, convinces Cisco to help him use the thinking cap once more. Hesitantly, Cisco agrees, and while Harry points them in the direction of the place where Marlize and Clifford met, then gives Cisco a loving hug, the last of Harry's brain is fried by the thinking cap and he is left in a muttering, mindless state of being. It was a touching scene between the two of them, and a heartbreaking goodbye to Harry (though it would not stick). Following this, the team pointed out that much of the garble Harry spoke was identical to what Barry was saying when he left the speed force earlier this season, and Harry was even scribbling out those symbols Barry was. This wasn't elaborated on, but I sure hope it will, because that seems like a major plot point, especially Harry writing the speed force symbols that Barry and coffee shop girl had been writing down.
So Barry goes to the picnic of the Devoes' first date and finds nothing to point them towards good Clifford, but then one of the definite highlights of the episode came when we hear the word, "Rookie?" spoken by someone off screen and Barry turns to find RALPH looking disheveled and lost. Trapped within Devoe's mind, we finally get the return of Ralph, and while he and Barry finally reunite, floating chair Devoe finds them and subsequently finds Team Flash. That was a tense point of the episode, seeing Cisco vibe to grab Harry and bring him back to the group felt like they were truly hiding and in genuine danger, but Marlize manages to use Devoe's chair that she had stolen to provide a barrier between them and him when he arrives, and she teleports them all sans Clifford to the pocket dimension the Thinker had used. It felt like a race against the clock of Devoe coming, especially since they had no way of defeating him in a real fight, and that danger of them having to run but having nowhere to hide was tremendously effectual for the stakes of the episode.
Ralph provides the idea of going back to when Clifford was a simple professor, and it is there that they find the good Devoe; dead. This is heartbreaking to Marlize who now knows that her husband is completely gone, and Barry comes to the conclusion that it isn't good Devoe that they need to find, they just have to return Ralph to the nexus of Clifford's mind, the point where Barry had entered it. It is Ralph's body, and once his mind takes control, Devoe will be eradicated from existence. So they set out, Ralph donning his old outfit once again, and the two face off again a legion of Devoes. During this, Thinker manages to track down Team Flash and subdues them all within moments, even turning Joe's gun against him...which then provided for one of the most badass moments of the finale in which Joe resisted Devoe's mind control and pointed the gun back at the villain. Of course it still did not work, and Thinker moved to choke out Cecil, planning on killing her which would severe the tether to pull Barry out of Devoe's mind, and Barry and all of his abilities would become another part of Devoe. He revealed that this was the reason he never hunted down The Flash during the whole season, because he knew that they would resort to the plan Marlize had given them, and it was then that he could steal Barry's powers and travel through time, amassing ultimate knowledge of the world. This does not come to pass, as Barry manages to get Ralph back in control, and Devoe hatefully loses control and transforms back into Ralph, while Marlize shuts down the Enlightenment with Devoe no longer controlling it. Villain vanquished, defeated...or so they thought?
Team Flash celebrates, but before being shunted out of Ralph's body, Devoe activated a procedure on his floating chair that created an AI version of himself to keep living. Another huge comic book reference that I am so glad they managed to fit into the season, even if just for the single scene it was in, because computer AI Devoe was something I was very hopeful to see, and almost poetic that Devoe resorted to technology in the end after despising it so. It turned out that he never planned on doing anything himself, as Marlize's tearful goodbye to her husband ended in her ripping out the power source of the chair, permanently dispatching him, while also setting the STAR labs satellite on a collision with Earth. Using Dwarfstar's powers, Devoe had multiplied the mass to the point where the impact would destroy everything, and it becomes the finale act of heroism to stop it. Cisco, Ralph, and the others move to help pedestrians from the smaller pieces of debris while Barry sets himself up for a super sonic punch that will obliterate the falling satellite. Marlize points out that at the rate the thing of falling, and its mass, it may very well destroy Barry upon impact, but the scarlet speedster still builds up his speed and launches himself towards the satellite...then everything stops. For a moment everything is still, and then its moving again, but backwards. We see the same scene of Barry running but in reverse, then it all starts again, only this time there is another speedster running behind him trailing purple and yellow lightning. We lead back up to Barry throwing himself at the satellite, but this time we see another arm outstretched to hit it as well. The satellite blows, Barry returns to everyone with a tattered costume, and the Team celebrates another victory over the big bad while Cecil gives birth to a new baby girl.
A baby shower takes place, in which we get the surprise return of Wally who looks to be sticking around for next season, and is sporting maybe his fourth new hair style this season. Marlize takes off, planning on helping the world once again with her technology just as she did before she joined Clifford, but before she goes she gives them a device that is meant to restore Harry's brain. It does, but not in the way they expected. He is back, but average, no longer super intelligent, and while Cisco is distraught by this, Harry is overjoyed and glad he can live his life undefined by his intelligence, and heartfully thanks Cisco and the team as his family before leaving to be with his daughter. Cecil's daughter is named Jenna Marie West (I think, may not remember correct but it was something along those lines), and Iris makes a comment to Barry that they will be next. Barry becomes flustered and anxious despite Iris assuring him their child will be something for the far future, nothing soon, and as if on cue there is intense knocking on the door and in comes the coffee shop girl. They all recognize her, and Iris recognizes the jacket that she is wearing, the same that goes with Iris' speedster costume. It is then that coffee shop girl reveals that she is Barry and Iris' daughter, Nora, from the future, and she made a very big mistake.
What a spectacular ride, and certainty the best season finale since the conclusion of season 1. This season started off a bit slow, a bit passable without stakes, but you wouldn't even remember that by how this season has panned out. Season four turned out better than I ever expected, there are times where I wonder if it might even be better than the first season! Devoe's plans was perfect, made sense, and every action he took felt right, every time he wasn't making a move it made sense, and each episode of the season (for the most part) contributed to the over all story. Clifford Devoe himself, The Thinker, was an extremely deep and well developed villain who understandably could stand a chance against Barry despite not being a speedster, and I'm excited for more non speedster villains in the future. The arc of Barry in prison was a touching one, and I still remember Big Sir after everything that has happened. Ralph is by far the best new character in a long time though, and one I am delighted will be sticking around for future seasons. Initially, I thought that the show would lose some of its magic without a big mystery of who was under the villainous mask, as the three previous seasons had done, but I think it was right for this season to do away with it as it managed to develop Devoe since day 1 instead of restricting that for a big reveal later on, which was the issue with Savitar. There was still a mystery person provided this season, being the revealed Nora Allen (though it wasn't much of a surprise that she was Barry's daughter), which was a good identity mystery that made us think without impacting the quality of the story at large. This season was great, brought out the best in the characters (despite some issues with Caitlin's story as a whole), and progressed each of their arcs in a meaningful way. Season four of The Flash was great, the Thinker has become one of my favorite new superhero villains of all time, and Elongated Man one of my favorite superheroes of all time, and I cannot wait for the show to return in the fall!
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