THE FLASH Season 4 Episode 2: Love in a Time of Meta-Humans

The new whimsical and lighthearted tone THE FLASH adopted during its Season Four debut continued into this week with a mostly charming rom-com style plot line, mixed in with the standard super heroics, of course. The blend of genres worked was pretty seamless, all things considered; interpersonal relationships between the different characters have always driven the show (or at least they do when the show is at its best), and in many ways the Barry/Iris love story provides the framework for the whole series. Some of the gags were undoubtedly cliche, but it was still fun and refreshing to watch Grant Gustin and Candice Patton stretch their comedic muscles after a whole season of doom and gloom-- and I have the impression the writers agree given the self- deprecating jokes about Barry and Iris’s never ending list of past traumas. 

And while the story was mostly played for laughs, there was just enough depth to Barry and Iris’s communications problems so as to keep it from feeling like total filler fluff. THE FLASH has often used time-skips as a convenient way to avoid having its characters do any realistic sort of grieving (remember how awkward it was to watch Caitlin romance Fake Jay Garrick only two or three episodes after her husband’s death?), so it was nice to see Iris get to express some understandable frustration and hurt at being left behind so suddenly. The final understanding she and Barry reach where they affirm their commitment and proclaim “we are the Flash” was simple but oh- so heartwarming. True, it’s a little silly Iris got over her misgivings after only five minutes of therapy, but it’s still more than we normally see on a show this fast-paced (awful pun intended), so I’ll take it. 

In fact what brought this episode down were the standard bits of superhero-ing thanks to yet another lackluster villain. It’s no secret that the show has struggled in this area, but it stood out more than ever in this episode because of how little it really required from its baddie. Not every episode needs a grand evil mastermind; in this case, all the villain had to do was simply serve as an adequate plot device so Barry and Iris would have a reason to start arguing. But it seems like even that is asking too much of this lackluster rogues gallery. Not only was Kilgore given a laughably flimsy back story, but the effects used for his techno-path abilities were so awful it was a major distraction every time he was onscreen. Being such a laughingstock also means our heroes only look even more ridiculous for being unable to head to head with him (particularly Wally, who seems to be treated like more and more of a joke character these days). 

I’m choosing to be optimistic about The Thinker as a main villain for the series, if only because we finally have a non-speedster big bad, but given what we know of his master plan so far it seems like there are going to be several more villains of the week sent Team Flash’s way before he finally makes a play. I suppose it’s a slight comfort that these villains are part of a larger scheme of Thinker’s, but after three seasons of constantly disappointing one-off rogues, you have to wonder why the writers are so intent on sticking to a formula that consistently comes up short and satisfies no one. It’s great to see the series branching out when it comes to exploring our heroes’ personal lives, but it’s high time this creative energy got channelled into retooling the show's cyclical and boring villain problem. Otherwise, we’ve doomed even the funny and genre- crossing plot lines like couples therapy for superheroes to be indefinitely stuck at ‘good not great’ level because of the shadow this antagonist rut continues to cast.

Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer

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