We saw who DeVoe was before he became the Thinker, what drove him to such extremes, and, most interestingly, his relationship with the Mechanic, aka his wife Marlize. It’s not often we’ve gotten the chance on the show to see a villain with loved ones, let alone making those bonds a central part of their plan; in some ways, Marlize and DeVoe’s relationship almost felt like a darker echo of Barry and Iris’s, what with the constant emphasis on how the Thinker would never have existed without Marlize. It also gave us an odd but neat explanation for DeVoe leaving Barry to his own devices during the upcoming crossover—his respect for love and marriage even extends to his enemies.
The fascinating parallels between Barry and DeVoe only got stronger when the show journeyed back to the pilot itself to show us the birth of DeVoe’s as the Thinker after being struck by the same lightning that turned Barry into the Flash. (Also special shout out to hair and make-up artists on the show, if I hadn’t known better I never would have guessed the scene with Thawne was shot years apart from the original.) It’s still unclear at the moment why exactly DeVoe has a vendetta against Barry, but all of these similarities help to make their relationship already feel personal. And given Barry’s extreme reaction to meeting the Thinker in purpose, it seems like it won’t be long before the antagonism deepens.
But perhaps the most enjoyable part of Barry’s rampant Thinker paranoia was that it brought out side of him that we don’t often see anymore—the perpetual outsider. One of the things that first set Barry apart during our initial introduction to his character was that he was a loner, prone to believing in seemingly impossible conspiracy theories no one else would. This trait seemed to disappear early on, since everyone in his life quickly started changing their definitions of impossible after seeing him in action, but you always got the sense that defined most of Barry’s pre-superhero life, so it was nice to see that it wasn’t completely gone.
While pitting Barry against the rest of the team would likely have been impractical to carry on for too long given how much he relies on them, it would have been interesting to see it extend beyond one episode. The team really had no reason to believe Barry’s account of his confrontation with DeVoe at the end of the episode given his earlier behavior, and having Barry desperate to prove the Thinker’s existence to the rest of the team would have been quite the set up for the midseason finale. Nevertheless, Barry’s calm but firm resolution to take that they need to take their time before making a move against DeVoe that he imparts to the rest of the team is quite impactful.
More than anything this really illustrated the benefits of having a non- speedster villain. Barry’s tendency towards leaping into action is a good thing when he’s going up the fastest men the multiverse has to offer, but here it ends up being more of a liability then an advantage. While this new conflict may not fix the ongoing meta of the week problem the show has, it shows that series is certainly capable of creating a compelling antagonist, and, for the first time since the Reverse Flash was defeated, you actually believe Barry when he the threat they’re up against is greater than it ever has been before.
Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer
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