THE FLASH Season 4 Episode 9 Review: Don't Run

The winter finale of THE FLASH gave us one of the most exciting twists the series has ever done and provided the set up for the show to adapt the famous “Trial of the Flash” storyline in a unique way that will be leave fans on the edge of their seats in the months to come. Unfortunately, this all happened in the last five minutes, and we had to sit through forty dull and mostly pointless minutes to get to it. It started off enjoyably enough, giving with some wonderful classic Team Flash banter, although I do wish it had been focused on the recent wedding rather than the holidays. Obviously, Barry and Iris’s nuptials were featured quite a bit in last week’s crossover, but that was mostly as a destination for the various heroes to gather. I’d like the see how the team reacts to the recent change in the status quo, or whether they even see it as a change, but perhaps that’s being saved for the New Year. We didn’t get anything particularly compelling to take the spotlight however, as two members of the team got fairly standard kidnapping plots. 

I do appreciate that Barry’s speed force prison and Amunet’s abduction of Caitlin were more or less intended to be simple distractions by DeVoe so that he could focus on his masterplan of framing Barry for his murder, but keeping the stakes so low throughout the majority of the episode meant there was no sense of urgency to drive the story or to motivate our characters. Iris, for instance, faced what should have been an interesting dilemma as team leader as she was forced to put aside her natural inclination to focus on her new husband’s well-being so that the team could rescue Caitlin, but because Barry was simply spending all his time… sitting around and chatting, there was no uncertainty or drama to her decision. I also find myself a little confused as to what we were supposed to take away from Caitlin’s time as a captive — the message seemed to be that she’s capable of taking care of herself even when not as Killer Frost — but I’m not quite sure why that needed to be stated when we’ve spent almost all of the series with Caitlin as Caitlin and really only the last ten or so episodes with her as Killer Frost. 

Barry’s emotional journey in the last few moments also could have been a little clearer. I absolutely loved that the scene had almost no dialogue and that Barry’s decision not to use his powers to escape was communicated entirely through Grant Gustin’s facial expressions as he looked around the apartment at the life he and Iris built together that would be lost if he became a fugitive. But I wasn’t quite clear on why he did just speed away DeVoe’s body or the planted evidence, which could have perhaps bought him time to discern what the Thinker’s endgame was. It’s fascinating to see Barry go through essentially the very same ordeal that his father did nearly twenty years ago. Considering that event so thoroughly scarred Barry that he was still deeply traumatized decades later, it seems inevitable he won’t be in a stable state of mind, which probably only puts him further at DeVoe’s mercy. 

Speaking of DeVoe, Kendrick Sampson is a sublime actor, but I’m a little wary of the show doing another bodysnatcher plot line, as it has already been milked for all it’s worth in the past few seasons with Eobard and Wells. Maybe Brainstorm’s psychic ability means he won’t be able to vanish completely from his hijacker’s psyche, unlike the original Harrison. They definitely need something to set this take apart and keep it from being a total rehash. 

Nevertheless, this surprise ending seems to have given THE FLASH the much needed boost it to propel it forward into 2018, despite some of the more uneven storytelling elements. But THE FLASH has had some great cliffhangers that end up fizzling out quickly, unable to make the flashiness of its twists turn into real substance for the rest of the season to explore (I’m sure we all remember the mess Savitar’s prophecy turned into). Hopefully the fact that, however loosely they’re adapting the story, they already have an outline to work off of instead of making it up as they go along will allow the writers to make sure they don’t lose their momentum and waste the great potential this ending offers the show.

Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer

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