One common criticism of last season was that it got rather dark and strayed too much from the series’ ultimately lighthearted tone. This time around there seems to be conscious effort to avoid falling into a rut of doom and gloom by following every heartbreak or plot twist with an over-the- top, silly romp. The problem with going back and forth like this is that said romps are completely separate from the main Thinker plot and feel more like filler fluff we’re meant to sit through until actual storyline picks up again rather than moments of genuine levity. And it certainly doesn’t help that every one of these jaunts seems to center around Ralph, a character whose fan reception has been lukewarm at the best of times.
Hartley Sawyer makes an admirable to imbue Ralph with comedic energy, but there’s only so much he can do with writing this flat and lifeless. Ralph comes across as a cartoon character more often than not—and not just because the bad animation his powers require. Every gag he has is about how rude or sexist of a person he is, and every heroic speech he attempts is riddled with enough clichés listening to the actual dialogue is almost pointless. Predictably, Ralph’s first real bad guys weren’t able to pick up any of his slack in the character department either.
There’s a certain charm to the idea of a mother/son villain duo, but neither Prank nor the Trickster possesses the gleeful charisma of Mark Hamill (who presumably couldn’t be persuaded to leave his space island and drop by) that made the original Trickster a bona fide supervillain rather than crook with a joke gimmick. And given how amateurish the two are, it seems totally unbelievable that a seasoned hero like Cisco or a lethal combatant like Killer Frost would be so easily overpowered by them or even that a newbie like Ralph would be convinced they’d send him to death’s doorstep. Were really that much indeed of another superhero origins story that we had to invent threats out of whole cloth for him to rise to meet? Just last year we saw Cisco, Jesse, and Wally all suit up for the first time, and yet they’ve all been made bench warmers so we can focus on another new guy. At some point, the rookie hero charm starts wears off and just becomes tiring.
There were a few highlights in the episode, nonetheless, mostly focused on Barry reconnecting with his father’s old friend in prison, but the moment that will no doubt have fans talking the most is the ending glimpse of Jessica Parker Kennedy’s as of yet unnamed character. All signs seem to point to her being the daughter of Barry and Iris—time-travelling does run in the family after all—and the fact that her journal is written in the same Speed Force language Barry used back in the premiere will undoubtedly be taken as a confirmation by some sectors of the fandom.
Seeing this special writing become significant again does make me wonder if the Speed Force will have a larger to play in the conflict against DeVoe; the Speed Force is a mystical force of nature and seems like it would be outside the realm of his deductions. The fact that he was able to get Barry sent back to Earth had more to do with manipulating the team than understanding the energy itself or what the limits of its influence are. Comedy has helped THE FLASH far more often than it has hurt it, but the prospect of sitting through more Ralph having wacky misadventures, as all the previews for the next few episodes indicate, when we have such exciting potential bombshells waiting for us in the main story is making this one bitter pill to swallow.
Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer
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