THE FLASH Season 4 Episode 13 Review: True Colors

It’s ironic that one of Season 4’s greatest strengths has also managed to be its Achilles’ Heel time and time again—its villains. On the one hand, we have the Thinker, the first genuinely compelling big bad the show has had since the far-off days of the Reverse-Flash. And then we have the never- ending parade of mindless metas of the week, each as forgettable as the last. To be fair, this has been a problem plaguing the show since its start, but recently it has gotten bad enough that it’s actively distracting from the main story. In theory, an episode like this that forces Barry to team up with his rogues gallery should be a slam-dunk; everyone loves a reluctant partnership that keeps you guessing which wildcard is going to be the one to doublecross everyone first. But aside from Hazard, none of these villains have any personality or distinguishing characteristics. There’s no line of dialogue delivered by any of the characters that couldn’t be easily switched over to another member of their prison gang, because nothing said ever rose above standard moustache twirling. Even Barry can’t mix up any of the dry dialogue, since he’s trying not to blow his cover by acting silent and stoic. 

And if you were hoping that our other heroes could save us from the mind-numbing blandness of these villains, then think again, because what we got instead another Ralph Learns to Be a Decent Human Being subplot. For those keeping track, yes, it does hit the same identical beats as every other Elongated Man story: Ralph acts cocky on a mission, fails spectacularly, lashes out at the rest of the team, but then learns an important lesson about friendship and saves the day. Lather, rinse, repeat. Ralph’s gone through so many life coaches that now even Killer Frost, of all people, has now been relegated to give him pep talks. 

Maybe one day someone will figure out how to actually grow Ralph as a character instead of keeping him trapped in the same cycle of developing and regressing, but at this point hasn’t he had enough chances to prove himself? It’s time we just cut our losses and put him on another bus and leave Central City behind, frankly. The only real positive to come of his time as Elongated Man is that his convenient new shapeshifting powers were able to clear Barry’s name. 

I’m not sure Barry’s Get Out of Jail Free card was entirely earned—even by Central City standards, it’s a little weird that it took almost no effort to convince everyone DeVoe was back from the dead—but there also wasn’t much story left to be mined by keeping Barry in prison, so I understand why the writers wanted to wrap that arc up quickly. Barry’s welcoming party certainly makes a neat note to end things on before the Winter Olymics hiatus, so it can come back freshly re-energized and without a drag on its continuity like the Flash being behind bars. 

But if we’re discussing the real saving grace of this episode, we have to return again to villains. I was initially worried another body-swapping baddie would feel too similar to the Reverse-Flash, but I’m actually enjoying DeVoe constantly switching host bodies, which feels distinct enough from Thawne hijacking Harrison Wells’ life. I’m quite intrigued by the idea that this will continue throughout the rest of his story and by season’s end we’ll have seen a plethora of actors portraying DeVoe. Not only does it make the Thinker a more menacing villain, but it’s a rebirth for the character each time he’s reincarnated. Sugar Lyn Beard’s haunting dance with Marlize wouldn’t have worked if it had still been Neil Sandilands or Kendrick Sampson as DeVoe, but with her eerie, almost singsong way of delivering lines it felt like a natural extension of the character; the end result was one of the creepiest scenes the series has ever had. Maybe Barry is still a long way off from having the proper rogues’ gallery he deserves, but you can’t deny he’s got a stellar gallery of DeVoes, and it’s high time they were able to break the five minute screen time watershed, especially when we aren’t being given much else in return.

Written by Katilin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer

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