It has come to this point in this season of "The Flash" that I am looking for anything to indicate that we are not just going to go the goofy and stupid route, however, everything so far hasn't really given that vipe. The last few episodes have done nothing but introducing cringeworthy villains and had some of the worst humor that this show has ever had. It was a huge turn-around from the very serious tone of Season 3, but it didn't fit the overall tone that "The Flash" had in the first place. I still don't see where the season is going and I am having a hard time finding the red thread in all of this, but if this episode did anything, it was increasing my enthusiasm about the show, because this episode was a return to form for the show. I couldn't have enjoyed the progress of this episode more as it was a combination of funny humor and serious development in both the characters and the storyline. If the upcoming episode is able to keep up this momentum, I think we could be in for something different.
The big thing that I took away from this episode was the dynamic and the conflict between the team members. Most noticably, Barry and Caitlin who took completely different sides when it came to helping the newly introduced Ralph Dibny. I love when the writers make both parts seem reasonable, and in this episode I totally understood where both Barry and Caitlin were coming from. It didn't feel forced, nor did it feel out-of-place, because Caitlin has never really had her voice on the team, since the story arc with Ronnie Raymond in the first season, so I liked that she got to be the one with the voice this time.
The subplot featuring Cisco going up against Danny Trejo's Breacher was also very funny and felt almost like some kind of action film from the '80s. I loved the tone of the subplot as well as the progression, because it never felt like any of the characters were over-doing it at any point, but more like they were exploring their characters. And this is the first time we see Breacher, so it was cool to see some other characters from Earth-19, and Trejo played the character just perfect. There was also a nice little reference to the episode when we first saw Gypsy, and I thought that was a very funny reference.
I also loved the overall arc of this episode, and the fact that it felt like a Season 1 episode. They are really going for that vipe in this season, but because of some very cringeworthy villains, I feel like they have failed that in the previous episodes. The meta that we get introduced to this time is Ralph Dibny, and he was a great presence in the episode, and Hartley Sawyer gave a very good performance as the character, who I am assuming is going to have a bigger role in the season than first anticipated. I will look forward to seeing more of him, but I do think they need to write some better jokes for him, because some of the jokes in the episode were really not that good.
And that leads me into the more negative part of the episode, which is the entire subplot with the mayor suddenly turning out to be some evil gangster. I know that he wasn't really a gangster, but his entire arc in this episode just made it look that way, and it didn't fit into the tone that they were going with for the rest of the episode. I also think that the character of Mayor Bellows wasn't set up nearly enough as he should have been. Actually, I think the writers made a big disservice to the character by just making him another disappointing and forgettable villain of the week.
The big thing that I took away from this episode was the dynamic and the conflict between the team members. Most noticably, Barry and Caitlin who took completely different sides when it came to helping the newly introduced Ralph Dibny. I love when the writers make both parts seem reasonable, and in this episode I totally understood where both Barry and Caitlin were coming from. It didn't feel forced, nor did it feel out-of-place, because Caitlin has never really had her voice on the team, since the story arc with Ronnie Raymond in the first season, so I liked that she got to be the one with the voice this time.
The subplot featuring Cisco going up against Danny Trejo's Breacher was also very funny and felt almost like some kind of action film from the '80s. I loved the tone of the subplot as well as the progression, because it never felt like any of the characters were over-doing it at any point, but more like they were exploring their characters. And this is the first time we see Breacher, so it was cool to see some other characters from Earth-19, and Trejo played the character just perfect. There was also a nice little reference to the episode when we first saw Gypsy, and I thought that was a very funny reference.
I also loved the overall arc of this episode, and the fact that it felt like a Season 1 episode. They are really going for that vipe in this season, but because of some very cringeworthy villains, I feel like they have failed that in the previous episodes. The meta that we get introduced to this time is Ralph Dibny, and he was a great presence in the episode, and Hartley Sawyer gave a very good performance as the character, who I am assuming is going to have a bigger role in the season than first anticipated. I will look forward to seeing more of him, but I do think they need to write some better jokes for him, because some of the jokes in the episode were really not that good.
And that leads me into the more negative part of the episode, which is the entire subplot with the mayor suddenly turning out to be some evil gangster. I know that he wasn't really a gangster, but his entire arc in this episode just made it look that way, and it didn't fit into the tone that they were going with for the rest of the episode. I also think that the character of Mayor Bellows wasn't set up nearly enough as he should have been. Actually, I think the writers made a big disservice to the character by just making him another disappointing and forgettable villain of the week.