FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 4×06 “When Harry met Harry”

Directed by:       Brent
Crowell

So, while
our main plot for the season is still in the opening stages (read that as they
don’t really want to go all-in until after the obnoxious fan-favorite
four-night crossover is done.  They’re
fighting Nazis guys, because that hasn’t been done to death in 2017!) it’s best
to just take things slowly.  Barry and
Ralph agree that’s why they’re getting a cup of coffee at Jitters.  Of course, since they’re two superheroes they
accosted by a mugger with a gun and Barry takes this as a teachable moment for
Ralph. 

Ralph
accidently redirects the bullets into the mugger and while Ralph (and I,)
consider this a success (he’s a mugger after all, he deserves a bullet in the
ass), Barry doesn’t.  But it’s fine, I’m sure
they’ll resolve their difference over this philosophy because this was very
foreshadow-y.

Anyway, the
Thinker’s sidekick is very concerned because apparently Team Flash is closer to
finding them than they calculated but he’s so unconcerned he’s hitting space
bar on the conversation and skipping to his glib conversation closers.  I’ll take the hint and move on as well.

Back at STAR
Labs, despite the Thinker’s sidekick’s concern Team Flash actually seems pretty
stumped so Harry’s calling some “friends.” 
Barry and Ralph decide to continue to work the bus incident and go in
for some hypnotism. 

And of
course it’s Barry and Iris’ marriage counselor (probably because she’s got good
comic timing) and with a little bit of cutting we’re reliving the bus from
Ralph’s POV.  He talks to the Weeper then
sees the back of a woman with a Black Bison on her coat.

So the girl
with the Black Bison coat is standing outside a warehouse at night while some
ominous looking guy walks to his car.  He
gets attacked by a panther statue but I’m sure it’s unrelated.

The next day
Cisco comes to meet friends but it turns out they’re e-commuting via hologram…
and they’re all from different Earths and they’re all Harrison Wells.  *insert Rick and Morty Council of Ricks joke
here*

This review
is picking up speed.

Caitlin has
taken a look at the statue that ate the guy and it’s just a statue but it’s got
some Dark Energy traces left behind. Meanwhile, Joe’s found out the guy was an
auctioneer that was moving Native American artifacts, one of which was a Black
Bison necklace that was separated into three pieces.  They don’t know where the third piece is but
they have a lead on the second piece.

This is a
job for Flash and the Elongated Man! 
Time for the super suit, Cisco!

Well, it’s a
first draft.

Across town,
our collector is hanging out with the Black Bison and after some back and forth
she shows the collectors and us how her power works by animating a suit of
armor to kill the guy.  This is when
Barry and Ralph arrive on the scene and the suit of armor makes quick work of
Ralph while Black Bison runs off leaving Barry to stop the suit from killing
the guy. 

The gang
regroup at STAR Labs and figure out that of all the stuff in the guy’s
collection she used the armor to attack him… which means she can only control
objects that look like people or animals.  It’s a leap in logic but acceptable.  Iris then identifies her as a recently fired
Anthropology Professor that has been arrested for trying to steal Native
American artifacts from museums and private collections.

Barry and
Ralph then clash over some philosophic differences.  The question of course, is it more important
to save people in the moment or stop the villain which saves more in the long
run?  But before they can come to an
agreement on that moral dilemma Iris comes back with a possible location on the
third piece of the necklace.  It had been
on display at the Museum but they’ve decided to move it to a secure location via
armored car after the first two attacks. 
Suit up!

Luckily for
Black Bison, they’re also moving a cave man statue with the necklace so she’s
able to use that to attack the guys in the truck.  Barry and Ralph arrive and while the cave man
statue manages to get the jump on Barry, Ralph hinders Black Bison’s
escape.  But only for a moment because
Barry is actually thrown into an electrical pole and puts people in danger and
a little girl gets hurt.

Because of
that girl, Ralph finally sees what Barry had been trying to tell him about
protecting people first.  But it’s okay,
after all they caught Black Bison, right? 

So Bison
escapes from her holding cell after stealing a cop’s name tag to pick her meta-dampening
hand cuffs and she attacks the police station using a SWAT armor display.  Barry and Ralph confront her at the Museum
because if you’re going to fight a woman that can control statues you have to
have them fight a dinosaur skeleton.

While the
boys fight, she tries to “reclaim” more things which Barry uses against her to
distract her long enough to put the cuffs on her and the day is saved.

Back at the
Lab, Barry finds Ralph to talk about the fate of Black Bison.  Unfortunately the Bison Necklace has gone “missing”
because Ralph mailed it to the nearest Lakota Reservation before he heads off
to visit the little girl in the hospital.

Even better,
Cisco and Harry have found out which DeVoe is the Thinker and it’s time to
confront their villain…  All that stuff I
said about them biding their time with the main arc of the season until after
the four part crossover.  You can just
forget it!  It’s go time!  Flash vs Thinker! Battle of the ages!

Too bad he’s
just a regular guy in a regular wheel chair with a hot wife instead of a
techno-armored villain in a techno-wheelchair with a hot sidekick. 

Well that’s
a letdown.

Not the
episode, mind you.  The episode was
pretty good, a little preachy as is so often the case when Native American
characters come into play but it wasn’t obtrusive.  I like the journey Ralph and Barry
dynamic.  He’s shaken up the team’s
chemistry in a good way and it gives Barry a chance to train someone in a
different way than he trained Wally.

As for the
Thinker, they’re doing just enough with him to keep things moving and I like
that.  We don’t need a ton of him right
now since he’s not an active threat to the Team.

As for the
Council of Ricks I mean Wells… Let’s just move along.

All in all,
solid episode.

Three Things We
Learned This Week: