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FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 4×07 “Therefore I Am”

The Flash (4×07) – “Therefore
I Am”
Written by:         Eric Wallace & Thomas Pound
Directed by:       David
McWhirter
Okay, so
last week ended with Barry meeting DeVoe but it doesn’t seem like they got
their right guy.  What with him being a
pretty ordinary college history professor in a wheelchair.  There’s even a flashback to when he was lust
a regular college history with a noble plan to help the world expand their
minds that could be easily corrupted by human nature and circumstance but only
the audience knows that part. 
Barry and
Joe only know that this seems like a bust… Well Joe knows it, Barry seems
unconvinced which would normally mean that it’s one of those episode where the
team turns on Barry because he seems like he’s going crazy even though they
have all this evidence and several people telling them he goes toe-to-toe with
Devoe
because they don’t believe him. 
But I’m sure
they won’t do an episode straight out of TV for Dummies…  So the team doesn’t believe it’s him but they’re
humoring Barry.   
But what’s really
important is that Barry’s getting married next… It’s okay guys I didn’t forget
I was watching a show on the CW you don’t have to hammer it home.
So while
everyone goes to humor Barry with background checks, Barry goes to DeVoe to
talk to him and get a DNA sample.
So the team
doesn’t believe and sure it’s about the wedding, Iris… Because the guy that’s
been wanting to marry you since puberty started has cold feet a week out.  This needs an eye roll gif.
That’s
strike two, episode.  One more and I call
it and wrap this up.
Anyway, in
the flashbacks we see that the DeVoes have developed a prototype for their “thinking
cap” but don’t have the power to test it but luckily Eobard Wells’ Particle
Accelerator is just weeks from blowing up Central City I mean going
online.  So maybe they can use that to
power it up.  They attend the activation
ceremony and after a few pointed questions to Wells, Mrs. DeVoe figures out
that Wells doesn’t care that it’s not going to do what he’s been saying it will
do. He even knows what the DeVoes will do.
So DeVoe
puts on the helmet when the Accelerator goes online and he’s nearly killed when
the Dark Energy is released upon the system but survives a changed man.  At first it seems to work even better than he
could hope, he’s just stuffed to the brim with knowledge and confidence but
there’s a cost of course, his body’s falling apart and he’ll be dead in less
than three years.
Back in the
present, DeVoe has gone to the police to file a complaint against Barry.  Of course Iris shows up later to get Barry to
give up looking into the DeVoes and concentrate on getting married.  It’s next week, don’t cha know?
Anyway,
Barry goes back to STAR Labs and stumbles on a transmitter in the Samurai
helmet. (That they should’ve checked for instead of just mounting it in the
Lab.)  Barry decides to check the DeVoe’s
home and despite appearing to make a clean getaway, their security system got
pictures of him and he’s been suspended and the whole team has turned on him.
Despite
that, Barry goes to the university to confront Clifford.  Both men lay their cards on the table,
Clifford knows he’s the Flash.  He knows
everything about Barry in fact and everything that’s happened has been a part
of his plan.
Barry tells
them what happened, Wally returns and the gang decides that it’s more important
for Barry and Iris to get married than to at least try to go after him before
his plan is ready to execute.  Which
seems to be the same idea DeVoe has. 
Bring on the crossover.
Good lord.
This wasn’t
a bad episode, certainly not Duet bad, but it wasn’t exactly good either.  This really felt like an episode they felt
like they had to get out of the way so it left me very cold.
I don’t
understand why this episode was constructed the way it was.  DeVoe’s backstory and motivations are important
to the story.  Seeing why he’s doing the
things he does are absolutely necessary if we’re to feel the full weight of him
as a villain. 
I’m no
storytelling expert but if you’re not interested in telling that story the way
you told it, you’re the writers and producers, choose another way.  All that episode really accomplished was
burning up an hour of television and making me care a little less about the
story you’re telling.
Three Things We
Learned This Week:
1)     
DeVoe received access to his super intelligence
the night of the Accelerator Explosion.
2)     
His powers are technological in nature and are
killing them.
3)     
Starro exists in the CW-Verse
Three
Unanswered Questions:
1)     
What is The Enlightenment and why is the Thinker
doing it?
2)    I’m confused, are Barry and Iris getting married
next week? They didn’t make it clear enough.  
3)   Did Wally battle Starro alone or did he make
some friends?

Just another guy on the internet.