The Flash (4×23)- “We Are the Flash “ Written by:          Todd Helbing & Eric Wallace Directed by:        David McWhirter   “Once more unto the breach, dear friends…” -William Shakespeare, Henry the V, Act III   Another season comes to a close.   Another climatic battle for the souls of men and the cause of freedom; this time quite literally as the Thinker intended to use his powers and the combined intellect of himself and the Speed Force through Barry to reeducate mankind without that pesky free will.  After three seasons of villains trying to destroy time and space, it’s kind of refreshing for the villain to only want to rule…

The Flash (4×22) – “Think Fast” Written by:         Sam Chalsen & Kristen Kim Directed by:       Viet Nguyen So we’re finally here. After months and months.  After confrontations with our villain, the departures of old friends Wally West, Jesse Quick and Jay Garrick.  After crossovers and Nazis and trials and most importantly, the introduction of Ralph Dibny who went from a comic relief jerk that grew into a part of the team and a hero in his own right and his heroic death… We got here.  The final battle between The Flash and The Thinker is upon us! Or at least it is at the completion of this episode.  We’ve…

The Flash (4×21) – “Harry and the Harrisons” Written by:         Judalina Neira & Lauren Certo Directed by:       Kevin Mock Let’s cut the fat out of this review from the start… The main plot is a pretty standard help a villain so they’ll help you story. The big thrust of this episode is a debate about the power of having information vs the power of spreading or not spreading information.  Harry and Cisco are running into problems trying to get help from the other Harrison Wells’ of the Multiverse as they feel that their knowledge gives them power. Amunet admitted to hiding the nature of Caitlin’s powers from her and…

The Flash (4×20) – “Therefore She Is” Written by:         Sterling Gates & Thomas Pound Directed by:       Rob J Greenlea After a flashback to the “meet-cute” between idealistic engineer Marlize and already on the road to smug villainy Clifford, we see the DaVoes are on the brink of The Enlightenment.  This kicks off a series of flashbacks to show how far Clifford’s falling from grace in her mind. After the title card there’s a couple scenes to establish that there’s relationship problems between Cisco and Gypsy, Cisco and Harry are trying to get Killer Frost back and that Harry’s deteriorating rather quickly and it’s time to actually tell the…

The Flash (4×18)- “Lose Yourself” Written by:          Jonathan Butler & Gabriel Garza Directed by:        Hanelle M Culpepper This week’s episode features the search for Edwin Gauss aka The Folded Man.  Gauss has been reimagined as a hippy teleporter and that makes him incredibly important to DaVoe since it would mean he could teleport even without his chair and for Team Flash since he uses Pocket Dimensions and that would get them into DaVoe’s lair. But that’s really just the window dressing since the primary thrust of this episode is the eternal hero’s debate in comics: To Kill vs Not to Kill.  Ralph is very much in the kill camp as…

The Flash (4×17) – “Null and Annoyed” Written by:         Lauren Certo & Kristen Kim Directed by:       Kevin Smith “It’s that time of year again” is a phrase I use a lot in the spring.  Usually when I see Roman Reigns is about to Main Event WrestleMania, and usually in the same way someone would say, “I’m getting audited.”  (Roman is why wrestling fans are learning Japanese.) In this case, it’s a more positive tone because everyone’s favorite mid-nineties slacker film director Kevin Smith has returned! I’m excited for two reasons: First, every week I sit down to write these reviews vowing to reign myself in and change the…

The Flash (4×16) – “Run Iris, Run” Written by:          Eric Wallace Directed by:        Harry Jierjian   So by now I think we’ve had the “tropes and clichés as the foundation of Television writing” conversation more than once. We’ve firmly established that they aren’t something that has to be avoided so much as something the producers have to make their own when they use them.   There’s three BIG clichés that pretty much every superhero show has done over the years: “The hero loses his/her powers and has to live life like a mortal for an episode,” “The hero visits a world where they never existed or never got…

The Flash (4×15) – “Enter Flashtime” Written by:         Todd Helbing & Sterling Gates Directed by:       Gregory Smith Here’s the fun thing about this episode, the story can be summed up like this: Barry has less than a second to stop a nuclear bomb that has detonated already. Done. Bring on the ratings, things we learned and questions, right? Not really, see eighty percent of that episode takes place in that second and we’re treated with my favorite type of Flash Episode. The exploration of just what Barry’s powers are and how they relate to the Speed Force!  This calls for a celebratory overly-excited anime girl gif! (Bit more…