The search for the other metas from the bus continues in this episode of The Flash. And not only does one of them turn out to be Barry’s nemesis, but it also turns out that maybe he isn’t such a bad guy.
Also in “Elongated Journey into Night,” Gypsy’s father shows up and plans to do to Cisco what he’s done to his daughter’s previous boyfriends: hunt him. But can Cisco change Breacher’s mind?
How Will The Flash Handle That Pregnancy Bombshell? >>>
As for Cecile’s pregnancy, Joe’s the one who’s glowing in this episode, if you ask Barry or the mayor or probably the guy he bumped into on the street on his way to work. Joe denies any “warmth” or “glow” until he reveals the truth to Barry (while he’s the Flash, in front of the mayor, so hopefully the mayor just chalks that up to Joe’s reaction to the kidnapping?) and then they, Iris and Caitlin celebrate with cigars.
Plus, Caitlin’s past comes back to haunt her, as she arrives home to find “We miss you. Come back soon” carved into her door.
No, This Guy Totally Wasn’t on the Bus. Everyone Can Stretch Like That.
Thanks to an IOU found in the bus driver’s belongings after his death — he drowned in his own bath tub — Barry and Joe head to see Ralph Dibny, a dirty cop who was kicked off the force. He’s now working as a PI and trying to hook up with his clients, so it’s easy to see why Barry’s not exactly happy to deal with him.
Though Ralph claims he wasn’t on the bus, considering that when two men show up and then hang him by his feet over the roof and he stretches all the way to the ground, he’s obviously lying.
The dark matter in him has caused the walls of every cell in his body to elasticize (sort of like silly putty). So when he accidentally sneezes, his face stretches out too. Caitlin thinks she can stabilize his cells and put him back together if she gets a sample of his DNA from before his exposure to the dark matter. She also thinks that just because he was a bad guy in the past, it doesn’t mean that people can’t change. She argues that she did despite her Killer Frost side, but Barry argues that she’s a good person; Ralph isn’t.
So in Barry’s mind, he’s right to label all the metas from the bus as “villains” and to want to just lock them up in the pipeline. It’s not until he and Iris are checking out Ralph’s office for DNA that Barry reveals why he hates Ralph: he was the lead detective on one of Barry’s first cases as a junior CSI, and Barry caught him planting evidence in a case where a husband was accused of stabbing his wife to death. Because of Barry’s own history, he analyzed the knife and found the necessary proof to get him thrown off the force for perjury and evidence tampering.
Just after Iris finds a hairbrush they might be able to use, she also finds a bomb. Barry gets them out of there in time.
Does Everyone Deserve a Second Chance?
Who hates Ralph enough to try to blow him up? Could the 15 calls between Ralph and the mayor’s office be connected? Ralph refuses to give them anything, so Barry and Joe go to talk to the mayor instead. The mayor admits to an affair and tells them that Ralph was blackmailing him with photos. (He then tells the two men who hung Ralph off the roof to kill him, Barry and Joe.) However, when Barry and Joe return to S.T.A.R. Labs, Ralph’s back to normal (thanks to a serum from Caitlin) and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with him blackmailing the mayor since he has money and is the one who did the cheating.
And as for that time Barry cost him his job, Ralph claims that the husband was guilty and was going to get away with it. He was a good cop, but he lost everything because of Barry. But good people don’t destroy lives and call it noble, Barry argues. In his mind, Ralph was dirty then and he’s dirty now.
But maybe Caitlin’s right to argue that they know what it’s like to suddenly have powers and be freaked out, Barry suggests when Joe stops by his loft. Maybe Ralph was just trying to help people and keep them safe back then just like the team has been doing while not exactly sticking to the law (locking up metas without trial, playing with time and space, etc.). Maybe he deserves a second chance.
To get that second chance, however, Ralph’s going to have to be saved. After the mayor’s men show up at Barry’s loft and try to kill him and Joe, only for Barry to intervene, they realize Ralph’s the next target.
And it’s not just the mayor’s men. After Ralph decides to take back the blackmail and gives the mayor the photos, the mayor tries to shoot him, only for the back of Ralph’s head to stretch and the bullet to come out his nose. Barry intervenes as The Flash, but then Breacher shows up after seeing Ralph’s stretched-out body on one of the S.T.A.R. Labs monitors and thinking he’s one of the creatures that destroyed his Earth.
Cisco breaches in and puts himself between Breacher and Ralph, and tells his girlfriend’s father that Ralph didn’t invade his planet and he’s the way he is because of him and his team. He has to deal with Cisco if he has a problem.
But just as Breacher has ceased his attack, they realize the mayor has Joe at gunpoint in a helicopter above the city, and what follows next is very predictable. Barry can’t run fast enough and Cisco can’t breach, so it’s time for Ralph to be the “good cop” Barry knows he is — and for Barry to unmask to show him how he knows he is one — and stretch his arm to grab the helicopter. Barry then runs up Ralph’s arm, which I’m going to assume has to hurt Ralph, disarms the mayor and saves Joe.
When Barry offers Ralph a job and tells him to let him train him and the team will study his powers, he asks why he looked into the mayor. A client called him, and all he has is a last name: DeVoe. It’s a name Barry recognizes.
Quiz: Which TV Scooby Gang Do You Belong To? >>>
Some Fathers Just Threaten Their Daughters’ Boyfriends, But This One Means It
Cisco and Gypsy have just hit pause on a very important conversation revolving around “three magic words” (“What’s your name?”) when a man breaches into Cisco’s apartment and holds him up by his shirt. Cisco, meet your girlfriend’s father.
Cisco’s terrified of Breacher, but Harry offers him some words of encouragement. Any father would be happy to have him date his daughter (but Jesse’s 100% off-limits). They bond over what they have in common: the same powers, ridiculous hair and a love for Gypsy.
That doesn’t go over so well, as Breacher instead informs Cisco that he’s going to hunt him like he has Gypsy’s past boyfriends. He doesn’t know where they are because, as Breacher puts it, “I don’t know where you go when you die.” Cisco runs. Breacher follows. Gypsy rolls her eyes.
Cisco sneaks around S.T.A.R. Labs through the vents, and Harry suggests that since it’s a “no powers” hunt, he should be smart. Fight back using his outwardly weak appearance to his advantage. Cisco does just that, using a hologram, but Breacher can easily cut through his anti-vibrational force field with a knife he acquired.
Breacher’s distracted from hunting Cisco when he sees Ralph and goes after him. But after Cisco stands up to him, Breacher admits that he still hates him but respects him. For Breacher, that’s gushing. Before father and daughter head off to deal with work, Cisco does learn Gypsy’s name (Cynthia).
What did you think of Ralph? Are you looking forward to him sticking around? What did you think of Cisco meeting Gypsy’s father? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
The Flash season 4 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
If it’s on TV — especially if it’s a procedural or superhero show — chances are Meredith watches it. She has a love for all things fiction, starting from a young age with ER and The X-Files on the small screen and the Nancy Drew books. Arrow kicked off the Arrowverse and her true passion for all things heroes. She’s enjoyed getting into the minds of serial killers since Criminal Minds, so it should be no surprise that her latest obsession is Prodigal Son.
