Now that Barry is training Ralph, it’s time for him to get a suit, which he does in this episode of The Flash, though it lacks the style he hoped it would have. But, hey, it stretches with him, and that’s what’s important, right? Well, it’s also key that Ralph learns that it’s not always about catching the bad guy, especially when innocent lives are at risk.
Meanwhile, the Mechanic may be worried that the team will find out the Thinker’s identity too soon, but he’s not (the only way it can end is with his victory) — and considering how the team’s doing when it comes to that at the beginning of “When Harry Met Harry…” you can’t blame him. But can Harry’s friends change that?
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Barry’s Not the Rookie in This Situation
Ralph may still call Barry a rookie (and still remind him why he lost his job), but when it comes to being a hero, he’s the one who’s the new recruit. It’s just as, if not more, important to keep people from getting hurt as it is to catch the bad guy, a lesson that Ralph doesn’t quite get when he tries his hand at Superhero 101, aka stopping a mugger. The mugger shoots Ralph, he stretches and the mugger ends up with two gunshot wounds.
Ralph does help when it comes to identifying one of the other metas from the bus but only after Barry and Iris’ therapist hypnotizes him. He remembers a bison on a jacket, and the woman wearing it goes to a warehouse. A man there is attacked by an animal … that’s a statue? Remember when they wouldn’t calmly consider a stone statue their prime suspect? Barry wonders at the crime scene before finding blood in its mouth.
Now it’s completely normal for them to find dark matter in the stone of the statue and figure out that they’re dealing with a meta who can bring inanimate objects to life. The victim was an auctioneer transporting Native American artifacts. The one the meta was after was a piece of a bison necklace, separated into three pieces.
By the time they get to the collector with the second piece, Black Bison has gotten her hands on the artifact and brings a suit of armor to life. It pushes Ralph to the side, and Barry’s too busy stopping the armor and saving the collector to stop the meta from escaping.
The First Rule of Being a Superhero Is…
From that encounter, they do learn that the meta can only control effigies and also identify her: Mina, a professor of cultural anthropology who was trying to reclaim several Sioux art pieces from a museum even before she got her powers. They have to get to the third piece of the necklace before she does, and it’s being transported in an armored vehicle.
Barry also has to try to get Ralph to understand that helping a person in danger is more important than getting the bad guy, and that’s a lesson that Ralph learns the hard way. While Barry’s distracted by the statue that Mina brings to life to help her get the piece of the necklace, Ralph insists on keeping her from driving off — even when a young girl ends up in trouble. Mina crashes her car into another on the side of the road, but the girl is unconscious when Barry checks on her.
Though the girl will be okay, Barry finds Ralph feeling guilty and remorseful in his office, remembering his days as a PI when he didn’t have to worry about anything but getting the dirt his clients wanted. Now he has to care about the entire city, which Barry tells him may be the most important part of the job. He admits that he doesn’t always handle it well and has made bad decisions, but Ralph just has to do the best he can and lean on those around him, like Barry. He also suggests that Ralph think about the positives, like that the girl will be okay and they got the bad guy, meaning the bad guy’s about to escape.
That’s exactly what happens, as she’s put in a cell at CCPD while an officer is showing off police armor, which raises its hand when he asks for questions. The armor breaks her out of her cell.
Barry knows exactly where Mina’s going: the museum where the necklace is now on display. She wants to take it back to the Sioux, to where it belongs, but he and Ralph can’t let her go after all the people she’s hurt. She brings the skeleton of a T. rex to life, and when a guard walks in, Ralph’s left with a choice: save the guard or stop Mina. He does the former, stretching his body around the skeleton’s mouth. Meanwhile, Barry stops Mina from leaving and bringing anything else to life with an easy trick: he throws an artifact in the air, she looks up, he cuffs her and then he catches the bowl.
And by the end of the episode, Ralph has learned that a superhero’s first job is to protect people. He has mailed the necklace back to the Sioux reservation. He then goes to see the young girl in the hospital and makes balloon animals out of his stretchy hand.
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Wait, Harry Has Friends Outside the Team?
Since the team isn’t making any progress in identifying DeVoe, Harry decides to call upon his friends. Yes, he has friends, and they’re smart, he insists, and they turn out to be … different versions of Harrison Wells from other Earths, via a multiverse holo-projector. When Cisco told him to make friends, he didn’t mean make friends with himself, he tells Harry, but they are desperate, so maybe the Council of Wells is the way to go.
The only problem is that after a day, they still haven’t even agreed on what methodology to use (and one of them comes back from some off-camera business with his pants around his ankles). They all start arguing, and Harry finally declares, “It’s not me, it’s you,” and cuts the connection.
He doesn’t need the Council of Incompetence, as he’s now calling them, Harry explains to Cisco. He thought if he surrounded himself with people like him, he’d like them, but he just hates them all. He’s essentially complaining about himself, Cisco informs him, suggesting that it’s actually all about how he feels about himself. He doesn’t have a high opinion of himself, which is why he finds it so hard to make friends. No one will like him if he doesn’t like himself first. The others didn’t have to answer the call for help, but they did, just like Harry would have.
Harry reconvenes the Council, and after a round of apologies, they get to work. And it’s a good thing they do because, with a 92% match to the psychological profile, they identify Clifford DeVoe. He has a low profile, with no social media or criminal record, and they know where he is. Barry wants to go get him immediately, seeing this as a chance to finally get ahead of their enemy.
But the Mechanic and Thinker are ready for their arrival.
With Iris as their eye in the sky, Harry with eyes on the front door and a gun, and Cisco and Caitlin ready to breach in as Vibe and Frost, Barry and Joe walk up the front path and ring the bell. The Mechanic answers, in a dress, and when they tell her they want to talk to Clifford DeVoe, she asks if her husband is in trouble. When she calls him to the door, he wheels over in his chair and asks how he may be of help. But they’re normal — like next-door neighbors normal, nothing like we’ve seen them before. She looks like the kind of person who would knock on your door with a casserole.
How do you think Ralph’s doing when it comes to trying to be a hero? And do you think Barry just walked into the Thinker’s trap? 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.
