The Flash has kicked things off with the proper tone this season, which is a great thing for the show. Through the first two episodes, the show has managed to return to its original form and introduce a new structure to things. The season’s villain, The Thinker, is taking a much more calculated route, which is something fresh for The Flash. However, at the same time, this week’s episode feels like the villain’s plot could be turning into more of a crawl.
While The Flash is definitely feeling like it has moved back to a more traditional form, last night’s episode, “Luck Be a Lady,” brings some concerns to the table. One of the more unique developments in Season 4 has been the villain, The Thinker, who is something the show hasn’t seen ever before. The antagonist is a completely calculated villain who can do amazing things through brainpower. Up to this point, The Thinker has been slowly watching a plot play out that involves a new set of metahumans throwing The Flash off his game. It has definitely been an interesting idea to this point, but through three episodes is beginning to feel questionable because of how it is impacting the rest of the show’s story.
The villain of the episode, Hazard, was another lackluster antagonist. The initial premise of bad luck versus good luck is a lot of fun, presenting a fresh idea that the show hasn’t ever explored before. Everything opens with a really lighthearted nature, revealing how Hazard has had a ridiculous amount of bad luck. The nature of her metahuman powers makes sense and, again, is a ton of fun to watch unfold; yet, the idea is a really goofy one as it plays out. The episode continues to roll with the re-discovered light-hearted nature that The Flash has been trying to display, but at points this episode falls into too much ridiculous-ness for the sake of moving the story along.
This seems to be The Flash’s biggest problem though, because while The Thinker and Hazard aren’t bad characters with poor motivations, the show runs into the problem of not knowing how to fill in everything around the long-term villain. “Luck Be a Lady,” does a nice job of establishing the villain, but falls short in providing thorough story around that. The Flash feels like it runs into a brick wall in advancing the rest of the plot. Everything surrounding Iris and Barry’s wedding feels like it is moving at a snail’s pace, mainly because it’s no secret that the wedding will be the focus of the crossover event.
The Flash is not off to a bad start, which is something that needs to be clear. While it can be considered slow and frustrating, it has also done a ton of good things. All of the character dynamics are really solid so far and the show itself has only delivered three episodes into the season. While the season has definitely been a slow build to this point, it only needs to improve the week to week plot instead of just feeling like filler and build up to the reveal of The Thinker’s ultimate plan. The Thinker also remains an extremely interesting antagonist, and his calculations around Barry are a lot of fun to watch unfold. Hopefully The Flash can find its footing a little more though, because if the show can manage to provide better week-to-week stories, it would really pick up.
Other Thoughts:
– And we thought getting broken up with by text was bad… Wally gets the axe via holo-video.
– Holy crap Joe has some strong swimmers! One kid leaves and another arrives… HAH.
– It’s nice having Harry back in this show (:
– Damn, 4 seasons and Barry is still as oblivious as ever! Can’t believe he screwed up seeing Iris in her dress!
– I thought Hazard was a lot of fun, I just wish that she was presented in an episode and way that didn’t feel like filler.
– I hope The CW releases an official “Where’s Wally” book… you can search multiple Earth’s, multiple episodes… is he in costume? Or street clothes with brooding emotions?
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