DeVoe’s enlightenment has begun and Team Flash has no idea how to stop him. Luckily, with the help of new and old friends…they stand a chance at shutting DeVoe down and preventing the Enlightenment. So Barry will have to do what Barry does best… Run!
Directed By: David McWhirter
Written By: Todd Helbing and Eric Wallace
What You Need To Know:
Last week, DeVoe gained what he needed to begin the Enlightenment, and Team Flash supposedly stopped him. But, the Thinker is always one step ahead. Using Fallout’s radioactive energy, and the Dark Matter he stole from Harry’s old thinking cap…DeVoe takes control of STAR Labs’ satellite…and truly begins the Enlightenment, catching Team Flash off guard. Harry’s mind isn’t any better, rapidly declining every day…and Cecile is almost baby ready, all while the world is being prepared to end.
What You’ll Find Out:
This episode…just, wow. I’m gonna come out and say, honestly…it was SO anti-climactic. Unfortunately, when you build a villain up to be undefeatable…there will ALWAYS come the time for him to be defeated.
Jumping right in; DeVoe has taken control of the satellite at STAR Labs, powering it with Fallout’s radioactivity and Dark Matter. Team Flash, along with the rest of the world, is in the dark. Right off the bat, things seem to be at a miniscule worry-rate. You’d think we’d see world-wide panic; seeing as all electronics are off-line, this couldn’t be shown through televisions or radios. But, the least we could have been shown is the world…panicking. We get to Team Flash and need to get power back online in order to do anything, really.
Barry and Cisco find out what DeVoe had done, and realize how they were tricked; luckily, they wouldn’t need to go about stopping everything alone. Iris made a new friend, and she was ready to stop her husband, with a BURNING passion. Marleze to the rescue? HECK YEAH!
The episode really jumps head first into the problem, leaving no time to doddle or fool around with frantic worries. Luckily, and coincidentally…Marleze knows exactly how to stop DeVoe. To be fair, she lived with the tyrannical maniac, so it’s sensible she’d obviously know how to shut him down. Unfortunately, DeVoe accounted for Barry’s undying want to call upon friends to help him stop bad guys; each of the powers he obtained promised that no matter who Barry called, DeVoe always had the upper hand. Marleze knew this and revealed the only possibility. She reveals that they would need to shut DeVoe’s mind down, because with him there, the satellites wouldn’t be going anywhere. Without him though, they’d be able to manually shut them down without DeVoe’s Killgore ability to stop them.
So, of course, Barry’s put on home plate; his abilities are what makes him the only one who can reach into DeVoe’s mind without stretching it beyond its limits. But, the burning questions is… HOW?!
Remember Cecile’s random telepathy powers? The one thing DeVoe didn’t account for? That’s how. By taping into Cecile’s powers, using Harry’s own invention (the cerebral inhibitor for Cecile) and strengthening them, Barry would be able to reach into DeVoe’s mind, but without DeVoe knowing; the purpose? Find the good in DeVoe, and bring it back. Dark Matter made him the way he was, and Marleze believed, somewhere, her husband was was still there. Ingenious? Coincidental? Fortuitous? Whichever it may be, I LOVED Marleze’s willingness shown in these scenes. I also love how they get straight to the problem, without trying to expound on certain, unnecessary things.
So, Cecile was brought in because she started having contractions…which means, OF COURSE, the baby is coming, at the most inopportune moments. Luckily, it works out. Using DeVoe’s old hoverchair, which Team Flash has for a certain reason that has left my brain, or was unexplained, Flash is hooked up. Cecile is given the inhibitor…and searches for DeVoe’s mind. Of course, with a 42-minute episode span, you can’t spend long on certain things; so in the couple seconds they take searching for DeVoe’s mind…they find it, and Barry is sent right in.
So, this is a thing! I really love the going into DeVoe’s end concept. It makes complete sense, it’s the root of all his power…I’m surprised Team Flash hadn’t thought of that until now. Marleze is placed into to kind of fill in things that needed to be; questions that needed to be answered that were left unanswered. I understand that, but it almost comes across too simply. She’s the problem solver when things have gone to hell because the story was written that way. Makes sense…but not necessarily the best way of story-telling. Either way, the episode on only gets better.
So, Barry is inside of DeVoe’s mind; I was a bit disappointed that it was just the entire earth, but in DeVoe’s head. I was expecting something more grand, something that would be in a philosophical maniac’s head. But, in order to simplify things in the episode, which unfortunately was the case, Barry is placed on an empty earth. The entire concept of him retaining his speed inside someone’s mind, or the fact they didn’t really get time to give us more on DeVoe’s mind…it was meh. I mean two minds clashing, one the smartest, the other the fastest. Visually it would have been a really cool thing to handle. (Remember that psychic battle at the end of X-Men Apocalypse? Something to that extent would have been epic)
But, again, it is what it is. Barry’s first option is to search DeVoe and Marleze’s house. Regrettably…it’s empty, completely.
As Barry searches in DeVoe’s mind, Cecile begins having contractions, bad. This affects her telepathic link; which is BAD. If she even gets near to having her baby, she could trap Barry inside of DeVoe’s mind. So, Caitlin suggests the inhaler that she gave Cecile and Joe in the last episode. Using the medicine in that, she can calm the contractions. I like the balance of outside and inside problems. The mix of Barry in DeVoe’s head, and the struggles Team Flash is having in the outside world is well done; especially come the next scene.
So, Barry’s not sure where to check. So, Cisco figures Harry may know (for some reason, because Harry can barely recognize his friends but SURE, he’ll help Barry out).
But, Harry sits alone; unresponding in his lab, with his Thinking Cap in front of him. He asks Cisco for help; he pleads for Cisco to help him.
(My heart sank to the bottom of my chest)
Cisco knows the need Harry (because Marleze can’t tell Barry every place HER lover might be? Smh…). So, he twists and turns a few nobs, and Harry can think again, using what power the cap had left. He suggests the place DeVoe had truly fallen in love with Marleze. And, before Cisco can remove the cap, Harry gives him a thankful hug, both with tears in their eyes.
Okay, I WAS NOT prepared for THIS level of emotions! Stupid CW, gah… *wipes tears away*
Cisco thanks his friend, and removes the cap, sending Harry back into his mindless coma. This moment was so perfectly placed, as well as acted. Seeing these two buds on opposite ends, both suffering just hurt. Two thumbs way, WAY up for our boys.
So, using the knowledge gotten from a super emotional scene instead of the obvious, Barry investigates Oxford, England…and finds the set-up where DeVoe and Marleze had first gone out together; where they had danced to the car radio, and fallen for each other. Bt, another bump in the road. Finding this was almost proof that DeVoe still recollected his thoughts from his past; but the fact it was barren, with no “good DeVoe” in sight wasn’t a good sign.
Well, at least not for the big picture; because SOMEONE showed up. Not who any of us were expecting, I garruntee you. And he made himself known by calling out to Barry,
” Rookie?”
RALPH! He’s alive! Why? Who cares?! RALPH IS ALIVE, PEOPLE!
Now, it was how he jsut so happened to be where Barry was looking for DeVoe that was just coincedence… (The formulaic ways of the CW in it’s purest form).
But, as happy as I was, I think Barry was happier to see his friend. He greeted him with a warm hug and a relieved laugh to see him. He apologized for what he had let happen, and Ralph just greeted him with a quippy line and a surprised look. Barry explained how he was there, but didn’t seem to question how Ralph was there. Maybe all the metas who DeVoe took control over were still somewhere in his mind? Well…it’s not nearly that complex, but still interesting, as we see.
Unfortunately, because Ralph is linked to DeVoe, DeVoe finds them. His evil conscious attacks Barry and Ralph, and they escape his grasp. Then, Cecile detects DeVoe’s thoughts, as he grins happily in his own mind. Cecile finds out…he’s coming for them. And of coruse, he’s alert of Barry in his mind, and makes this scene his own, by ending it with one chilling sentence;
” Run, Mr. Allen…Run.”
And so Team Flash, and Barry, are on the run from DeVoe. DeVoe catches Team Flash in STAR Labs, thinking he’s got them where he wants them. But, thanks to Marleze’s hoverchair invention, they use the same force-field that Marelze used around DeVoe when she left him, to stop him from getting to them. Of course, banter between the separated couple happens; but that’s not all. DeVoe reveals why he never went after Barry personally. Now…he says he didn’t, AND NOW, he had him in his brain. If he caught Barry, he’d have acess to time and space itself. But…that didn’t explain WHY he didn’t. He only said that he didn’t, but not why. I would LOVE to know! Because we don’t get a word about that later, and that being a back-up plan of DeVoe’s would have been great! Seeing DeVoe and Barry truly have this psychic warfare would have tipped the tables a bit. BUT…no. We get a brief monologue, and Marleze challenges DeVoe; he claims that he WILL end this all, and she makes sure he knows that he’ll have to find them first. Then, they use the chair again to transport away, to an unknown location.
Well, unknown for like, two seconds. (Heh, trolled ya there.) Team Flash transports to DeVoe and Marleze’s old lair; because absolutely NO ONE IN THIS SHOW THINKS THAT ANYONE THEY KNOW WILL BE WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN BEFORE! Okay, it sounds stupid when I put it like that, but come on. DeVoe wouldn’t think to check there? Really? I mean, we get to a part where he obviously DOES find them, but after they’ve moved the pocket dimension around. Maybe she moved it to begin with, so it’d be harder? Or maybe that’s not how pocket dimensions work? I don’t know, because we got ZERO information on how things like this, THAT MATTER, work!
*Inhales deeply* Ahhhhh
Okay, back to being a sensible, well-organized reviewer who has, like, two followers. (One of which is myself…)
Okay so, Team Flash is safe, for the moment, but what of Barry and Ralph? Well Ralph conveys the bit of information that Barry couldn’t come up with; DeVoe MIGHT be where his normal life took place. Where he’d teach history, as a normal history professor. Of course…that was the case.
UNFORTUNATELY…as they come to the large conference room DeVoe used to teach in, they find the good part of DeVoe; shot through the chest on his chair.
This moment was really a heavy one. Seeing this good in DeVoe literally shot down by presumably the evil, bitter, and emotionless DeVoe was heart-wrenching. We’ve seen DeVoe at his best and worst. Seeing his best, lying dead, and of course being the only hope Team Flash had to grasp onto was just devastating.
Of course, thinking this was their last hope, Barry and Ralph mourn. Then, Ralph says something that Ralph would say…and Barry comes to a realization. It was spontaneous, and kind of given as if they really didn’t need to give much thought; more like HEY…you’re gonna realize this because eeeegh.
But, the realization? Ralph’s body had been taken over by DeVoe, right? So, Ralph’s conscious was still alive, inside of the mind, in the WAAAAY back. He didn’t die, he was just replaced. The concept is cool yes, but I simply mean it seemed like Barry was just like OH…this’ll work because blah blah blah after all. But enough, I’ll stop now.
But, what doesn’t make sense; Barry figures DeVoe needed Ralph alive, because the body couldn’t be sustained without it. Uh…wasn’t that the whole point of DeVoe TAKING the body? Why did Ralph’s conscious have to live in order for DeVoe to live? It didn’t make sense, and felt like a quick throw-in to keep the character alive. How man yof us like Ralph, honestly? I mean…I do, but I liked his honorable death. I MOURNED him. Seeing this felt WAY too forced. The character shined and died, let it go. Instead, they’ll “stretch” him thin, and make him equivalent if not worse than what Killer Frost/Caitlin has been reduced to. Heh, see what I did up the-…you know what, you guys have permission to just walk away. Close the page, stop reading. I’m a disgrace to the human race.
Heh, I rhymed.
OKAY, so Ralph needed to free himself, and by going through the portal opened that was breaching DeVoe’s mind, Barry and Ralph could go home, ending DeVoe permanently. Again, PSYCHIC BATTLE, PEOPLE! Perfect opportunity, wasted. But, we get a clone-DeVoe battle instead, so meh.
Outside? Cecile is getting worse, her happy juice has run out! (Ugh, I hate myself)
Marleze is trying to keep DeVoe out and away.
Joe is freaking a bit, and Harry is kinda just wondering around like a nut. Seeing him like this broke my heart, honestly. Cisco notices he’s started quoting, word for word, what Barry had when he came out of the speedforce. This moment is expounded upon with intrigued looks and a small conversation of the matter, but interrupted by a visitor. This time, he caught everyone off-guard, and had them right where he wanted. Using his gravitation abilities, he got everyone to the ground. He goes after Cecile, but is stopped by a gun to the chest by Joe. This is nothing to DeVoe, so he shoves that gun to Joe’s head But the next thing shocked me, seeing Joe resist. IS THIS A THING?! Is his fatherly instincts making him super strong or something? Why why why? We don’t get a reason…at all. DeVoe just shoves him against a wall, no biggie.
Have I mentioned I love the intensity and shere genius of DeVoe? If I have…it hasn’t been enough. DeVoe takes Cecile by the neck, and ruthlessly begins just choking the life out of her. I LOVE IT!!!!
Meanwhile, Ralph and Barry are overcoming mass amounts of DeVoes. A little Attack and the Clones reference made me laugh real good, delivered of course by Ralph. Barry and Ralph are extremely outnumbered, but they’re the heroes; they don’t get to lose. They get to win…they get to run straight for the open portal, guarded by hundreds of DeVoes, all while DeVoe begins killing Cecile, in one HUGE, emotional moment…and win.
The Flash’s eyes open with sparks; Barry was back. And, he wasn’t the only one. DeVoe realizes what has happened, and begins stumbling, and yelling in defeat. Remember when I said his end was real anti-climactic? We’re getting there…
He stumbles over his old hoverchair, grasping at it in pain, and eventually falling to the ground. Barry stands over the man, almost in a comforting way, but ultimately letting him know it was over. DeVoe is outraged at their victory. Really? Devoe, you saw EVERYTHING else coming, but this is what gets you? This is how you slip up? It’s so simplistic, it leaves a dissatisfied taste in my mouth, and makes me REALLY made we didn’t get a better end for the poor/homicidal man.
Ralph takes his body back LIKE A BOSS though. He really kicked DeVoe to the curb, and took control. Seeing the real return of him was fun, for sure!
DeVoe was gone, and because of this, Marleze could access the satellites, and shut them down. The Enlightenment was stopped…and so was DeVoe. Amidst the joy, of course…Cecile’s water breaks. Hospital? NOPE! No time, so Caitlin (who else) gets to taking care of her friends.
Of course, the episode can’t just end there, can it? A quick pan in to DeVoe’s hoverchair reveals a change in color; the Killgore-power color of a brilliant fuschia. DeVoe wasn’t gone, yet.
He makes himself known via hologram from his chair, and takes STAR Labs. He takes control of the STAR Labs Satellite, and sends it hurtling to the city. The size and mass of power that would be hurtling to the city would cause immense damage. I mean, not world-starting-over damage, but okay? In these moments, Marelze confronts the hologram of her husband (who was somehow able to transfer himself to his chair by touching it?). In this moment, he makes his final note of how he felt, and Marleze said her final good-bye. She pulled the plug from the chair, deactivating the remnant of DeVoe. But, what he had done was still happening, and thousands would die. Quickly (of course) Barry grabs Cisco and Ralph, and they rush to the rescue of the people.
Ralph and Cisco are bale to save some people from falling debris, but Barry needs to take quick action to stop the hurtling meteor-of-a-satallite from impacting, and causing a wave of destruction.
Running = energy. Energy=power. Power=harder hits. Using this extremely “scientifical” idea, Barry takes off. Building up enough energy from the speedforce and letting it loose on the satellite would blast it to pieces. So, off he goes, to save the world. But Marelze reveals, doing this, meeting the satellite at that speed and mass would pulverize him. But he was the Flash, and he wasn’t letting DeVoe win. So off he runs…and up he goes; scaling a building, and jumping to meet the falling satellite. This was i-…
*Episode begins to rewind* Oops, must have pressed something-…wait…WHAT?!
Barry is inches from impact, when the scene rewinds, and places Barry back on the ground, and off to save the day. This time? An extra stream of lightning follows; one of purple, and yellow.
*Inhales deeply* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!
It’s her! She rewound things to help him, and she runs with him, and they take out the satellite together…without seeing anything but her gauntlet!!! I breathed too hard at this moment, I really started hyperventilating. The satellite blew, and the Flash was pretty beat up. But the crowd applauds, and it happens as so. Barry had done it…after jail, torment, power-switching, and mind-game (meh to the last)…he did it.
And the famous last words, to quote the good book,
” And he said, “”It is finished.”” ”
And a warm welcome to Cecile and Joe’s new little bundle of joy! Yes, she’s adorable, as we all knew she’d be. Team Flash celebrates with a party, and Barry lets his wife know some other speedster helped him. BUT WHO CARES?! There’s a new baby girl to add to the team!
Heh…
Marleze says her good-bye, thanking Team Flash for their help, and vis versa. Then, she pops a device that will give Harry his mind back!…um, okay? *My inner nerd explodes* WHY?! HOW?! WHAT IS THIS DEVICE?!
Okay but, seriously…Cisco inserts this device into the thinkng cap, and places it on Harry’s head. With a few screams in awkwardness…Harry lifts his head, and welcomes himself back with a smile. He turns to Cisco, and congratulates him; he had done it. Well, not really, it was Marleze-… *Friend elbows me in the rib* OW!
And Cisco and Harry share a moment, as Harry finally calls Cisco his friend. THIS MOMENT, THOUGH! UGH, COME ON! The tears were everywhere. But, something real weird…Harry got his mind back, as Marleze said he would. But his intelligence was gone…he couldn’t process what he used to; he wasn’t a genius anymore. But that wasn’t important to him, because he had learned to live without it, and he couldn’t be more happy. So off he went, to see his daughter and rejoice. You can bet your bottom dollar I cried!!!
So…Baby shower after the baby? I mean, it was a great excuse to get Wally West himself back on-screen (after his transition to Legends, he’s been scarce). Celebration ensues, and Iris and Barry revel in the happiness which they hope, though awkwardly chat about, to share some day. Happiness…ugh.
Sorry, that sounded super depressing. Am I happy to see THEM ALL happy?…okay, not really. I was rooting for DeVoe, let’s put it like that. The stakes he et were so high, but ended so abruptly.
Of course, what is a CW show finale without a cliff-hanger, and the introduction of a brand new character?!
But, this one matters, and answers that burning question we’ve been asking. (BTW, I called it!)
A knock at the door, and in she comes. The waitress, the coffee buying/spilling girl. The girl who had came to Cecile’s first baby party thing…and hid from Iris. The girl we all have been calling someone…and we all knew this was coming. She wore Iris’s speedster jacket, and rocket that quirky, wonderful attitude.
“I’m your daughter…and I think I REALLY messed up.”
What Just Happened?
Um…okay. Anti-climactic ending? YES. Sure, a little twist with DeVoe happened, but it was so sudden and happened so quickly. It was so dissatisfying, as I said earlier in this review. Oh, you want to know what happened there at the VERY end? Well, Barry and Iris’s daughter IS that girl, and she messed some stuff up. How? I HAVE NO IDEA! And it excites me! So, we got the typical finale we all seemed to see coming. Though a seemingly satisfying ending for a villain, it was miniscule and really underwhelming. SO much potential lied with DeVoe’s story and ending. But so many things pushed away or simply unexplored because of constant filler. This episode ended in the way we expected, and I LOATHE that. But, seeing the cute, lovable, and charismatic mystery girl reveal herself FINALLY is interesting, seeing as she’s been here since Barry’s wedding, hopping around everywhere, until NOW. She still owns that name mystery girl, at least until we get more on her, other than her being FREAKIN’ IRIS AND BARRY’S DAUGHTER!
Rating of this episode: 8/10
Rating of this season: 9/10
Final Thoughts:
Give me a villain like DeVoe any day of the week! He was charismatic, but wasn’t afraid of a fight, and proved to be quite the bad guy. His set-up was pitch-perfect, and the line the show stayed on was steady and basically perfection.
Then it dipped…
While I enjoyed this episode, as well as season, SO much…the finale was terribly built up to. It was, again I’ll say, anti-climactic. Though, so many things about the episode made my day, and really fit well, DeVoe’s end wasn’t pleasing to me, nor was the outcome of his so “well-thought-out” plan. So much potential in a character that was stretched thin until we all knew he’d obviously be beat. It was sad to see, because it could have been handled in so many different ways…but they went with such a simplistic route, his end was inevitable. Stakes weren’t high enough to make us think OH HEY…maybe he’ll actually win. You can’t make a villain constantly win without creating a sense of typicality. Still, he beat Savitar to the ground; by far the best villain since Reverse Flash. His entire relationship with Marleze, his coming to just plain psychotic, careless murderer was amazing. BUT, so many things could have taken turns to give the characters so much more depth and love…but was left out.
Seeing his drugging Marleze was amazing, but never taken further. Seeing his out thinking matters grew simpler and simpler until every event was predicted with little to no explanation. Of course, I didn’t expect CW to take the character into the ground-breaking, mind-blowing fanboy theories that resided in my reviews and thoughts. But I wish only to have seen love given to the character, because he really deserved it.
The season was filler-filled; unnecessary plots, just plain stupid goals. BUT, the majority was well written, well-played, amazingly brought to life episodes that made the season mysterious and enjoyable. Even if things became simplistic and sometimes ridiculous, it brought the show into deeper waters and delt with them well. Trying REALLY hard not to be redundant here…
The finale? Really plain and simply cut-and-dry. It left everything off as we expected; to Team Flash’s advantage. My want from it was for the Thinker to leave an impact. A Joker/Batman scenario; the villain takes what he wants, and turns every situation possible’s outcome into one that would prove his point, or where he’d win, even if it seemed he had lost. I wanted depth and for him and Flash to have this hateful, seemingly never-ending battle that tied them together; but DeVoe dying wasn’t the end, because what he worked for would live on. But CW wants a nice, simple, ending that doesn’t carry on any longer than it needs to, even though it really could have and Team Flash, as well as Barry, could have been taught valuable lessons and taken something from the true end. This season? I loved it; that’s the honest to God truth. It had it’s flaws, like almost every season for every show does (except Arrow, season one; that was flawless. Fght me m8). I would have done things extremely differently, at least after a certain point in the show. I loved the entirety of the show, but it got slow and boring, then picked up again, then stooped again…all of a sudden, we’re at the end! It’s almost hard to explain…but then again, I just wrote my entire thoughts on the matter, so maybe not.
I seem to have repeated myself over and over, so I’ll stop, and end with this…
The end of a season; it was fun, boring, exciting, sad, tear-jerking, and heart-wrenching. Overall? Not the worst season so far, definitely. Hopefully next season brings some intriguing, fun, and overall sensible and enjoyable moments and plots. But, this is the CW guys…don’t get your hopes TOO high, alright?
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