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The Flash 4.21 Review – “Harry and the Harrisons”
Image Credit: The CW
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It was when Cisco thought up the idea to create a new Council of Wells that I knew this episode was in trouble. Why does this show continue to use such blatant, obvious humor? The worst part is that the Council of Wells have very long scenes. It doesn’t help that this episode is more on the filler side. (Hoping to see DeVoe, or where Marlize went? You gotta wait another week.) Still, this episode wasn’t bad – Katee Sackhoff turns in her best performance yet as Amunet Black. All in all, this is a mixed episode, which defines Season Four of The Flash as a whole.
Well, let’s talk about the most fun aspect of the episode: The Council of Wells. (Most fun to write about, not watch!) So, it’s decided that in order for Harry to get his intelligence back, the Council of Wells must be consulted. Unfortunately, ultra-smart Wells tells Harry that because of his faded intelligence, Harry is no longer welcome on the Council. Cisco has an idea: create a new council. So, he gathers a couple more exaggerated Wells (plus the hippie one from the old Council) to help Harry. These scenes go on and on. The viewer is sitting there bewildered by how baldly written the comedy is. In fact, it is downright fascinating how awful the writing is here. Seriously, one of the Wells actually reads a poem to Harry. So, how does this benefit the story? I suppose Harry finds some internal intelligence within him – as shown when he comes up with the reason why DeVoe hasn’t gone on the offensive yet. There could have been a much better way of getting to that point rather than using the Council of Wells.
Thankfully, the Wells stuff isn’t technically the main focus. The team is stumped on how to destroy DeVoe’s satellites. Caitlin comes up with the idea to ask Amunet Black for help, because her power would be useful. The scenes with the characters searching for Amunet were fun. One of the highlights was when Joe and Caitlin finally found Amunet. Flash is called in, and what follows is one of the coolest scenes of the show. Amunet throws metal shards at Barry. He dodges it of course, but the shards morph into a boomerang and comes back around. Instead of getting struck, Barry catches the boomerang with one hand without breaking a sweat. It was a great moment for Barry, looking like a veteran hero who is in control of things. (Though, he later gets sprayed with venom from one of the weaker villains, so it kinda counters how great he looked earlier.)
As stated earlier, this is Katee Sackhoff’s best portrayal of Amunet. Her scenes at S.T.A.R. Labs were priceless. After being told of DeVoe’s plan to wipe out humanity’s intelligence, she’s says the plan is “brilliant,” but then says “tragic” followed by a smile. Now this is humor done right, subtle but effective. Meanwhile, it turns out Caitlin had ulterior motives for asking Amunet for help. Caitlin wants Amunet’s help to bring back Killer Frost using the splicer, something that Caitlin says helped Killer Frost before. When it comes to Caitlin’s portrayal, most of it is good. I particularly liked the scene where she gave up and stormed off. Danielle Panabaker delivered the dialogue with such emotion; the viewer gets a sense of how much Caitlin wants Killer Frost back. However, one scene is controversial. Amunet is not willing to help Caitlin unless there’s reciprocity. Caitlin says that if Amunet helps her get Killer Frost back, she will do Amunet one favor. Well Caitlin, you offered a criminal a favor. What if Amunet tells you to illegally smuggle something, steal, or murder? What then? Caitlin is desperate, but that came off as a bit forced.
It’s all a moot point though, because Amunet reveals to Caitlin that the splicer actually didn’t do anything the first time; it was all Caitlin’s doing. The conclusion from this is that Killer Frost is still inside Caitlin. How original.
On some last notes, the climatic battle against Norvok was okay. Norvok is one-dimensional, but at least his snake-eye made for a cool visual. In the end, Amunet gives the team what they need to destroy DeVoe’s satellites, and she leaves. One major subplot is Iris acquiring all notes on DeVoe so she can write an article. Her goal is to let the world know about DeVoe’s plan to rid humanity of intelligence. Barry is a bit apprehensive about this. He says they’ve always kept super hero conflicts to themselves. It’s a big bombshell to drop on the public, but the truth needs to be told according to Iris. It’s an interesting discussion the two have at some points during the episode. It thankfully never turns to full on debate (the last thing we need is a relationship rift in the team) and is a much more compelling focus than the Council of Wells. In the end, the article is published. It becomes a good thing for the team, because citizens are letting Iris know that they’ve seen DeVoe. Barry is happy, because he says DeVow can’t hide now.
Overall, I will honestly say that I had maybe too much of a good time writing this review. Episodes like this one make it incredibly easy to criticize The Flash. It’s a shame, because those first two seasons were well paced with balanced comedy for the most part. The show just hasn’t been the same. The screwball comedy in this episode is evidence of that. Did anybody really think the Council of Wells would be endearing? As Harry himself says in the episode, “That was a colossal waste of time!” It’s not all bad though. Amunet was incredibly fun. Her scenes with the team were excellent. Some of the Caitlin stuff was good – I liked the coffee sequence with her and Joe, a good example of quality emotion. There are just two episodes left of this season, so we should get some big developments during the next two weeks.
