The Flash Review: Subject 9 (Season 4 Episode 14)

The Flash returns from its two-week hiatus with an episode that largely feels like something we’ve seen before. Ostensibly, “Subject 9” is about DeVoe’s latest target in his continued attempt to find and drain the powers of all the bus metas. (Why? Shrug emoji.)

Yet, the episode generally comes off as a retread of previous Season 4 stories, as DeVoe stalks a new meta, defeats Team Flash without breaking a sweat, and acquires a new ability — all without managing to clue viewers in to any part of his ultimate master plan.

The new meta in question this week is Izzy Bowen, an aspiring country music singer whose powers involve manipulating sound waves. Her abilities, in fact, are so strong that she actually manages to hurt DeVoe during their first face-off. Big deal, right? Not really.

After Team Flash makes a particularly disastrous effort to train her, Izzy decides she’s better off going up against the Thinker on her own. This goes about as well as you’d expect: Izzy dies, staring tragically into Ralph’s eyes the whole time as her body is taken over by DeVoe.

There’s something inherently interesting about the idea of a villain who constantly absorbs new powers, changes his face, and keeps making himself harder to combat as a result. The problem here is that we’re 14 episodes into the season and we have even less of an idea of what DeVoe wants than we ever have.

When we first met the Thinker, his primary focus was on expanding his brain capacity and then staying alive. His ultimate mission now seems to be bringing about something known as “the Enlightenment,” which thus far has no real definition, purpose, or rules.

We’re not sure what DeVoe is specifically trying to accomplish, why it requires these particular metas to achieve it, or what his final endgame looks like. The Flash seems to be in no particular hurry to tell us either, which makes every episode in this middle stretch of the season feel tedious.

Even the final confrontation between Barry, Ralph, Izzy, and DeVoe feels lackluster. The group face-off is over remarkably quickly, and though Izzy’s death is certainly sad, we haven’t really known her long enough to truly care about her.

Part of the problem is that actress Miranda MacDougall is stuck playing Izzy as a walking country music stereotype, complete with an awful, over-the-top accent, and gritty dreams of stardom.

Additionally, The Flash doesn’t manage to create an entirely believable rapport between Ralph and Izzy — certainly not one that can support the heavy emotional lifting the end of the episode requires.

Yes, the two of them are kind of wacky misfits who don’t fit society’s prescribed rules. Their flirting is kind of cute. But let’s be real: We’re supposed to believe that one afternoon training and a patented Team Flash pep talk is enough to make her that important to Ralph?

I mean, they didn’t even go to Jitters together or anything yet!

Instead, Izzy joins a long-list of underdeveloped Season 4 supporting characters sacrificed on the altar of whatever the heck DeVoe’s endgame is. It feels like such a waste to lose so many interesting metas that could serve as friends, adversaries, or something in between for Team Flash. Surely the show could have done something better with characters like Hazard, Dwarfstar, or the Fiddler than this?

The one bright spot in the Thinker plotline is Devoe’s wife, Marlize. The Mechanic seems to finally realize that something has gone seriously wrong with her husband, and she seems to be inching closer and closer to abandoning this crazy plan entirely.

She needs to inch a little bit faster, if you ask me. At the moment, it’s not clear if The Flash is grooming Marlize to become Season 4’s true Big Bad or her husband’s ultimate downfall. (Or both, possibly.)

However, it’s becoming increasingly clear — particularly as her husband spirals further into traditional Evil Villain territory — that Marlize’s story is probably the more interesting tale.

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• “Why does he need their powers? I can’t figure out his endgame.” Us too, Iris. Us too.
• Oh, Becky Sharpe, we hardly knew ye. It’s unfortunate that Sugar Lyn Beard only got one episode as the season’s Big Bad, because she’s so entertaining as an actress. (Doubly so because it feels like we lost Hazard for no reason, on top of everything else.)
• Apologies for being a broken record about this, but the lengths this show seems willing to go to in order to sideline Killer Frost just astonish me.
• On the plus side, I did love that they gender-swapped classic comics character The Fiddler. It’s just a shame that we ultimately get so little time with Izzy as herself before she becomes nothing more than a DeVoe vehicle.
• I like the idea of Barry becoming a private investigator, but must admit I’m a bit confused about why he even needs to bother with employment at all? Clearly STAR Labs income is paying for that swanky Westallen apartment, and no one else even pretends to have a non-superhero related day job anymore. (Remember when Iris used to be a journalist? Snort.)
• Harry’s insistence on calling Cecile by her full name is my favorite thing this week.

What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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