The Flash Review: Harry and the Harrisons (Season 4 Episode 21)

The Flash Season 4 Episode 21, “Harry and the Harrisons,” gets a shot in the arm thanks to the return of deliciously campy villain Amunet Black, but once again, it feels as though the story’s going nowhere fast.

The problems that have plagued Season 4 continue here, resulting in a largely forgettable hour that only matters because it’s the source of the MacGuffin-like weapon that will inevitably stop The Thinker’s plan.

Otherwise, there’s not a lot going on here that matters. Neither The Thinker nor his wife appear this week, and given where we are in the season, the stakes feel surprisingly low-key.

At least Katee Sackhoff is back, joyfully eating all the scenery in sight as Amunet Black reluctantly joins forces with Team Flash to try and thwart The Thinker’s planned “Enlightenment”.

Her abilities — and the weird metal shards she can wield — are apparently perfect for taking out DeVoe’s brain-melting space satellites. (Organic material is apparently needed, since one of The Thinker’s stolen meta powers lets him control technology.)

Amunet’s appearances this season have been kind of random. But at least she’s generally motivated by that age-old source of villainy: Selfishness. It’s nice to see a bad guy on The Flash who doesn’t want to destroy or conquer the world, rather just get what they can for themselves. Sometimes, simpler works!

Her presence also adds an energy that this episode desperately needs. Yes, she’s a loose cannon, but you can’t deny that she’s an extremely entertaining one. Who else would exit stage right in a literal tornado of metal? I’m here for it.

Furthermore, Amunet’s presence allows Caitlin’s story to take center stage for a moment. Her search for Killer Frost doesn’t make any more sense this week than it did before, but we’re probably all used to that at this point.

At least she gets some agency for once! And I like Caitlin’s determination to get her powers/alter ego/mean roommate back, even if I still don’t understand who or what Killer Frost really is.

The Flash seems eternally confused about what Caitlin’s powers mean — whether she actually has some kind of split personality disorder, another ice-fueled being actually lives inside her or something else — and this episode complicates things even further.

Does the placebo effect of the “splitter” Amunet used mean that Killer Frost is just some kind of mental manifestation of Caitlin’s dark self after all? Can Caitlin harness the power of her emotions to give life to some sort of secondary personality? Is this a Fight Club situation?

I have no idea, and I honestly don’t think the show does either.

What makes it doubly unfortunate is that The Flash  just muddies the metahuman waters with Caitlin’s weird DNA excuse. At this point, it honestly might be better if she just inherited Leonard Snart’s cold gun for good.

Elsewhere, The Flash can’t seem to decide what it wants to do with Wells right now, either. His “Flowers for Algernon”-style mental decline is alternately played for pathos and then laughs in every other scene, and it basically just leaves everyone feeling uncomfortable.

Bringing in the D-List secondary Council of Wells at least gave Tom Cavanagh something fun to do. And, to be fair, I liked this idea the first time around, when The Flash did it back in “When Harry Met Harry” (Season 4 Episode 6).

But it turns out this is a story well you really can’t go back to that often. Particularly if that well involves anything to do with that terrible Hugh Hefner-esque version of Wells from Earth-47. Yikes.

After a torturous and deeply unfunny group chat, the gang of lesser Wells-es comes up with the solution. It’s emotion, not brainpower, that will eventually bring down The Thinker. And what is he most emotionally connected to? Marlize.

Most of us guessed a while ago that Marlize would play a pivotal role in stopping DeVoe’s plan. Whether that is ultimately because she talks him off the proverbial ledge or defeats him herself is up in the air, but it nevertheless feels good to be on the same page with Team Flash about this at last.

Barry’s decision to trust Central City with their impending doom at the hands of the Thinker is certainly an odd one, but, man, talk about a perfect character choice. Of course Barry Allen would believe that people tweeting anonymous tips about a strange man on the internet would be a reliable source of crime-fighting intel.

It can’t hurt at this point, I suppose.

The idea that Team Flash can use a “Wisdom of the Crowd” angle to help figure out where The Thinker is and what he’s up to is kind of an interesting one. (Not to mention, oddly timely, considering the fact that every single time social media has tried to do this sort of thing in recent years, it’s failed miserably.)

That no one bothers to ask why DeVoe — a man with shape-shifting powers — wouldn’t just change his face the minute he realized he’s being tracked is a question I don’t even care enough to contemplate.

That’s the worst thing about Season 4 for me, right now. Despite some great individual installments (Enter Flashtime (Season 4, Episode 15), and Run, Iris, Run (Season 4, Episode 16) spring to mind), mostly, I just feel tired.

Here’s hoping the season’s final two episodes can put the show back on track.

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• As happy as I am that The Flash remembers Iris is supposed to be a journalist, the idea that she would (or should) allow Barry to approve whether to publish her story really rubs me the wrong way. She doesn’t get veto power over his superhero decisions, and that freedom should probably go both ways.
• I love Tom Cavanagh and think he can do anything on this show, but wow that French accent was atrocious.
• Amunet’s deeply unimpressed look at Barry’s Flash disguise is all of us. Everyone in Central City knows, kiddo!
• I may be in the minority here but I definitely wouldn’t mind Amunet popping back in for occasional visits, a la Snart.

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

Reviewer Rating:

User Rating:

 

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

Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!