The Flash 4x21 "Harry and The Harrisons" Review
Tom Cavanagh gets to do what he does best: play different versions of the same character. After first season's well-praised Eobard Thawne / Harrison Wells mystery, The Flash loves to have this guy keep playing different characters every season (Eobard Thawne, Harry Wells, and HR Wells).
Season four took that approach further and gave the man his own team: The Council of Wells. He got to play French, flamboyant, half-cyborg, etc. and he does it in a way that gives each Wells a distinctive personality.
But enough praising the brilliant actor. Let's get into my review.
If you watch Supergirl and are caught up on the current season, I have the latest episode review here.
Spoilers ahead:
DeVoe takes a backseat in this episode, and the team is trying to figure out why. The Thinker got everything he needs in the last episode to unleash his Enlightenment but has not launched it. This is where Harry decides to call upon the Council, on Cisco's urgency.
The Council predictably does not wish to help the "dum dum" Harry and kick him off the Council for not having anything to contribute. This leads to Cisco feeling bad but then rounding up another "Harrison Wells" team known as the Council of Harrisons.
Similar to the Legends, these are outcasts who are not as smart as the other Wells and they were also kicked off the original Council. Instead of using their brains, the Harrison Council tries to get Harry to understand DeVoe's heart. He does not respond well to feelings and disbands the group.
In the end after mulling over his feelings though and DeVoe's, using a formula of happy smile + frown = broken face, Harry discovers that DeVoe 's wife has left him and that has delayed the plan to "simplify" the world. This takes a lot out of Harry and he taps out for a well-deserved nap. Good job, Harry! Rest easy now. You earned it.
The main plot of the episode is Amunet Black. The metahuman who tried to sell Barry and the other bus metas to slavery a couple episodes back during the Trial of the Flash arc. After paying a visit to Norvock (guy with the weird eye thing), they discover she has disappeared since that incident.
They track her down and ask for her help. Her banter with the team is cute and how she figured out Barry is the Flash was within her character. Plus I love her accent. I wish they found a way to keep her around in the finale, but that would've been way too easy to pull off.
Caitlin has ulterior motives to recruiting Amunet. After getting paired with Joe for the episode, she wants Amunet to use some splicer to bring back Killer Frost. She used this splicer to help control her alter ego in-between seasons 3 and 4. It turns out Amunet lied though and the splicer never worked (placebo effect).
I think her desperation to see Killer Frost again is ridiculous but it's better than putting her with another random love interest who dies, turns evil, or leaves for England. (looking at you guys: Ronnie, Zoom, and Julian).
But they discover Norvack stole the splicer and Amunet's extra non-tech shards (the source of her powers). The Flash, Amunet, Caitlin armed with a Gold Gun, and Joe go to confront him. Caitlin and Joe take care of the henchmen while Flash and Amunet combat Norvack.
Amunet defeats her former right hand and traps his head in a metal cage, but Barry convinces her to spare his life. She reluctantly agrees but cuts his weird eye thing off. He runs away after this, which baffles me because they could've easily just cuffed him.
But I guess Team Flash has bigger things to worry about than arresting criminals.
The villain decides to take her leave but gifts the team with a grenade made of her shards. Once Harry shares DeVoe's martial problems with the team, they decide to track her down to see if she can help gain insight on her husband.
Joe and Caitlin get to talking at CC Jitters and she has to find the answers inside her heart to find Killer Frost, not science.
Iris West-Allen impressed me on and off this episode. She has decided to dig into her journalistic roots, picking up where she left off in that one episode where she gained speedster powers, and to blog about DeVoe's Enlightenment.
Barry is against this idea for some reason, but I'm all for it. Iris is finally using her writing skills to help the team, the most useful thing she has done all season. I think this is why I enjoyed her character so much during season 1 and parts of season 2. I related to her in ways only a writer could understand.
It reminded me of the season 1 Iris, and that put a smile on my face.
But it got boggled down at times with the constant reminder she is doing things she has no business doing. When Caitlin grilled her on some science stuff to track down Amunet's shards, I kept thinking "you are asking the wrong person here, Caity".
In the end, Barry allows Iris to publish the article (she didn't need his permission, but it was nice he gave it), and now the city is on high alert for DeVoe.
Damn how did Iris get so many followers? Are they the same ones from season 1? And they responded so fast. I need to consult her on how she does that because clearly I blog (shocking) and could use her expert advice.
Besides the small spark of Iris West, I thought this episode was unnecessary (but somewhat fun) to the overall plot especially going into the finale.
Remember when Leo Snart was recruited to help Barry defeat DeVoe? This episode had the same feel to that one, which is not good because it's literal rehashing the same concept (enlist help from unlikely ally who gifts them with advice and ultimately leaves before the big battle).
My review on that episode is here if you need a refresher on how much we all enjoyed that episode.
Comment below or message and let me know your thoughts on the episode. We're two episodes away! A lot of shows are ending their seasons soon... what will I blog then?