Want to hear more from the actors and creators of your favorite shows and films? Subscribe to The Cinema Spot on YouTube for all of our upcoming interviews!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
The Thinker gets the upper-hand once again, and this puts Barry Allen’s life in danger. Here is our review of The Flash’s mid-season finale–which is also the ninth episode of its fourth season–titled Don’t Run.
Warning: Possible spoilers ahead!
Plot Summary
In this mid-season finale, Clifford DeVoe’s atrophy worsens around the time of his birthday, which may happen to be on the same day as Jesus Christ.
While walking at night with his now-wife Iris West-Allen, Barry is attacked then captured by The Thinker. At the same time, Caitlin Snow is kidnapped by Amunet Black as a means to operate on another metahuman to use for her own personal purposes. Caitlin and the telepathic metahuman (Dominic) attempt to flee from their captor.
Cisco Ramon/ Vibe, Earth-2 Harrison Wells, Iris, Ralph Dibny/ The Elongated Man, and Detective Joe West are torn between searching for both Caitlin and Barry. Cisco and Ralph learn to tolerate each other as teammates, while Wells teaches Caitlin to make tough decisions.
In the end, Barry learns that there is no running from The Thinker as the villain catches him by surprise yet again.
Discussion
Don’t Run teaches us the importance of leadership, and we see this happen with Iris West-Allen when she and the group search for Barry and Caitlin. When stuck in a dilemma, we must trust our gut instinct and make wise choices for the rest of the group.
“Metahumans are commodities,” at least in the eyes of Amunet, that is. She provides the audience details on her background, that she was once a stewardess before being transformed into the metahuman she now is.
Cisco and Ralph learn to work together despite their differences as human beings, Ralph being more vexing than Cisco. They teach us that every group members’ role–aside from reaching their main goal–is to compromise and cooperate despite dissimilar attributes. This is a good lesson to take note of when doing group projects.
Clifford DeVoe tries to teach Barry that “there are no happy endings.” Such is the case when Barry falls into another one of The Thinker’s traps towards the end of the episode; he does this by giving him two Christmas gifts, a good and clever way to toy with Allen’s holiday spirits. This twist changes the course of the season as we lose one character but are given a completely new one, however, this happens in a way that may not make any sense. As his wife Marlize explains, “[DeVoe’s] body may be human, but his brain is smarter than yours.”
Overall, this mid-season finale of The Flash does just as well as–if not better than–the previous episode (not to be confused with Episode 8 which was an installment of the Crisis on Earth-X crossover). With great character development in most of the characters, we are given a new look at what to expect for in the latter half of this season. In addition, we are also provided with some decent albeit too few action sequences. The show makes up for this by showing us a good story to follow. For this, this episode receives a 9.1 out of 10.
Easter Eggs, References, and Trivia Facts:
- Brainstorm
- After both Barry, Caitlin, and Dominic escape from confinement, Cisco dubs their new metahuman ally Brain Storm, a codename much better than Ralph Dibny’s The Elongated Man. This alliance soon comes to an end after the episode’s twist ending. In the comics, Brain Storm is a villain of the Justice League whose stellar energy helmet grants him mental powers. This is similar to another villain of this season, The Thinker.
What role does Brain Storm have for the rest of the season? We’ll have to wait for next year for the show to return from its holiday hiatus to find out. Were you content with that plot twist? Will Barry ever get out of his predicament? Let us know! For more The Flash-related news and reviews, follow Geek Motivation on Twitter (@GeekMotivation) and Instagram (@geekmotivation).
Written by: John Tangalin
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
