The Flash season 4 has seen its fair share of ups and downs. Perhaps fewer ups and more downs. The biggest reason the series is being lambasted by its very fanbase is that the storyline is paper thin and there are so many glaring plotholes in the script that even the Titanic can pass through. Yet the fan following for the show continues to grow, in no small part to Grant Gustin’s phenomenal performance of Barry Allen and Tom Cavanagh wowing audiences with his portrayal of Harrison Wells. The plot may be paper thin but Flash’s Rouges gallery has enough juice to keep the show running and churning TRP for a long, long time. And we still love them for it.
Spoiler Alert: The Following article contains spoilers for The Flash Season 4 episode 9 – ‘Don’t Run’. If you do not wanna get fried, don’t fly close to the sun…..
The Flash TV show has always featured a speedster as a villain. Season 1 saw the Reverse Flash besting Barry until the very end. Season 2 saw the rise of Zoom and Season 3 saw the emergence of Savitar. The Barry we know and love have fought and defeated all of them. But Season 4 is different. In The Flash Season 4, the big bad is not a speedster or a guy with any other superhuman attributes.
The Thinker is just a guy with an extremely high IQ. The guy can conjure up a gazillion contingencies for each move the Flash makes. How will Barry defeat a villain that far outclasses him in sheer intelligence and can predict his and his team’s each and every movie??
And if that was not enough, The Flash Season 4 is bringing in more trouble for Barry Allen (and more joy for the fans). Clifford Devoe aka the Thinker has planned a devious scheme to put Barry in a lot more trouble than we can imagine. The Flash TV Show will now have one of the most classic Flash storylines to ever grace the DC Comics. Something the Show has been teasing since the very first season.
As the episode progresses, Clifford Devoe’s sinister mechanisms are revealed at last. After the particle accelerator exploded in Season 1, Clifford Devoe was blessed with exemplary intellect. But his mind became too much of a burden after that. Devoe’s brain started absorbing too much energy and the body was strained to the point of a premature death.
To get around his own death, Clifford planned Barry’s return from the speedforce and the creation of the Bus Metas. He wanted to collect those Metas and see if one of them could have a body that can handle the strain of Devoe’s mind that his own body never could. He found that replacement in Dominic Lanse – a metahuman with telepathic abilities and a perfect match for Devoe to transfer his consciousness to.
Devoe manages to transfer his mind into Lanse’s, whose mental abilities help him bear the strain of that of Devoe’s. The Thinker is successful and his original body is now nothing but a lifeless corpse.
But things aren’t over yet. Devoe finds a new use for his previous body. He stabbed the corpse and left it in the apartment of Barry Allen. Barry came back to the apartment to check an alarm that went off only to discover Devoe’s original body lying on the floor. But as the CCPD are about to ram in through the door, Barry Allen – who is fast enough to run to the other end of the world in a microsecond, decides not to run and become a fugitive. Barry Allen is not willing to risk his marriage and stays as the CCPD arrest him for the murder of Clifford Devoe.
And thus begins the “Trial of Flash” storyline.
Carry Bates and Carmine Infantino in December 1984, penned the iconic and famous Flash storyline “Trial of Flash” in The Flash #340. The Flash was soon about to be wedded to his second fiancé Fiona Webb.
But Professor Zoom will have none of Barry’s happiness. In order to make the Flash’s life more miserable, Zoom attempts to kill Fiona. Barry Allen, in a moment of desperation, uses lethal force and breaks Zoom’s neck. The authorities then arrest the Flash and put him on trial. Coz murder is murder, no matter the victim.
The Classic “Trial of Flash” storyline has been hinted by the writers since season 1. But it looks like Season 4 will be the one to host it in one of its episodes. Remember Barry’s gibberish after he came back from the Speed Force in the Season 4 premiere. Looks like that rubbish he was talking about was actually Barry Allen’s future.
We will let you know what happens next as the next episode of The Flash Season 4 airs. Quirkybyte is now on Jury Duty.
Don’t Miss: 20 Arrowverse vs DCEU Memes That Will Make You Laugh Uncontrollably Hard
