The following article contains some wild speculation and unruly connections that stem from the very edge of the author’s sanity. That being said the fact that you’re here means you’re also interested in what the answer to the question is. What question, you all?
The very question that is the title to piece, granted that it might be rephrased as a statement here. The Flash is attempting to pull off something very clever. But clever as it may be, the development that he will talk about here is in no way something new. We have seen this trope being repeated time and again in all kinds of stories including this show itself and other variations of it in the Arrowverse.
Be that as it may, this article also contains grand spoilers for Season 4 Episode 13 “True Colours” of CW’s The Flash. Why? Because I can’t propose a theory for future events without speculating on the current developments and all information available on hand. That would just be, irresponsible of us as reporters and theorists.
Before we move forward, we need to have some background. In the mid-season finale, we saw how Clifford DeVoe framed Barry Allen for murder as the crime scene was managed suggesting all the evidence against Barry. Hence, the show adapted “The Trial of the Flash” plot from the comics and paid fan service yet again.
Detective Joe West’s girlfriend Cecile represented Barry in court and it was clear as to which direction the case was moving. They did not go for the insanity plea, hence the only option left on the table for Barry Allen was to reveal his secret identity to the jury and to the entire city.
But Barry refused to do that and chose to be as strong as his father Henry Allen. He was totally against the idea of using his speed powers to escape the prison. Hence, Cecile lost the cause and Barry Allen was sent to jail for murdering a university professor.
The Flash Season 4 Episode 13 saw Barry Allen aka The Flash team up with a handful of the bus metas to escape his incarceration (it’s ironic that the bus metas including Bison and Hazard we’re imprisoned in the first place because Barry Allen was the one to catch them).
The escape was an endeavor to not only regain freedom but to also escape being sold off as human fodder. Yes, the bus metas were being bundled with a powerless Barry Allen to be sold off to Amunet by Wolfe.
But as always..Be careful what you wish for Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Allen for your plans will be foiled by the Thinker. With ‘True Colours” CW’s The Flash reminded us all that the real and undisputed villain of season 4 is The Thinker aka Clifford DeVoe.
Todd Helbing, the showrunner had this to say about him:
“The Thinker literally is the smartest guy on the planet, so there’s a lot of chess pieces that he’s moving around simultaneously. As our team is figuring out who he is and what they think the plan is, there’s a lot of fun as we show the audience information and then have our team catch up to that information or surpass it. It’s a big mystery.”
But he is not alone, The Thinker has the assistance of his wife aka ‘The Mechanic’ who is described as “the truest of true believers who’ll stop at nothing to help him implement his plan to fix humanity”.
It was when our unruly bunch of companions thought they had escaped from an aggrieved slaver that Clifford chose to intervene. The Thinker not only devoured four of the bus metas but also took over the body of Hazard, a development that even surprised Clifford’s spouse.
So yes, The Thinker is now a petite, crazy woman who was seen dancing with Mrs. DeVoe at the end of the episode. This proved that no one knows what ‘The Thinker’might do next as there is no clear pattern in his actions and a hell lot of unpredictability that even Cisco, Harry or Caitlin have failed to crack it.
The mechanic has stood by The Thinker’s mad scheme’s but it seems that even her love has a limit to oversight. The poor woman had to fill her head with a song to avoid thinking something bad about her husband.
This kind of control not only enslaves a person but also fester anxiety in their minds. It eats away the relationship piece by piece. If a person is not allowed to keep his/her thoughts private and not allowed to question his/her partner in the moral choices the alpha makes then the beta is usually left with a sense of powerlessness and exasperation.
These feelings are often followed by a deep sense of regret and self-victimization and then by full-blown rebellion. The poor woman has been questioning the morality of The Thinker’s actions for the entire season but it seems she has just started to question his methods.
At the end of ‘True Colours,’ we see The Mechanic question DeVoe (now in possession of Hazard’s body) for his methods. She asks that they were not supposed to go after the bus metas until we’re all together and also remarks on Devo’s conduct with respect to Wolfe.
To this, The Thinker provides some verbal reassurance and judging her wife’s doubts DeVoe drugs Mechanic’s champagne. All this leads us to believe that perhaps The Mechanic is the key to defeating The Thinker. The villain is meticulous and frankly is too much for Barry Allen to handle.
All this is not helped by the fact that DeVoe now has powers of numerous metahumans which cover a variety of bases. These powers make him formidable and he clearly always has the plan to move ahead.
The only way to beat such a well prepared, well equipped and the all-powerful enemy is to get a man on the inside. And I propose,. That with all the festering doubts. The Mechanic is your inside man. She might be the one. She is slowly realizing that she might have made a grave mistake allowing things to go this out of control.
She is feeling the heat of a stressed relationship with the better (or worse) half of her life. She fell in love with the university professor Clifford DeVoe who was a science genius and wanted to change the world. Despite him being a cripple, she decided to be by his side to help him realize his vision of a new world.
But now she does not even recognize the person standing next to her who was Dominique just another day and now is a female metahuman named Hazard. One can sense the fear in her body language as she is having doubts about everything. This was best visible in the way she was dancing with her husband aka Hazard as if she is under some sort of pressure.
She is the best person to take him down as she not only has all the important information that may be imperative to defeating the Thinker, But she might also be the key to figuring out the Brain inhibitor technology. Something that the Team Flash needs to figure out promptly if they ever wish to defeat thinker at his own game.
She has the requisite expertise and knowledge which if she chose to share it with Team Flash, they can come up with a plan to neutralize the Thinker and prevent a disaster in the Central City. Hopefully, there is still humanity left in her to help stop her husband (or wife) from doing anything which could damage or destroy lives of good people.
The official synopsis for the next episode titled ‘Subject 9’ is as follows:
“Barry meets a powerful woman whose abilities could help him in his battle with Devoe. Meanwhile after learning that Devoe is targeting everyone who was on the bus, Ralph decides he doesn’t want to be a hero anymore, his only concern is staying alive. Harry offers to help Joe”.
It will air on Tuesday at 9:00 on The CW network.
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