Time for a prison break, Flash-style!

Yes, we’re back with a good old-fashioned escape attempt. With Warden Wolfe learning about Barry’s powers, he’s set to sell him to Amunet. And he’s not alone. The warden also has the bus meta baddies from this season locked in his metaproof prison, ready to give to Amunet.

Meanwhile, as the handoff at midnight inches closer, the team quickly finds out about the Warden’s plans, thanks to Cecile’s new mind-reading abilities. With Harry visiting Earth 2, our heroes are down one person. Plus, the metaproof prison means that Cisco and Caitlin can’t use their abilities to break Barry out.

Luckily, Ralph conveniently discovers that he has the ability to shape-shift. What fortuitous timing! The team figures that Ralph can disguise himself as Warden Wolfe and call off the deal with Amunet before the sale goes through. He almost pulls it off, but focusing on his performance as Wolfe splits his concentration and his disguise falters. Richard Brooks has a lot of fun playing Ralph impersonating Wolfe. It’s always great when The Flash gives these supporting actors a moment in the sun.

With this failure, Ralph starts to spiral, figuring that his friends will leave him behind once he lets them down. When Cisco and Caitlin aim to attack the prison and rescue Barry, he bails, stating they’ll be better off without him. If this sounds a bit repetitive, it’s because the show hit these same points a couple episodes ago. Giving Ralph’s ongoing confidence issues isn’t a bad idea, but it comes way too close to a recent plotline to give this one any weight. Caitlin turns into Killer Frost to give Ralph a tough love pep talk, which works as he goes to find a way to free Barry.

Of course, Barry’s not waiting around for the Calvary to sweep in and save him. Instead, he macgyvers his own way out of his cell, leading the other metas down through the old prison to escape. Seeing the bus metas interact is pretty great, though they have the usual antagonistic bickering expected among villains. The only exception is Becky Sharpe, who regrets how her good luck powers hurt those around her. She has a nice bonding scene with Barry, which only increases the impact of what happens next.

As they get outside and have access to their powers again, Wolfe shows up, shoots a power-dampener onto Barry and reveals that he is The Flash. The bus metas turn on him, with the exception of Becky. She uses her luck powers not only to take out the villains, but Wolfe and Amunet as well. But DeVoe gets the drop on them and reveals part of his plan, using his chair to extract the metas abilities, and transferring his consciousness to Becky’s body. Not only do all the abilities make The Thinker far more dangerous, but he’s grown cruel as well, casually murdering Wolfe.

It seems like our heroes can’t catch a break, until Ralph returns at Barry’s appeal. But he shows up disguised as the original DeVoe, stating that he was unconscious, not murdered, therefore freeing Barry. While the prison storyline was a nice diversion, it’s good to have Team Flash back at full strength. Now, they can focus fully on stopping whatever DeVoe has up his sleeve next.

Show Notes:

  • At the end of the episode, Marlize and DeVoe (in Becky’s body) argue over Wolfe’s murder. To that end, DeVoe uses the Weeper’s tears to drug his wife and they end the episode happily dancing. It’s a creepy end that shows DeVoe’s further descent into villainy.
  • In one of Ralph’s face-morphing failures, Cisco compares him to the painting from IT that comes to life.
  • Ralph refers to Killer Frost as “Frosty Oprah” after her speech. You get a pep talk and you get a pep talk!
  • Still unsure how or if Amunet fits into this season’s overall plot. She was working with DeVoe when he did his first bodyswap but ran away when he showed up at the prison this week. I hope there’s some movement in this side plot soon.