Team Flash continues to fend for itself without its namesake — and they are definitely struggling. Barry Allen is still behind bars in tonight’s episode, which has in turn made Harry even more curmudgeonly than usual. While the rest of the team is willing to tackle other issues — like figuring out why Cecile ‘s pregnancy has given her the ability to read minds (more on that later) — Harry wants to stay focused on freeing Barry, even though they’ve hit a roadblock in that area. Sure, he cares about Barry, but the real heart of the matter is that Harry hates being outsmarted by The Thinker.
To be fair to the team, Barry isn’t suffering that much in prison. When we check in with him at the top of tonight’s episode, he’s found ways to keep himself busy — like using his powers to cheat at poker and win more yogurt. However, he finds a new heroic project thanks to Big Sir, who opens up about how he got locked up. It turns out he was found guilty of murdering a security guard during a robbery 15 years earlier. Big Sir says he didn’t do it and was only on the scene because he heard the shots and tried to save the guard, but people just assumed he did it because of flimsy evidence and the way he looks — i.e. his muscular stature. (Did The Flash miss an opportunity to comment on the U.S. criminal justice system by casting a white dude in the role of Big Sir? Definitely yes.) Obviously, Barry takes it upon himself to find the real killer and free Big Sir.
Since Barry is in prison, that task falls onto Team Flash. Harry thinks they should do it because Barry hasn’t asked for anything since being in the clink. It just so happens that the real murderer may have just fallen into their lap: While all of this is going on, Sylbert Rundin, a metahuman with the ability to shrink objects, shrinks Kord Tech’s supposedly metahuman-proof building. When Joe, Cisco, and Ralph eventually track him down, they discover he looked like Big Sir 15 years ago, leading them to believe that he may have been responsible for that crime, too. Unfortunately, they don’t get to question him because Sylbert manages to escape using all sorts of toys he has shrunk since gaining his powers on that bus — a car, a parachute, a laser gun. However, before fleeing, he shrinks Cisco and Ralph.
Look, when I saw the preview and the title for tonight’s episode, I was worried that the episode would be unbearably silly; however, I think writers Sam Chalsen and Judalina Neira never let the tone of the episode get away from them. Having a shrunken Cisco and Ralph is obviously played up for humor, but it works, and the bit actually made me laugh — especially Ralph and Cisco’s failed attempts to stretch and breach their way out of this little predicament. Even funnier: Iris accidentally stepping on Ralph, and Harry declaring that the two boys are just as annoying miniaturized.
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