S04.E04: Elongated Journey Into Night

[bmoore4026]

Ralph Dibney is my future husband.  I'll change my name to

Spoiler

Sue and my whole gender if I have to (just don't let Jean Loring know).

This is probably the best episode in the series.  So many things were hysterical, especially Iris' reaction to seeing Ralph's stretched out leg.

And the best thing about the episode - no Wally.  I've come to realize that I don't like Wally West, in either the comics or on this show.  Nothing against the actor, but Wally is superfluous. 

So what's the big bad's name again?  DeSoto?

[mxc90]

1 hour ago, ruby24 said:

But I think there has been some stuff this season that shows the new writers are slightly less uptight about hinting at sex- there was that brief scene with Hazard walking in on her boyfriend, Harry talking about Wally being Jesse's first, the stuff with Cisco/Gypsy here, and now it looks like strippers in the next one. Even if all that's relatively mild, it's actually more than the Flash usually does, ever, so...I would hope this would also apply to intimacy with Barry and Iris,  who are, again, the show's MAIN COUPLE.

I don't believe the writers from the previous seasons were completely uptight. 

From season one there were a few short scenes that come to mind:  

1. Iris and Eddie in bed, she was on top of him, looking sexy, begging for 5 more minutes but Eddie ruined the mood (he needed to leave for work).

2. Cisco's and Caitlin's talk to Barry about premature "release" due to his speed and advised him to think about puppies and nuns.

3. Caitlin was drunk, Barry brought her home, she asked him to help her undress, and she told him it was OK if he had taken a peek at her "goods" during the speedy clothes change (and of course Barry didn't). Not a hint at sex but some level of perversion.

I understand these are mild to what's on other shows but the writers made an attempt.

[Ottis]

That made no damn sense at all, but I enjoyed it anyway. 

[johntfs]

3 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

And the best thing about the episode - no Wally.  I've come to realize that I don't like Wally West, in either the comics or on this show.  Nothing against the actor, but Wally is superfluous. 

I liked the character of Wally, especially when he had a bit more edge in Season Two.  The biggest problem is that there's not much point in being the "second fastest man alive" on The Flash.

[Ottis]

2 hours ago, doram said:

I don't know why it's so hard for people to grasp the concept that the whole conceit of writing/creating a story is that the writers/creators can make  characters as relevant or as irrelevant as they want to. The operative word. The only thing that stops Wally from being well-written is the showrunners don't want to write Wally. 

I don't think that's quite right. Writers focus on who they either NEED to write because of the character's backstory/role, or who the HAVE to write (because it's a lead role). Also, they can ONLY write what they have time to write. You can't give every single character a fascinating, deep backstory and purpose. From the start, Wally, as a long-lost family member who was almost as fast as Barry, has a role that isn't key to the mythology (in fact, he's largely redundant, as Barry II) AND he isn't a lead role. Sometimes an actor who catches on with viewers because of his/her looks, acting, etc. forces writers create a larger role, because ratings. That apparently didn't happen here. 

I don't know what Wally is in the comics, because I don't read them. But in the show, there are only so many lead characters and he isn't one. I do find fault with how sulky they made him about not having powers, but then the entire cast has been written that way at one time or another. Thankfully there has been less of that this season.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Ottis

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 11/1/2017 at 7:28 PM, bmoore4026 said:

Ralph Dibney is my future husband.  I'll change my name to

Spoiler

 

Sue and my whole gender if I have to (just don't let Jean Loring know).

 

This is probably the best episode in the series.  So many things were hysterical, especially Iris' reaction to seeing Ralph's stretched out leg.

And the best thing about the episode - no Wally.  I've come to realize that I don't like Wally West, in either the comics or on this show.  Nothing against the actor, but Wally is superfluous. 

So what's the big bad's name again?  DeSoto?

Aww, @bmoore4026! If only you hadn't said you couldn't stand Comics!Wally (who I LOVE, along with JL/JLU/YJ Wally), I would have given yer post a like! I've never warmed up to this show's rendition of Wally, so am glad to see him gone.

I thought The Thinker--dude that looks like Metron was the big bad; but the other bad name given was...Devoe.

[Captain Stable]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I thought The Thinker--dude that looks like Metron was the big bad; but the other bad name given was...Devoe.

I assumed The Thinker IS Devoe.

I could be wrong though and there are two big bads - or The Thinker has a boss...

[johntfs]

1 minute ago, Captain Stable said:

I assumed The Thinker IS Devoe.

I could be wrong though and there are two big bads - or The Thinker has a boss...

The following is a minor spoiler from the comics:

Spoiler

The Thinker's actual name in the comics is Clifford DeVoe.

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 minutes ago, Captain Stable said:

I assumed The Thinker IS Devoe.

I could be wrong though and there are two big bads - or The Thinker has a boss...

Ohhhhhh. Gotcha.

[Unclejosh]

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit but I also usually prefer my comic shows to be on the humorous side rather than dour and dire all the time.  That is what real life is for...

On a shallow note, I thought Danielle Panabaker looked especially good tonight.  For the first time I saw her as a grown woman as opposed to the kid actress I have seen over the years.  Even though she is 30, she looks younger but married life must agree with her because she was rocking her outfit in this ep.

[bmoore4026]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Aww, @bmoore4026! If only you hadn't said you couldn't stand Comics!Wally (who I LOVE, along with JL/JLU/YJ Wally), I would have given yer post a like! I've never warmed up to this show's rendition of Wally, so am glad to see him gone.

I thought The Thinker--dude that looks like Metron was the big bad; but the other bad name given was...Devoe.

Shoot, I could have gotten a like ;)

[johntfs]

On 11/1/2017 at 5:39 AM, mxc90 said:

I guess Bell and Biv are in another universe.

Bell is in the Fringe universe and Biv will be the main antagonist next season.

[Terrafamilia]

I had a couple of fridge moments last night.

The bullet booger joke was funny but I then started thinking. The bullet either entered straight up his nostril in order to come back out that way or it got into his head some other way and rattled around before somehow finding its way to his nose. The latter is...disquieting to say the least so I'm going with the former.

Was that brush on which Iris found some alleged Dibny hair the sort of brush you'd expect to find a guy like Dibny using? I had thought they would have found the half-eaten donuts and try to recover some saliva but when Iris found the brush I had flashbacks to Hermione's first try at polyjuice potion.

12 minutes ago, johntfs said:

Bell is in the Fringe universe and Biv will be the main antagonist next season.

There was a Roy G. Bivolo who showed up as the Rainbow Raider in season 1.

[Katsullivan]

On 10/31/2017 at 10:43 PM, doram said:

So... lemme get this straight. Cisco and Gypsy can have hot makeout scenes with Gypsy traversing the flat in a short tee and Cisco looking for condoms and making sex jokes... Random dude can grab his girl's booty? 

But WestAllen can’t do any of the above because it’s a “family show?”

Riiiiight.

On US TV, seeing a black woman get brutally murdered on repeat is popcorn entertainment. Seeing her getting pleasured, even more from a white man, is family-unfriendly. 

[mac123x]

I don't know why but when Joe blurted out that Cecilia is pregnant I laughed uncontrollably for a straight minute.  I guess it was the total non sequitur.

 

I didn't care for the Gypsy / Cisco / Father-of-the-Bride bullshit.  I mean really, Cisco should have asked him what he wanted to drink before going to the counter.  Some people just don't like coffee, Cisco, regardless of whether their planet was devastated by aliens.

[johntfs]

37 minutes ago, mac123x said:

I don't know why but when Joe blurted out that Cecilia is pregnant I laughed uncontrollably for a straight minute.  I guess it was the total non sequitur.

 

I didn't care for the Gypsy / Cisco / Father-of-the-Bride bullshit.  I mean really, Cisco should have asked him what he wanted to drink before going to the counter.  Some people just don't like coffee, Cisco, regardless of whether their planet was devastated by aliens.

I don't think getting "Josh" the wrong drink was the problem.  Even if Cisco had checked with Gypsy and gotten Breacher his favorite drink in the multi-verse, Breacher would still have decided to hunt Cisco because he was "sucking up."  For my part I kind of hope of we do something where it turns out that Cisco mom/grandmom is more terrifying than Breacher ever could have dreamed.  And maybe they also end up dating.

[mxc90]

On 11/2/2017 at 7:53 PM, johntfs said:

Bell is in the Fringe universe and Biv will be the main antagonist next season.

I hear "Poison" will be his choice of weapon.

BTW - If Ralph is going to turn down $200K, at least ask for $5.00 to payback the bus company. 

[Grace19]

This season has been amazing. I love the new character, can he please stay forever and become friends with Barry and maybe iris? For some reason I just didn't carecabout gypsies dad.

Love Barry and iris working together. Love Caitlin and iris appreciation of Oliver, he is hot even though I don't care for the character much. Please no romance between Caitlin and Ralph.

[Trini]

Re-watch thoughts:

So the opening narration is back. Really thought we were done with it. I didn't miss it the first 3 episodes.

I'm still not buying that Devoe planned that busload of metas. How could he have known where and when Barry would come out of the speed force?

So the bus driver was murdered -I hope they follow up on that- that's only 11 metas; 3 down, 8 to go. And if Devoe was planning to take down the Mayor, I guess that means the new Mayor will be working for him; or at least be useful to him.

R.I.P. Cisco's collectibles. Well, at least Cynthia knows what to get him for Elfing Cookie Stealing Day. Kudos to Danny Trejo for managing to say "Josh" in the scariest way possible!

I know Barry had to be the "bad guy" (and demonstate his beef with Dibny) for plot, but suggesting locking up Dibny? C'mon; it was so long ago Barry himself was in the pipeline, so it seemed a bit out of character, especially after last season when they had moved past that.

Caitlin's line about taking an oath to help people was cringe-worthy after her Killer Frost arc last season, and with what's probably going to be revealed about her six months away from the team soon.

I thought Dibny had a good introduction, but I still don't see he why he needs to be here. Plus, his immediate initiation into Team Flash means that the antagonistic tension with Barry is pretty much gone after one episode. Them as actual rivals could have interesting.

[PsychoDrone]

On 11/3/2017 at 9:58 PM, mac123x said:

I don't know why but when Joe blurted out that Cecilia is pregnant I laughed uncontrollably for a straight minute.  I guess it was the total non sequitur.

 

I didn't care for the Gypsy / Cisco / Father-of-the-Bride bullshit.  I mean really, Cisco should have asked him what he wanted to drink before going to the counter.  Some people just don't like coffee, Cisco, regardless of whether their planet was devastated by aliens.

What is the purpose of Joe and Cecille being pregnant?  Older people being irresponsible isn't a good look.  So, how many episodes before Cecille's pregnancy becomes a plot point in the show?  Will Joe have to drop out of Team Flash because he wants to be around for his kid?  Will Cecille get hurt, and possibly lose the baby, because of Flash-related events?  Oh, the drama!!/sarcasm

Yes, the Gypsy/Father/Cisco conflict didn't add anything to the show.  Her Dad was just too over the top.  I can understand wanting to impress your girlfriend's dad, but the dad wanting to do Cisco bodily harm was too much.

Usually, I can suspend disbelief, but Ralph with the helicopter was too much.  He is able to stop a helicopter from flying away WHILE not being anchored to anything?  Also, Barry needs to just make his identity public.  Even with the people he don't tell that he's the Flash, it isn't really hard to put 2 and 2 together and figure out who he is.

[johntfs]

9 minutes ago, PsychoDrone said:

Yes, the Gypsy/Father/Cisco conflict didn't add anything to the show.  Her Dad was just too over the top.  I can understand wanting to impress your girlfriend's dad, but the dad wanting to do Cisco bodily harm was too much.

I'm not totally sure how much of that threat was real.  For one thing, Gypsy didn't come off as being super-concerned about Breecher hunting her boyfriend and you'd think she would have been if death for Cisco was a real likelihood.  I suspect the whole hunting thing is a weird "relationship test" to see how suited someone is to be with Gypsy.  If Breecher had caught Cisco and Cisco wussed out or begged for mercy, he wouldn't be suitable for Gypsy.  If he was willing to fight or die for her, he was.  Really the person in the most danger from Breecher this episode was Ralph.

[Quark]

This season has been absolutely hilarious.

I hope this continues.

The Flash is definitely at its best when its fun and is probably my favourite of all the DCTV shows at the moment.

[KirkB]

20 hours ago, PsychoDrone said:

Usually, I can suspend disbelief, but Ralph with the helicopter was too much.  He is able to stop a helicopter from flying away WHILE not being anchored to anything?  Also, Barry needs to just make his identity public.  Even with the people he don't tell that he's the Flash, it isn't really hard to put 2 and 2 together and figure out who he is.

Unless I am misremembering the scene Ralph didn't stop the helicopter he just stretched to grab it and kept stretching while Barry ran up his arm.

20 hours ago, PsychoDrone said:

What is the purpose of Joe and Cecille being pregnant?  Older people being irresponsible isn't a good look.  So, how many episodes before Cecille's pregnancy becomes a plot point in the show?  Will Joe have to drop out of Team Flash because he wants to be around for his kid?  Will Cecille get hurt, and possibly lose the baby, because of Flash-related events?  Oh, the drama!!/sarcasm

While CW drama is certainly a likely possibility, the only reason I can really think of for the story line even existing is as an excuse for Joe to leave the show without their killing him. Like Cecile decides life in Central City is too dangerous after she nearly gets killed again. 

 

20 hours ago, johntfs said:

I'm not totally sure how much of that threat was real.  For one thing, Gypsy didn't come off as being super-concerned about Breecher hunting her boyfriend and you'd think she would have been if death for Cisco was a real likelihood.  I suspect the whole hunting thing is a weird "relationship test" to see how suited someone is to be with Gypsy.  If Breecher had caught Cisco and Cisco wussed out or begged for mercy, he wouldn't be suitable for Gypsy.  If he was willing to fight or die for her, he was.  Really the person in the most danger from Breecher this episode was Ralph.

I'm inclined to agree. If Breacher wanted to kill Cisco he could have just done it. I think the whole hunting thing was a really warped test of a potential son in law's worth in his eyes, especially since Gypsy didn't seem to be worried for Cisco's life but rather annoyed at her father.

[RobertDeSneero]

On 10/31/2017 at 8:28 PM, Jediknight said:

They unlocked the secret to time travel, and got a young Jim Carrey to play Ralph Dibny, didn't they?  The actor was way too much like a young Carrey, that's not a bad thing.

I was thinking more "sleazy Matt Smith" than "young Jim Carrey".

[johntfs]

7 hours ago, RobertDeSneero said:

I was thinking more "sleazy Matt Smith" than "young Jim Carrey".

I don't know, I thought the Carrey was strong in that one.  The bit where he sneezed his face off felt like something that would have happened to Fire Marshal Bill on In Living Color.

[Gulftastic]

Good casting on Ralph Dibney. He'll return, I'm sure. I hope he has

Spoiler

Sue with him (as long as she's not 'Identity Crisis' bonkers).

Love that they got the nose twitching in there.

[johntfs]

On 11/8/2017 at 10:59 AM, Gulftastic said:

Good casting on Ralph Dibney. He'll return, I'm sure. I hope he has

Spoiler

Sue with him (as long as she's not 'Identity Crisis' bonkers).

Love that they got the nose twitching in there.

Spoiler

Sue was never Identity Crisis bonkers.  She was Identity Crisis secretly raped and then Identity Crisis murdered.  It was Ray Palmer's ex who was Identity Crisis bonkers.

[Gulftastic]

Oops. Been a while since I read it. Got my spouses mixed up. Now you've said that, I've remembered

the tiny brain footprints clue

[AudienceofOne]

On 01/11/2017 at 2:45 PM, RedVitC said:

I get that Barry was trying to say that sometime they've ignored some of the rules in order to put bad guys away, I just don't like it that they let Dibny's accusations of 'you ruined my life twice' sort of stand. 

There is a big difference between what Barry and the gang have been doing and what Dibny did. Not that Team Flash is right, they're just wrong in a different way. Ignoring due process is completely different to planting evidence. 

I have issues with them locking people up n a private prison without a trial but the people locked up did commit the crimes they've locked up for. What Dibny did is how innocent people get convicted of crimes they didn't commit. So there's no comparison here. Dibny wanted credit for a collar and didn't care how he got it. 

I think that Joe was saying that Barry was right in the past but wrong now for not giving him a second chance and that I can agree with. But everything that happened to Dibny he brought upon himself, other than the dark matter accident of course. 

On 07/11/2017 at 4:46 AM, Quark said:

This season has been absolutely hilarious.

I hope this continues.

The Flash is definitely at its best when its fun and is probably my favourite of all the DCTV shows at the moment.

Humour is subjective unfortunately. I've found the slapstick tiresome.