TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 04 Episode 13: True Colors

We knew for a while now that things would have to turn around for Barry Allen in a way that would get him out of jail so that he could take down Duvoe. The question was when, and how. Turns out, “True Colors”, did a great job of thrusting the plot of the season forward in many ways, as well as showing the more insane nature of Duvoe himself.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Dinby meeting a shady character from his past was good at first, and it did result in him being open and honest with Team Flash about how he was feeling, which resulted in his first transformation ability (which is something he does do in the comics). However, the “I always screw everything up” arc felt really cliche here. Especially since he risked his life to save Cisco and Caitlin against the trickster two episodes ago! He’s supposed to have the confidence to know that he can be heroic. Instead? It weighed down the episode a bit.

Second, Killer Frost’s pep talk was funny, but it felt out of character. Would she really put up with Ralph in such a way to allow herself to give a pep talk? I’m not so sure. Finally, while it was fun seeing Amunet again, she was very much wasted here. She literally had three or four scenes and they didn’t bring out anything new about her.

Thankfully, everything else was really good. I loved how they used Cecil’s mind-reading powers to figure out what Warden Wolf was going to do, which lead to great breakout plans on both sides. Team Flash trying to trick Amunet, and Barry trying to get the heck out of the metahuman wing.

Sometimes we are meant to forget how smart Barry is. After all, he is the fastest man alive. But more than that, he’s a trained CSI with years of experience. Seeing him whip up a vast of acid to chew threw the metal in his cell was great. And him even risking his life to save the other metas was good form.

Speaking of which, it was a real compilation moment to see them all together. My MVP is most surprisingly Hazard. Who went from the most annoying character in the history of The Flash to a very well rounded and sympathetic character. And I felt bad after what happened to her. Yet, it was these subtler moments with her and Barry that really gave the episode weight as things started to go bad.

Which brings us to Duvoe. After being conspicuously absent last episode, he and his wife came back in a big way. They hadn’t accounted for Wolf and Amunet’s partnership, and thus had to compensate in a way. This led to Duvoe waiting until Barry broke everyone out, and then took all the bus metas powers and minds, and then transferred his consciousness to Hazard. What’s more, we now know he’s stacking powers (as he’s in Hazard’s body but had the telepathic ability of Brainstorm). How this all figures into “The Enlightenment” is still unknown, but we’re starting to get a pretty picture of it, and it concerns mind control.

Furthermore, we got to see that the relationship between Duvoe and his wife is straining, to the point where she’s having doubts and using songs to make sure he can’t read her mind. That “dosing” of her drink and the dance scene that followed was utterly creepy, and showed that even his own wife won’t stop him from completing his plan. The madness is setting in.

Finally, there was the clearing of Barry. I was honestly unsure of how this was going to happen, and despite being pretty creative, I didn’t think about Ralph becoming Duvoe’s original form (complete with wheelchair!) to help clear his name. You might think it’s weird and convenient, but as Cecil said, this is the city of the impossible. So why wouldn’t the judge believe it? He doesn’t know Ralph. So, Barry is free, and they now know loosely what he’s planning, which means Ralph is in serious danger. And the rest of the bus metas too.

Flash is on a roll now, with two fantastic episodes and a now fully-fledged plot to follow in regards to Duvoe’s plan. Flash is off for three weeks, but hopefully when it returns the momentum won’t be lost.