Welcome back, Flash fanatics! The Flash on the CW speeds its way into its third episode this week. This review is for The Flash season four, episode three: “Luck Be a Lady.” First of all let’s do a quick recap on what last happened.

RECAP

The Scarlet Speedster made his way home at last and started out Risky Business style. Not everything was fun and games for Barry Allen, however. Iris and Barry went to couples counseling to help improve their relationship after each being left separated for six months. During this scene,  we also got a questionable newspaper headline that showed that Barry is not fully caught up with his friends quite yet.The Flash finally went up against long time Flash villain Killg%re and began to use his new upgraded suit. Meanwhile “The Thinker,” otherwise known as Clifford Devoe, revealed to The Mechanic that he has eleven other different metahumans lying in wait for the return of the Flash.

Episode 4×03 Review “LUCK BE A LADY”

Sadly, this week was a filler episode that was to help further develop the character’s stories that we missed out on and help explain some of the mysteries that took place  between seasons 3 and 4. The episode was unexpectedly great and certainly did not dissatisfy viewers this week. The Flash continues to pull through with its transition into a more positive and heartfelt season. Episode three continues to prove that the writers have not lost their talent and do not need to be manipulated by the push for more darker comic book movies and shows.

The episode started out with Clifford Devoe researching the newest metahuman in Central City. The revolving cast of directors continue to nail the visuals for the villains. The Thinker continually has looked impressive for the past three episodes and is visually beyond the majority of television villains. Rebecca Sharp is the villain “Hazard,” who first appeared in Infinity Inc. #34. Unlike every other metahuman on The Flash so far, Hazard simply causes the spread of bad luck to everyone around her. The more bad luck she spreads, the more luck she gains. Her presence is a threat to everyone who stands around her.

We finally found out the explanation on how the new metahumans in central city came to be. When Barry arrived out of the speedforce, dark matter bursted outside the breach,  causing the creation of over a bus load of new metahumans. On that bus,  we saw two more mysterious villains who will most likely appear in the upcoming episodes. The typical explanation is that it was because of the “particle accelerator explosion a few years ago,” but this time we got a new and more reasonable explanation. Although The Flash is a science fiction show, that does not mean the show can just easily get away with its explanations for its unexplainable science. So far, the writing has vastly improved over last season. Explanations are far more practical and unlike the first episode of the season, the characters have not been using the “I’ll go talk to them” type of conversation which plagued season three as it nearly appeared in almost every single episode whenever two characters wanted to talk privately.

 It’s never a season of The Flash without Harrison Wells! Earth 2 Wells returned in order to give Wally some news and help out team Flash. It’s always great to see Tom Cavanagh reprise his role as the beloved character, but he has gotten to a point where he feels like he is being shoe horned into the show just because the fanbase and writers adore Cavanagh so much. While it’s always a pleasure to have him on board for an episode, it’s getting harder for the writers to incorporate him into the show. Hopefully, his plot line this year will continue to develop and he can become a full time member of the team once again.

Barry and Iris pushed forward in their wedding plans. This turned out to be a negative velocity, as their plans were held back due to a multitude of reasons while also slowly progressing through their relationship problems. I’m sure we will finally see the wedding happen in the four way crossover between The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Arrow. The Crisis on Earth X episode will hopefully close this long time plot line as writers Andrew Kreisberg and Todd Helbing mentioned that there would be a wedding in the final episode of the massive crossover.

Wally West is finally taking a break from the show for a while. The lackluster character certainly needs a break until the writers can figure out a proper way to incorporate him into the show. The character has had his ups and downs, but it seems like not only are both the fans unhappy with the characters story, but the writers never exactly knew what to do with him. The characters departure will certainly be welcomed. The character is constantly forgotten about and he should not have been there from the beginning if he never had a reason to be there. When the character does return, perhaps he will bring something new to the table.

Overall, while this week’s episode helped develop characters, it was just a filler episode. Typically,  filler episodes are never great in live action shows that focus on the story, but tonight’s episode was an indicator that The Flash can continue to have filler episodes and turn obscure comic book villains into memorable foes. The Flash season 4 continues to keep its viewer base entertained while providing more solid content. The highlight of this season will certainly be its non-speedster villain that they have been showing progressively throughout the season. It’s only a matter of time before the audience will uncover his grand scheme and why he is stalking all of Central City’s metahumans.

Predictions

While there’s nothing big to predict for next week, it’s safe to say that Devoe knows who everyone in team Flash is. Devoe is by far one of the smartest villains in the entire history of the D.C. Universe. It’s likely we will not see him target Iris, Cisco, Joe, and Caitlin as Clifford Devoe never got sidetracked from his main goal,  and it’s likely that this season is heavily inspired by his first run in with Barry Allen. I would not expect Clifford Devoe to target any of Barry’s friends as they have nothing to do with his overall goals.

Next week, you can expect a surprise member from the original Justice Society of America. He is certainly going to be one of the most unexpected characters to appear in the Arrowverse’s entirety.

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