The Flash: How should they handle the trial’s aftermath?
The Flash quickly made it’s way through Barry’s trial, but how should they handle the aftermath?
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“The Trial of the Flash” was an episode that I had to soak in a bit. My first reaction was that they went through the actual trial way too quickly and putting up no defense at all was a bad idea. While I still believe both of those things are true, the latter at least makes sense to me. If Cecile had put Iris or Joe on the stand, they wouldn’t be able to explain anything without giving up Barry’s secret identity. They’d then be committing perjury on the stand, which is a federal crime should anyone ever find out they lied.
However, now that the trial is wrapped up and Barry is in his father’s old cell at Iron Heights, the show needs to move forward and handle the situation with care. While Barry is capable of escaping from there, he has too strong of a moral code to do that. There are tons of parallels between his current situation and what his father’s situation was like. That said, Barry shouldn’t be back in the next episode. Considering how long his dad spent in jail, Barry should spend at least a couple of episodes in his current predicament before the team finds a solution.
The team would have to shoulder the workload without a speedster, unless Wally briefly returns, but he’s set to appear on Legends of Tomorrow soon. This also gives Ralph the opportunity to step up as a hero. He had a nice moment with Joe when he gave him a speech about doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. He could have planted evidence, but Ralph persuaded him not to.
Another great moment in “The Trial of the Flash” was when Cisco told Caitlin to think of all of the puppies when Fallout was about to explode. It would be great to see her be able to control when she changes into Killer Frost, which is another thing they can work on in Barry’s absence.
With all that said, there is the problem of Flash just disappearing while Barry is in jail. There are certainly plenty of smart people in Central City who don’t already know his secret and could potentially figure it out. This is when it would greatly help to have Wally back and just put him in Barry’s suit. Especially since no one in the general public has seemed too worried about the lack of Kid Flash being around.
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Essentially, the show should just keep Barry in jail long enough to let the team expand on their powers and skillsets without him around. Cecile is really the only one who could be involved with the appeals process on the law side, so that could be their secondary plot until there’s a solution for proving Barry’s innocence. I have no doubt that the rest of the team will try to find a solution, but they still need to focus on keeping the city safe, so the hope is that they make that their priority still.
The Flash airs on Tuesdays on The CW.