The Flash recap, season 4, episode 18: Lose Yourself
By Paul Zuniga
On the latest episode of The Flash, the team suffered another loss. They fell into another of DeVoe’s traps and Ralph Dibny paid for it.
While most of us expected Ralph Dibny to survive his ordeal with Clifford DeVoe, the latest episode of The Flash depicted Ralph meeting an untimely end. But before this, a lot takes place. For instance, a major ethical dilemma between Ralph and Barry came up. They argued over whether or not killing DeVoe was necessary. Caitlyn being stabbed by one of DeVoe’s samuroids was Ralph’s biggest reason for wanting to DeVoe dead. Still, Barry wouldn’t concede and neither would Ralph, which led to him going rogue.
To be clear, Ralph didn’t take on a vigilante arc of his own, but he went against Barry’s wishes in an attempt to end DeVoe’s life. He recruited the last bus meta, Edwin Gauss, to get into DeVoe’s lab. He was stopped by Barry Allen shortly after, leading to a small confrontation. Barry didn’t like the fact that Ralph was going out on his own, or that he was taking Edwin with him, but he approached the situation with self-control. It wasn’t until Ralph threw a punch at Barry that he had to subdue Ralph with force.
Did Ralph Dibny really have to die?
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When Ralph wakes up, he has a long talk with Barry. They delve into why Ralph wants DeVoe dead so badly, and Barry begins to understand Ralph’s good intentions. All Ralph wants is to keep the people he loves from being taken away. To make sure that doesn’t happen, Ralph feels obligated to end DeVoe’s life, even if his conscience suffers for it. Barry lets Ralph finish recovering while he walks away to ponder over what Ralph said.
In another corner of Star Labs, Joe West and Harrison Wells are having issues of their own. Joe discovers Harry is using his Thinking Cap more and more often, imitating the behaviors of an addict. Joe attempts to guide the disillusioned Harry through the situation but he’s already become affected by it. Once Joe is out of Harry’s workspace, he goes back to experimenting with the Thinking Cap, except this time, he connects it to Gideon’s interface. The experiment isn’t without its risk and Harry suffers for it. Harry doesn’t die but a major stream of energy is shot into him before the Thinking Cap loses its connection. It obviously affects Harry but the context around what the energy did is still unknown.
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In the main chamber of Star Labs, Team Flash is regrouping to concoct a plan to stop DeVoe. They discuss their options and figure the best thing they can do is take the fight to DeVoe. Caitlyn, Cisco, and Barry suit up and prepare for their trip to DeVoe’s lair. When they arrive, they find out it was all a trap set up by DeVoe to get Ralph alone.
Back at Star Labs, Ralph and the others figure out Devoe’s plan was to invade while Barry and the others went into his pocket dimension. They have no idea how to stop him but Ralph rushes in anyway. Once confronted by DeVoe, a small fight ensues. Ralph winds up victorious at the end, trapping DeVoe instead of killing him. The thing is, DeVoe allows for Ralph to cuff him, so he can get the upper hand in an opportune moment.
What is DeVoe planning next?
When the opportunity presents itself, DeVoe attaches himself to Ralph’s head and proceeds to transfer his consciousness, ending Ralph’s life in the process. Barry has to watch on as all this unfolds in front of his eyes, while he can’t do anything about it. What’s worse is that DeVoe’s confrontation with Caitlyn ends with her losing her powers. An initial analysis doesn’t provide Team Flash with an answer as to why but the episode’s concluding moments show us that DeVoe took the dark matter from Caitlyn’s body for some kind of device; probably a doomsday machine.
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Whatever it is, Team Flash has yet another problem to attend to when they tangle with DeVoe again. Though the big question is, what more could DeVoe want? He has a body that can handle all the different meta powers within it, Marlize is blindly following him, and Team Flash is floundering, what else could he be planning?