Recap / The Flash 2014 S 4 E 22 Think Fast

Team Flash has twelve hours to stop DeVoe's satellites from turning on. Will he have to rely on Caitlin and Cisco? Will he have to fend for himself?

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Tropes:

• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The Thinker effortlessly takes over an A.R.G.U.S. facility, the "Castle", to capture Fallout who was contained there. And then at the end of the episode, DeVoe breaks into S.T.A.R. Labs, locks himself in the Time Vault, and hijacks their satellite to carry out the Enlightenment.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Iris asks Marlize what is she willing to do for the world.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: After all the carnage DeVoe inflicts on A.R.G.U.S. soldiers, he tosses a marble in the path of the last man standing, tripping him.
• Back for the Dead: DeVoe using Fallout's nuclear energy to power his satellites kills the latter in the process.
• Black Comedy: The mass murder on A.R.G.U.S. is both creepy and funny.
• The Cameo: Barry zooms Diggle into S.T.A.R. Labs to check on Fallout's status, and then speeds him back to Star City.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Three A.R.G.U.S. guards mention that their eye-scan was compromised this time last year, meaning they now use a DNA sample.
  • Joe is trying to call Wally so he can be there when his baby half-sister is born. Since Wally is in a time machine, Joe is adamant that he has literally no excuse for being late.
  • Iris also tells Harry how trying to redeem Savitar failed, when he tried to suggest the same for Marlize.
• Crazy-Prepared: For the Impostor-Exposing Test, A.R.G.U.S. now uses DNA scans so people using transmogrification devices do not fool the test. Sadly, it doesn't work against someone who can change his DNA at will.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The poor A.R.G.U.S. agents never stood a chance against DeVoe.
• "Eureka!" Moment: While Iris is defending her apartment from Harry, she figures out where Marlize must have gone to feel safe: Her home.
• Evil Is Petty: After slaughtering most of the A.R.G.U.S. agents, DeVoe tosses back a marble for the last surviving guard to trip over.
• The Evils of Free Will: DeVoe condemns free will.
• Foreshadowing: The fact that DeVoe doesn't seem the least bit annoyed that Team Flash managed to destroy one of his satellites is a big indicator that he's got a backup plan.
• Forgot About His Powers: Or rather, Forgot About The Telepathic Inhibitor They Previously Built For Cecile.
• Giant Foot of Stomping: From one A.R.G.U.S. agent's point of view, at least.
• A God Am I: DeVoe invokes this when the Enlightenment gets close.
  DeVoe: And God said, "let there be light."
• Hallway Fight: DeVoe massacres the most of the A.R.G.U.S. staff in a corridor.
• Hope Spot: Barry destroys one of DeVoe's satellites, neutralizing the network needed for carrying out the Enlightenment...until DeVoe hijacks S.T.A.R. Labs' satellite to replace it.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Marlize invokes this with DeVoe when telling Iris and Harry that DeVoe's evilness actually proved his point that men corrupt even the best ideas.
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Word-for-word what Cisco says about momentarily grabbing a mesh trash can to be prepared to catch Diggle's vomit.
• Left the Background Music On: DeVoe accompanies his massacre of the A.R.G.U.S. guards with Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus", even stopping to conduct the piece throughout the fight.
• Literal-Minded: When Harry says he's trying to put himself in Marlize's shoes, he says he should find a pair of her actual shoes and put them on.
• Living Battery: Poor Fallout serves as one for DeVoe's satellites (though he's not "living" for long).
• Love Is a Weakness: Because of his wife leaving him, DeVoe is now utterly convinced that emotions, most of all love, are a weakness that is holding humanity back.
• Motive Rant: DeVoe gives one about how the world will be better once the Enlightenment removes mankind's intelligence.
• My Greatest Failure: Still torn up about being unable to save Ralph, Barry initially refuses to let Cisco and Caitlin support him in Flashtime, as he doesn't want to take the risk of them being hurt.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Barry learns he can briefly empower others to allow them to move in Flashtime after a brief contact with him. This is a nod to one of Wally West's powers, which is to "lend" speed to others.
  • Cisco makes a reference to the Superfriends, which veers dangerously close to Celebrity Paradox territory.
• Night of the Living Mooks: In his massacre of the A.R.G.U.S. base at the beginning of the episode, the Thinker briefly reanimates the A.R.G.U.S. Red Shirts he killed to fight their comrades.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Barry accuses himself of this because he pushed Ralph to be bold, but according to Barry, that is what got Ralph killed.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: Iris' initial reaction to Harry's suggestion that Team Flash try to get Marlize to help them.
• Oh, Crap!: Played for Laughs when Barry speeds off to grab Diggle.
  Caitlin: Uh oh.
  Cisco: Trash can.
• One-Man Army: DeVoe annihilates all of the A.R.G.U.S. guards with all of his powers without breaking a sweat. Cisco lampshades DeVoe's abilities as a "one-man Legion of Doom" once they find that he attacked one of the facilities.
• The Oner: Although there is a brief transition at the beginning as DeVoe shrinks a guard and steps on him, the remainder of the scene—lasting for one minute and twenty-five seconds—is an extended tracking shot of DeVoe using his various powers to take out the A.R.G.U.S. facility guards in various ways.
• Panicky Expectant Father: Joe as expected. He readies many items to bring to the hospital (including a Samuroid katana, in case one shows up to attack them), complains about Wally not being there when he's needed, among other things.
• Power Incontinence: Less than a week before going into labor, poor Cecile now not only hears other people's thoughts, she actually thinks she is them.
• Purple Is Powerful: The Enlightenment emits a huge, purple beam (beforehand, DeVoe even turns Gideon purple via Kilg%re's powers).
• Race Against the Clock: Team Flash has twelve hours to avert the Enlightenment.
• Red Shirt Army: A.R.G.U.S. has a large platoon of soldiers standing guard at the Castle, and the Thinker doesn't even break a sweat killing them all.
• The Reveal:
  • Caitlin uncovers a repressed memory, which shows that she had Killer Frost within her even as a child, years before the Particle Accelerator exploded.
  • We find out how a few of the bus meta powers fit into DeVoe's plan: Fallout generates the energy needed, and Dwarfstar's power shrinks his containment unit to convenient battery size (in addition to just generally making it easy to transport materials). Melting Point's genetic manipulation can fool DNA scanners.
• Running Gag:
  • Once again, Diggle vomits when subjected to Barry's super speed. Team Flash even scrounges around the Cortex to prepare a trash can for him.
    Diggle: I hate you.
    Barry: I know.
  • Also, This house is bitchin'!
• Soundtrack Dissonance: DeVoe massacres the A.R.G.U.S. guards in a variety of methods that make creative use of his powers...all to the tune of Hallelujah Chorus.
• Totally Radical: Cecile starts to speak words like "Bro" at one point because of her telepathic powers making her act like a Jive Turkey talking pizza delivery guy.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: DeVoe seems genuinely convinced that the Enlightenment will bring peace to the planet.
• Visual Pun: Fallout's role in the Thinker's plot is to power his satellites as a Living Battery. It so happens that DeVoe shrinks Fallout's containment unit into the size of a...
• Wham Shot: As a flashback reveals, Killer Frost has been with Caitlin since her childhood - decades before the Particle Accelerator incident.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Iris still gives Marlize a morale boost and tells her that she still cares for humanity within.
• You Are Not Ready: Barry is not entirely sure that Cisco and Caitlin can join him in the field, since twelve hours is not enough time to properly to learn Flash Time and is afraid that his teammates will be killed like Ralph.

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