The Flash season 4 episode 10 review: Is Barry Allen heading to prison?
Almost from the start of “The Trial of the Flash” it was clear that Barry would be given a guilty verdict. There was just no tangible way out of it. All of the evidence pointed towards him killing Clifford DeVoe and the only way to avoid that was for Barry to admit that he was The Flash … and he wasn’t interested in doing that. If Joe planted evidence to implicate someone else, he would also have to live with that for the rest of his life. The writers did a really great job of cultivating a wide array of different possibilities to resolve the case; yet, they still didn’t allow for there to be a feasible solution to the problem.
(Also worth noting — Iris tried to out Barry as The Flash to the court, but Barry speed-stopped her at the very last second.)
Here’s how prepared Marlize DeVoe was: She even had an explanation for when Dibny caught her kissing Dominic Lanse! Once again, The Thinker and the Mechanic were prepared for every single thing that came her way.
As for the villain of the week
Not exactly the coolest one. Basically, it was a radioactive man who was threatening to contaminate the world. He didn’t want to but there wasn’t anything that he could do. The team had to figure out a way to stop him, and that included Barry leaving closing arguments in order to help take him down with some help from Vibe and Killer Frost.
Of course, the day was saved … but we cannot quite say the same thing now about Barry’s own future on the outside world. He received the guilty verdict and with that, he now has to face the possibility of the rest of his life in jail.
Related – See what’s coming on The Flash season 4 next week
The aftermath of the verdict
Before Barry received his sentence he did get one final meeting with DeVoe, one where he was basically taunted yet again about how his plan lost. Then, he got life in prison and was sent off to Iron Heights once and for all. In the final moments of the episode we saw Barry being carted off to Iron Heights, where he was shown to his cell and could prepare for whatever his future was — painful as that could be.
Was there any other revelation waiting for him behind bars? Was there a reason to hope that something would be different for him in the future? Well, it wasn’t a game-changing reveal, but it just so turns out that Barry is now in his father Henry Allen’s cell.
Final Verdict
Ho-hum villain aside, “The Trial of the Flash” was an excellent episode and one that is going to have huge, sweeping ramifications. Probably the best moment of it all was seeing the show juxtapose Singh’s speech praising The Flash at the end of the episode to the judge lambasting Barry. (Side note: Why didn’t The Flash get that award form Singh before now?)
What did you think about “The Trial of the Flash” as a whole? Share in the comments! Also, you can like CarterMatt on Facebook to get more insight on The Flash. (Photo: The CW.)