The Flash S04E11 Review: Stretchy Man

The Flash, Season 4, Episode 11: The Elongated Knight Rises

Okay... I'm of two minds about this episode. There are some things I really liked, and some things that I really don't like. One thing I'm pretty sure I'm not mixed about is that... wow, taking a break from all the Thinker pontification about how everything is calculated to the most infinitesimal detail is definitely to the episode's benefit. One thing that very few CW villains really manage to actually do is to actually sell the whole "evil chessmaster" deal, due to the distinct lack of long-term planning among the CW shows except for maybe Flash's first season.

Let's get over the less-fun parts of the episode, which is Barry in prison. It's... it's delivered well, with Grant Gustin allowed to stretch his acting chops a little in something that's a bit more derivative than his normal stuff, but at the same time I find it relatively hard to be invested in the prison stuff. Oh, yes he's trapped in the same cell that his father is. He meets bullies. He makes friends. He misses his wife. He gets to give Ralph a pep talk in the third act. But ultimately the whole Barry in prison deal just feels like, again, something that's going through the motions.

The other half and the main part of the episode is the debut of Ralph Dibny's Elongated Man as Central City's newest hero, even if he spends a good chunk of the episode wearing his dumb-looking pajama suit and being called the Stretchy Man by the public. He's all gallivanting about his immunity to bombs and bullets, and actor Hartley Sawyer really sells the cocksure dickery of the show's version of Ralph. The big character moment comes when returning villain Trickster II (not the Mark Hamill one) shoots Ralph with super-concentrated acid (sorry, aXid) which is apparently Ralph's Kryptonite. All the bluster around his invulnerability evaporates and he's reduced to a babbling mess, with all his insecurities and his selfishness bubbling back up to the surface. Barry gives him a pep talk, and then he goes off to save Cisco and Caitlin, even enveloping them with his body to take what he thinks is the axid. It's overall not the most exciting superhero hijinks, but Ralph's fun enough a protagonist to root for and explore.

Of course, I really don't buy why Barry can't just zip out of prison while Cisco hacks the camera, because surely saving the city for like five minutes isn't worth his self-inflated sense of justice? I mean, I get that he trusts Ralph, but Ralph does have a point -- it's not like it's another Savitar or Zoom. Trickster's the sort of threat that the Flash can just zip out, punch in the nose, and be back. Is it really heroic to stay in prison to "set an example" or "stick to my guns" while innocents might be dying?

Eh. Ralph's entertaining enough, his character is new enough for all the 'lesson of the week' style pep talks to work, and he gets a new, proper suit! I'm not that impressed with Trickster II, and even less so of his mom, Prank, but they're hammy and campy enough to work as neat foils to the equally-hammy Ralph. Overall, it's a decent episode by itself, and a breath of fun that is definitely needed after the horrible trial episode.

Oh, and I suppose I have to mention the strange girl that gets super-excited over Ralph and Cisco at Jitters at the end of the episode. I guess she's going to be important going forward, huh? I mean, you probably can already guess who she is, even if you don't know her name. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Prank, a.k.a. Zoey Clark, is a character that was exclusive to the 90's Flash show, being the female sidekick to the Trickster in that TV show. She's surprisingly never really been used in any sort of other fiction until now. Corinne Bohrer, like Mark Hamill before her, reprises her role as Prank. Footage from the 90's series are used in this show as 'archival footage' of Prank and Trickster I's old crimes. 
• Axel Walker, the second Trickster, returns after not being seen since the first season.

• There's a weird inconsistency here, too,, because in Season 1's "Tricksters" it was an actual shocking reveal where Axel doesn't know that Jesse James (the first Trickster) is his father,  but here it's treated as if Axel grew up idolizing his father. 
• Ralph's proper costume as Elongated Man is based on his red-and-black costume that he wears during his tenure in the pages of the 70's incarnation of the Justice League of America, as well as the late 90's. 
• During his first rescue scene, Ralph is about to introduce himself as "Mister..." before trailing off, definitely a reference to Mister Fantastic, leader of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four and a fellow stretchy-powered superhero.
• Everyone in the STAR Labs team other than Ralph has apparently heard of Kryptonite... although it makes sense, considering Ralph sat out on the Crisis on Earth-X crossover.  
• The mysterious girl puts extra emphasis on repeating the word "Infinite", which, of course, is a term often used in DC comics's huge crossover mega-events like Infinite Crisis and Crisis on Infinite Earths.