The Flash S04E12 Review: Bulbasaur's The Cutest

The Flash, Season 4, Episode 12: Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash

Yeah, it's clear that the Flash wants to put the Thinker stuff on the back end while we introduce more of the bus metahumans. And I'm definitely fine with that decision. This episode's particularly fun, provided we don't check in with Barry in the prison. See, I'm all for Barry Allen growing as a character and all, but none of his scenes in the prison felt like meaningful character growth. His befriending of Big Sir feels absolutely bland and predictable, and all the scenes, like always, feel needlessly morose for no reason. Add that to the fact that I still think that it's horribly selfish for Barry to want to be arrested to prove... something about his moral code, essentially leaving Central City bereft of one of its most experienced metahuman superheroes, is still selfish as hell. So yeah. Nothing about Barry being in prison, or the storyline that leads to Barry being in prison, is interesting in any way. 

Of course, the show writers try to add some tenuous coincidence about the Barry arc with the meathuman-of-the-week storyline, because apparently DeVoe's tinkering causes the fact that the dude that Barry befriended, Big Sir, is framed for the crimes done by the villain of the week, Sylbert "Dwarfstar" Rundine, who happens to be manipulated by Thinker to being on that bus and being turned into a metahuman. Yeah. Not buying that at all, sorry. Neither am I buying that there is supposed to be some sort of advantage for the Thinker to set all this nonsense up. Regardless, Barry is super-duper overconfident that he can clear Big Sir's name with the aid of his buddies, so the whole episode is a tired "hope" storyline. 

And when Dwarfstar refuses to confess, Barry... uses his super-speed to give Big Sir a happy movie ending by whisking him off to China, like he wanted. So it's not okay for Barry to escape from prison for a crime he didn't commit, but it's okay for Big Sir? Again, let me repeat the fact that Barry is, y'know, the Flash. The protector of the city at a time when it needs protection from a supervillain threat. Thankfully Barry gets punished for this hypocrisy, because Warden Wolfe has set up a hidden camera to catch into the fact that Barry Allen is the Flash. he gets knocked out, locked up in a metahuman wing, and apparently Warden Wolfe's going to sell him off to Amunet Black. 

The 'hijinks' part of the storyline is decent enough, with Cecile getting random mind-reading superpowers and being chipper yet somewhat disconcerting to the rest of Team Flash. Meanwhile, a villain called Dwarfstar with the ability to shrink enemies (after being hit with dark matter after stealing some shrinking McGuffins from Palmer Tech). Dwarfstar, of course, shrinks Cisco and Ralph because oh-ho-ho hijinks. They're stuck in their tiny form while Harry is all frustrated over his inability to out-think the Thinker, free Barry, free Big Sir, restore Ralph and Cisco... but, of course, Harry ends up 'winning' through the ability to out-think Dwarfstar and paint him as a target, reversing the effects of the shrinking ray on Cisco and Ralph. It's a generic fun superhero hijinks stuff that Flash does so well, and the sights of Iris accidentally squishing tiny Ralph, or Ralph and Cisco riding a little drone, or Dwarfstar tossing cars that become gigantic are all neat... but overall, it's not quite zany or different enough from Flash's general fare to feel particularly special.

Overall, it's an okay episode, but one that fails to really impress me. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Dwarfstar, a.k.a. Sylbert Rundine, is the arch-enemy of the third Atom, Ryan Choi (who would succeed Ray Palmer as the Atom). Dwarfstar is a serial killer that manages to acquire a bio-belt similar to the ones used by Ryan Choi through mysterious means, and often teams up with other villains to do battle with Ryan. Dwarfstar was also apparently involved in the killing of Ryan Choi, albeit indirectly. 
• As a reference to this, Dwarfstar's stolen a bunch of, y'know, white star material from Ray Palmer prior to getting on the bus.
• As yet another reference to this, Team Flash mentions trying (and failing) to get ahold of the Waverider and Ray Palmer. 
• Mayor Bellows, last seen in the Elongated Man debut episode, is seen in prison playing cards with Barry and Big Sir. The circumstances between his imprisonment is brought up by Big Sir.
• While trying to figure out Cecile's superpower origins, she quickly ticks off being on the bus (the origin of the metahumans of this season), inheriting a magical amulet from her grandmother (Vixen) or being kidnapped by aliens. 
• Harry's imprisonment in Gorilla City earlier this season is brought up. 
• Cisco's Lego model of the Savitar-kills-Iris replica from season 3 returns. 
• As perhaps a nod to the "Mr. Freeze freezes laser beams" meme, the new Kord R&D building is protected by laser beams that cannot be frozen. (Kord Industries itself, is, of course, a recurring reference to Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle and a millionaire.