Ever had a really bad day? One that feels like the universe is totally against you? Is it bad luck? Is it…this week’s villain? Could be…in an episode that mixes high tension, great action, and hilarious scenes in equal measure. Hazard is here! Want to know more? Follow us after the jump!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

This episode finally gives us some clarity about the new rash of metahumans who are plaguing Central City…but first, we focus on Becky Sharpe, the one woman in Central City with the absolute worst luck possible.  Everything bad seems to happen to her – the latte she orders has regular milk instead of soy…and she is lactose intolerant. She goes home rushing to get to the bathroom, only to find her boyfriend cheating on her. She loses her job at the casino, and comes out to find her car has been booted.  Get the idea? Yep, worst luck ever…until she gets on a bus…

More on that in a moment

Move to the present and Becky has a whole new outlook on life. Things are turning up roses for her…and only her. The more good luck she has, the worse things are for everyone else. She’s using this for her own gain, walking into a bank and taking out a load of cash while chaos reigns around her. The Flash arrives to take her down…but his own luck goes back and he slips on a barrel full of spilled marbles (who ships marbles in barrels these days?) and she gets away.

The rest of this episode is a study in “good luck/bad luck”. Wally gets a break-up cube (Earth 2 version of a “Dear John” letter) from Jesse.  Harry comes back (yay!) to deliver the cube…and also to get away from the fact that the team he built around Jesse has kicked him out. The West household has sprung a leak…a very big one…and Barry and Iris are finding more problems than ever in getting a wedding venue.

All this leads back to Becky Sharpe, aka Hazard. She is a metahuman – and her good luck creates a quantum field that causes big problems for everyone else around.  Now, this could have been a lame power…except that the writers took this to an extreme that makes her a truly formidable opponent. The more good luck she has, the more serious the threat she poses to everyone in Central City.

But, at last we have a source for the problem – and it all comes back to Barry Allen! Yes, that bus that Becky Sharpe took also contained the person who would become Kilg%re…and 10 more people besides.  That bus happened to be at the right spot when Barry returned from the Speed Force, and that event released enough dark matter to create (at least potentially) 12 brand new metahumans!  The Thinker is trying to get to them all, to bring them under his control…but before that can happen…

Well, not to tell too much, but you can guess the Flash finally brings Hazard in…due to some timely decision making by Harry. That takes us to some important plot points here…

• Harry is back! The version of Harrison Wells from Flash Season 2 will be spending more time with us, and I could not be happier. I’ve enjoyed every version (even the evil version), but Harry is my favorite.
• Wally is NOT back?! He has decided to spend more time working on himself after the breakup, and is headed to Blue Valley (check your old comics for this location, it’s important to Kid Flash history).
• Joe and Cecile almost sell the West home but decide to keep it…even after the events of this episode nearly tore it apart.
• Harry helps the team realize that there may be someone pulling the strings behind the scenes…and of course he’s right. They just don’t know about the Thinker quite yet. However, the Thinker knows a LOT about Team Flash. After all – that Samurai robot head at S.T.A.R. Labs is active and giving a live feed directly to him!

There’s a lot more going on in this episode – but you really should see it for yourself.  Check it out if you haven’t already!

FIRST – AN APOLOGY: I was on the road Tuesday night, and the hotel where I was staying did not have THE FLASH available on their channel lineup. That’s one hotel I won’t be staying at again…at least not until they fix that problem.  I had to wait to get back home and watch THE FLASH on my CW App – again I apologize for the delay.

NOTES: I’m really enjoying Season 4 – we’re getting back to that mix of serious drama and hilarious moments that made the early episodes of THE FLASH so great. I am sad to see Wally exit stage left for now (hope to see him again later this season), but it is absolutely great to have the “Harry Wells” version back, as cranky as ever. The cast was on point this episode, and I have to hand it to the scriptwriters – they took a bad-guy power that could have been completely silly and turned it into a serious threat. Great show – I’ll give this one a 9/10.

That’s just my opinion – what do YOU think? Leave your comments below!

Share