Ralph Dibny is learning how to be a hero. He even gets his own (awful) suit, with a color that should be familiar to at least some comics fans…but still awful. He has a lot of education ahead of him…it’s a bit of a “stretch” to say he’s a hero yet (couldn’t resist that) but he is at least putting forth the effort.  Meanwhile, we see the “Council of Wells”…which is an experience in an of itself. All this plus the debut of the DCTV version of Black Bison! Want to know more? Follow us after the jump!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

NOTE: This review is posting prior to the airing of THE FLASH in the Pacific Time Zone USA. If you haven’t seen the show yet, STOP HERE and come back later. You’ll be glad you did!

While Ralph is learning how to be a hero, Harry Wells is trying to figure out more about the big bad of this season.  All Team Flash knows about The Thinker is that the last name is Devoe…but which Devoe? Harry puts out a call to the multiverse to find other versions of himself, and that call is answered by possibly the most extreme versions of himself in existence.  And yes, they completely fail to get along. More on that later.

Meanwhile, Ralph gets his super suit…of a sort. No graphics and a really terrible head scarf, but it will stretch and come back to shape right along with Ralph’s own body.  With that, Ralph Dibny is ready to enter the ranks of superheroes…right?

Not so fast. Enter the Mina Chayton, aka Black Bison, re-imagined for the show as a female professor whose ancestry is the Sioux nation. She lost her job due to her activism, but gained a new lease on life when sitting in that now-infamous bus. She can control any inanimate object that represents a living (or once-living) animal or person.  She is using this to find and return the pieces of a special necklace belonging to the Sioux, but she is doing so without regard to the safety or even the lives of other people.

Enter Barry and Ralph. Black Bison gets away from her first heist because Barry chose to save an innocent life first, starting a debate between our two heroes about whether getting the bad guy or saving innocents should take top priority. That argument is settled the next time they meet Black Bison.

Ralph does capture our villain of the week, but in doing so he ignores the danger to a young girl. That girl is seriously injured but survives…and that changes Ralph’s entire outlook.

Yes, they have to battle Black Bison again…and they do win, but Ralph has softened his outlook and shows a heartwarming side of himself as he reunites with that young girl from earlier in the episode as she recovers.

Meanwhile, Harry Wells has also grown a bit as a character as he learns to deal with aspects of himself that he doesn’t really like (as represented by the other Wells in the “Council of Wells”).  As a group, they think they’ve found the right Devoe, and the team goes to the address to find…

…a very different looking Thinker than we’ve seen all season. One that doesn’t appear to be a threat (even though we know better). It appears to completely throw off Team Flash…and that’s where we stop for this episode.

NOTES:

• Tom Cavanagh is an amazing actor, and the nuances he has brought to the various incarnations of Harrison Wells so far in this series has been nothing less that outstanding. However, that’s not what we’re seeing in the “Council of Wells” – this is more taking the concept of the multiversal Wells to the absurd, something more done for comic effect.  Think of how Saturday Night Live would depict this show and you have the “Council of Wells”.  It IS funny, and it is done well…but it is more caricature than character, and while it was fun it is a bit of a distraction.
• That’s especially true in a series where we now have a great comic relief in Ralph Dibny. His character is growing, and he is becoming a much more sympathetic character, something I’m glad to see. But, they are having a LOT of fun with his stretching abilities, and even with the somewhat quirky personality of the character as seen in this show. As long as the yucks don’t completely overpower the rest of the show, this will be a good thing in the long run.
• There was a terrific “Night At the Museum” feel to several scenes…on purpose, but it works here. This was a fun episode from a special effects perspective, especially with Ralph’s stretching and that certain dinosaur skeleton.  Some of the other effects were less impressive…but overall this was a good episode for special effects.
• I was glad to see what happened to the artifact at the end of the show…no complaint here, but I won’t say more – you’ll need to see the episode for that.

SUMMARY:

I’ll give this episode an 8/10. Good character development for Ralph, a bit of character development for Harry, though I could have done with less of a “SNL” element to the “Council of Wells”.  That’s just my opinion – what do YOU think? Leave your comments below!

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