"You can't fix stupid"--Ron White.
"Those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it."--George Santayana.
After three seasons of fighting speed-based villains, The Flash was given a more cerebral opponent this season, but Team Berlanti fumbled the ball with the Golden Age villain, the Thinker.
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Subject: The Flash.
Season: 4th.
When it airs: Tuesdays, 8 pm (ET), returning January 16.
Original rating: B.
Where we are: Clifford Devoe (Neil Sandilands) was rebooted as a sort-of cyborg, using a modified "Thinking cap" and a floating chair, which had comics fans thinking Devoe was merged with the New God Metron, since the floating chair is known as a Mobius chair. However, Devoe was dying, and there was little his wife could do to help in that regard. Their criminal operations should've had a more sympathetic bent, but that's where the writers fumbled.
In the midseason finale, we are introduced to Dominic Lanse (Kendrick Sampson), whom modern comics fans know as Brainstorm, an enemy of Mister Terrific. We barely get to know Dominic before Amunet Black (Katlee Sackhoff, ex-Battlestar Galactica) sells him off to the Devoes, all so Clifford can download his consciousness into Lanse, making Brainstorm, in effect, the new Thinker. Meanwhile, in his final act, Devoe frames Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) for his murder.....
Let's just cut right past the BS, ok? During last season, I felt very strongly that the Arrowverse family of series had to get away from the season-long story arcs because it exposed some flaws in the overall writing. Unfortunately, these dullards haven't gotten the message. It would have been nice to have the end game for Thinker and move on, but Clifford Devoe's story hadn't been fully told, nor had the character been realized, a problem also evident with villains on Arrow & Legends of Tomorrow, not so much with Supergirl, which appears to be the best of a sorry lot right now. The most recent Thinker in the books, a 1-shot villain who fought Batman 20 years ago, was a telepath, as is Brainstorm. The original Thinker was not. Once again, in order to tell the story they want us to see, the writers are mixing elements of different versions of the same character. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, as in this case, it doesn't, and makes for sloppy storytelling. I don't know if I want to invest 5 more months in such garbage writing.
Updated rating: B--.
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