Catching Up: The Flash Episode 406, "When Harry Met Harry"

I've been a fan of THE FLASH since the pilot. It wasn't the easiest thing to be some of the time, particularly last season. So it's quite relaxing to be an ardent fan and be able to honestly say that the current episodes are some of the best of the series.

"When Harry Met Harry" gets its name from Cisco's advice to Harry Wells (TOM CAVANAGH) to make some friends. Harry does so -- with himself, from different corners of the Multiverse. This brings together the "Council of Wells," as Cisco (CARLOS VALDES) calls it, a think tank that does a lot of arguing with itself. But if they can get along, they may just be able to track down which of the many "DeVoes" out there is the one that Team Flash is looking for, having advance knowledge that he/she will be one of his greatest foes.

Clifford Wells, aka The Thinker (NEIL SANDILANDS) and his female companion, The Mechanic (KIM ENGELBRECHT), are well aware that Team Flash is gaining this knowledge ahead of schedule, but its one of the many permutations The Thinker has already anticipated, and it still leads to his victorious outcome.

The main plot of the episode, however, is the new metahuman created by The Flash's return from the Speed Force. Mina Chayton (CHELSEA KURTZ) is a Sioux native, a former professor turned activist. She's been stealing Native American artifacts from museums because she perceives it as theft from her culture. It's easier for her -- and deadlier for everyone else -- now that she is the Black BIson, with the metahuman ability to animate statues, and she sets out to steal the three parts of a sacred relic. This brings The Flash (GRANT GUSTIN) and his partner-in-training Ralph Dibney (HARTLEY SAWYER) into the chase, with mixed results at first. Ralph (not yet officially "The Elongated Man") is focused on catching the bad guy, while Flash tries to teach him that the first rule is to protect people from getting hurt. This lesson gets driven home in a near-tragic way that puts Ralph on the right path to becoming a hero. Meanwhile, we get some super-cool special effects that show Ralph's powers in action. And he gets a super-suit--sort of. Here's hoping Cisco can sweeten it up a little and get some color into it -- preferably red and black, with a bit of yellow highlight.

The episode culminates with Barry and Joe West (JESSE L. MARTIN) preparing to confront Clifford DeVoe, and taken aback to find that he's in a wheelchair. I don't really know why that should be a stumbling block to their credulity. As I recall, the villain from the first season spent quite a bit of time in one of those things himself.

THE FLASH has found that balance point where just the right amount of heart and humor mixes with the action and adventure, making it the crown jewel of superhero adventure, as we begin the countdown to this year's crossover episode, CRISIS ON EARTH X.