The Flash “Trial of the Flash” Review

If you remember, The Flash mid-season finale left Barry being framed for the murder of Clifford DeVoe. Meanwhile, DeVoe technically isn’t actually dead. His body is, but he’s not. He used some gadget thingy he and his wife concocted to switch bodies with Dominic – the telepathic meta Caitlin saved. Now, Barry is on trial for a murder he didn’t commit, and DeVoe and Marlize are still being sneaky sneaky.

Here’s some highlights from “Trial of the Flash”:

To Tell or Not to Tell

Barry knows he’s innocent, and he has a lot of people on his side. However, he also has a lot of evidence against him, and the prosecution is going hard to convince the jury. After the police chief’s testimony, Barry is adamant about not lying under oath. Cecile, as his defense attorney, suggests that he doesn’t have to lie, he can tell the truth about his identity as the Flash. It would get him off the hook, but Barry refuses. Revealing that he’s the Flash would only put a target on everyone he loves, and he’s not willing to risk that.Iris, however, is terrified of losing Barry to prison. After Marlize gives an emotional (mostly false) testimony that only damages Barry even more, Iris has a little chat with her outside the courtroom. It worries Iris so much that she runs back into the courtroom and nearly tells everyone that Barry is the Flash. Fortunately, Barry uses his super-speed abilities to basically put a pause on everyone but him and Iris. He tells her that his decision not to reveal he’s the Flash was already decided. If everyone knows that he’s the flash, they would never stop running. His sweet words convince Iris not to spill the beans. They share a kiss, and he speeds back over to his table, leaving Iris to awkwardly say that Barry’s innocent.

Dirty Cops

We all know that Joe will go above and beyond to protect his kids. This includes trying to keep Barry from getting wrongly convicted of murder. Since he’s willing to play dirty, he enlists the help of an ex-dirty cop/private investigator – Ralph Dibny. First, they sit outside the DeVoe house where they manage to snap some photos of Marlize kissing Dominic (well, Clifford in Dominic’s body). They rush it to Cecile in the middle of Marlize’s testimony in hopes it will work out in Barry’s favor. Unfortunately, Marlize spins a false, emotional story of how her late husband encouraged her relationship with Dominic so that she’d be happy after he passed. Another strike for Team Barry.So, Joe and Ralph try something else. Joe asks Ralph to break into the DeVoe house by using his stretchy powers. Ralph realizes what Joe plans to do – plant damning evidence that suggests Marlize put her husband’s body in Barry and Iris’ loft. Joe tells Ralph that he just needs help getting in, and then Ralph can leave. Instead of directly stopping Joe from being a dirty cop, Ralph delivers a pretty out of character speech about what Joe’s life would be like if he got caught. It wouldn’t be worth it. His words must’ve hit home with Joe because he doesn’t go through with the plan.

The Fallout

The meta of the week isn’t necessarily a bad guy, but he is a problem. He’s radioactive (cue the Imagine Dragons song getting stuck in my head), causing everyone in his path to pass out – hence why Cisco nicknames him “Fallout.” The real kicker is the poor dude doesn’t even realize what’s going on as he goes about his normal day – opening his first bank account and driving none other than a nuclear waste disposal truck. As his day continues, his radon (?) gets higher and higher, and once it hits like 10,000, well, it won’t be pretty.

When Barry gets the meta alert during final statements of his trial, he stands up and proclaims he has to leave for an emergency. The judge is hesitant to let him go, but after Barry shows Cecile the alert, she points out that it’s not required he be there for final statements. The judge states that Barry is required to be there for sentencing before letting him go. – Side note: this would never happen in real life, fyi.Once on the scene, Barry removes everyone from the vicinity, but is unable to stop Fallout’s radioactivity from increasing. Not even his speedster powers can help him heal fast enough. Back at the labs, Harry realizes the only possible way to stop Fallout is for Killer Frost to cool him off. Caitlin is hesitant, and tells Cisco and Harry that Frost only comes out when she’s angry or scared. So, the guys provoke her, and Killer Frost comes right out. Unfortunately, not even she is cold enough to stop Fallout from becoming a nuclear bomb

Barry then comes up with the idea to create a vacuum around Fallout and the radiation, even though he will still get radiation burns and risk his life. Cisco vibes the radiation energy to Earth 15, which is a dead Earth so it won’t do any damage. And so, Central City is saved yet again thanks to Team Flash.

Convicted Superhero

Unfortunately, there’s no time to celebrate. Barry must go back to the courthouse to get his conviction and sentencing. Before the jury delivers their ruling, Barry gives one final plea of his innocence. It does no good, however, because the jury has already decided that Barry is guilty of the murder of Clifford DeVoe. While we all saw this coming, it is still unfortunate.Now comes the sentencing. The judge’s damning speech about Barry’s humanity is juxtaposed with the police Captain giving a glowing one about The Flash’s heroics. The Flash risking his own life to save the city (once again) has earned him the CCPD Award of Valor. Meanwhile, the judge sentences Barry to life in prison with no parole. Barry immediately gets taken to Iron Heights prison, and coincidentally gets the same cell as his father. How does he know? Because “Henry Allen was here” is etched into the wall.

The Flash airs Tuesday at 8/7c on The CW!

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