The Flash “Null and Annoyed” Review

After a brief hiatus, “The Flash” is back, and I’m… not really feeling it. I don’t know. I feel like the plot this season is kind of dragging, in my opinion. Call me crazy, but I’m bored with the whole bus meta thing. We’re pretty deep in the season, and it feels a bit repetitive in each episode – they find the new bus meta, DeVoe gets the bus meta.

That being said, stuff still happened, so let’s break it down.

Null

The bus meta of the week is Null, a social media personality who has taken to using multiple aliases to become a jewel thief. She has the power to levitate things – inanimate objects, people and herself. Kind of flat compared to some of the other bus meta’s powers, but it definitely works in her advantage as a thief. We first see her snatching sparkly, and very expensive, crown just before it gets put on display at a museum.

Team Flash locates her at Ralph’s old colleague’s, Earl, apartment. Ralph suddenly morphs into Joe, catching Barry completely off-guard, to intimidate the truth out of Earl. Earl plays dumb at first, but he knocks over a bag and gems spill out. Null is floating up by the ceiling, but Barry manages to get her. He asks Ralph for the cuffs, but he’s still messing around as Joe. Null touches Barry, sending him floating to the ceiling, allowing her to escape.Thankfully, the floating doesn’t last long, and Barry falls to the ground at the lab. He’s super annoyed with Ralph seemingly not taking anything seriously and constantly cracking jokes. So, he benches him. Not the best idea, though, because when he tries to catch Null on his own, she has a driver falling from the sky. Barry can either save the driver or catch her. Of course, Barry saves the innocent person.

After a talk with Iris, Barry apologizes to Ralph about benching him. Ralph opens up a bit by recalling when his dad bailed. He was afraid, but his mom was terrified. Ever since then, he’s always used humor as a coping mechanism. He assures Barry that his head is in the game and that he knows what’s at stake.

The duo then heads off to stop Null from heisting the Central City museum gala. It doesn’t work out too well for Barry, though. She manages to send him floating to the sky. When the team can’t think of what to do, Barry tells Ralph to improvise. Whaat?? Fortunately, Ralph saves the ay by sneaking the meta-dampening cuffs on Null, sending Barry back to the ground. Ralph then inflates himself into a giant whoopee cushion for Barry to fall on. Not the best sound, but way to go Ralph!

Sketchy Harry

Towards the end of the episode, the Team Flash goes about their day. Harry, however, sneaks off to the time vault where he attaches some wires to his intelligence cap. Then, he activates Gideon, which still calls him Dr. Wells. What is he up to??

Father Time

The sub-plot for this episode has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot, but I was honestly more intrigued by it than anything. It revolves around Cisco and Breacher. That’s right, Gypsy’s dad is back (but no Gypsy. Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble). Anyways, Breacher needs Cisco’s help. According to him, a vampire called “Crucifer” (Okay, Flash writers) took his powers. He believes Cisco is intelligent enough to get them back. Plus, if Cisco does, Breacher will give Gypsy more time off. So, of course this pumps Cisco right up.

Unfortunately, Caitlin determines that Crucifer didn’t take Breacher’s powers, Father Time has. Breacher has just gotten too old, and he doesn’t have the energy to breach anymore. She encourages cisco to tell Breacher the truth, but Cisco doesn’t want to do that. He’s afraid Breacher will never let him see Gypsy again, or worse, he’ll kill him. So, he makes Breacher believe that he’s cured with the help of antihistamines (and Cisco secretly vibing for him once).Not such a bright idea, Cisco. Breacher buys it enough to believe that he can take on Crucifer again. Only to be surprised when his powers doesn’t work. Cisco is forced to save him and tell the truth. Breacher is livid and storms off.

Fortunately, he later returns in some casual beach wear. He states that when he got back to his Earth, he saw his reflection in the mirror for the first time (because he’s not a teenage girl, obvi), and realized how old he is. So, he’s decided to retire. I mean, what else can he do since he doesn’t have powers anymore. The real kicker, though, is that he invites Cisco to replace him and work alongside Gypsy! Will Cisco leave Team Flash and take the job??

Mind Games

Remember how DeVoe/Izzy started using those love tears to manipulate Marlize? Yeah, well, he’s still doing it. Marlize realizes that something’s wrong with her health, so she does some research, and realizes what DeVoe has been doing and records a video reminding her to escape. However, when she goes to save the video, she finds that she’s done this before. DeVoe comes in and admits to drugging her with the tears AND that Marlize has learned the truth multiple times, but DeVoe has erased her memories. And he does it again this time. According to him, she’s nothing without him. What a psycho.Izzy’s body is deteriorating because of all the dark matter. She/DeVoe only has a week. After DeVoe manipulates her mind again, Marlize wants to recalibrate the Thinker chair so that Izzy’s body life can be extended until the find the next bus meta. DeVoe has already started, but couldn’t get far because he’s not the engineer, Marlize is. So, she offers to complete it, and DeVoe is satisfied.

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