In ‘The Flash’ recap, Barry stands on trial for the murder of Clifford DeVoe while a new meta-human threatens to nuke all of Central City…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
If you were expected a long drawn out court battle for ‘The Trial of the Flash’, that’s not at all what unfolded as ‘The Flash’ returned from its winter hiatus.
Instead, the entire trial lasted less than the course of one episode as Barry Allen stood accused of the murder of Clifford DeVoe — a deviously plotted plan to put him away in prison despite the fact that his consciousness has actually been transferred into the body of another meta-human named Dominic Lanse.
It’s an impossibly tough situation for Barry because the easiest way to get himself off the charges would be to reveal his true identity as The Flash but taking off the mask would also be a quick way to guarantee everyone he knows and loves would be in danger from now until forever.
This week also saw the introduction of a new meta-human called ‘Fallout’ who is juiced up like a nuclear reactor ready to melt down and only the Flash may be able to stop him. Sadly he’s a little tied up this week.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘The Flash’ titled ‘The Trial of the Flash’…
Trial By Fire
Picking up right after the mid-season finale, Barry Allen has been charged with Clifford DeVoe’s murder after he was found stabbed to death in Barry’s apartment with Barry standing directly over the dead body. Of course in reality, DeVoe was already dead after he transferred his consciousness into Dominic Lanse’s body but was the perfect set up to frame Barry and put him away in prison.
To help his defense, Cecile took a leave of absence from the district attorney’s office to act as Barry’s lawyer while they went up against prosecutor Anton Slater, who was out for blood.
Captain Singh testified what he saw at the murder scene but also stood up for Barry as a standout member of the Central City police force. Sadly, Slater did his research and wondered why Barry was such a great employee when he was late 72 times and went missing in action for six months (when he was actually trapped in the Speed Force). Somehow that left Singh speechless and Cecile offered up no counter argument.
Actually based on the defense we witnessed, Cecile is a pretty terrible attorney because she did nothing to dissuade opinion about Barry’s innocence.
The one Hail Mary shot was Ralph Dibny taking some illicit snap shots of DeVoe’s wife Marlize kissing Dominic Lanse in the house she once shared with her husband. Cecile thought she had a slam dunk with that one — how could you be mourning your dearly departed husband and crying about how Barry harassed him and then eventually killed him all while buggering a younger, sexier man on the side?
Well obviously DeVoe planned for this contingency as Marlize testified that Dominic was welcomed into their lives months ago to help fulfill needs that her wheelchair bound husband could no longer tend to. In fact, Marlize says that Dominic was welcomed into their home by her husband and with tears running down her eyes, the jury ate it up and Cecile just stood there dumbfounded.
Cecile’s only defense was trying to convince Barry to out himself as the Flash, which he refused to do out of fear that he would put his friends and family in constant danger if his enemies knew his true identity. Never mind the fact that about half the people who want the Flash dead already know he’s Barry Allen but that’s besides the point.
Iris eventually confronts an icy Marlize DeVoe, who more or less says this was all part of the planning to bring down the Flash and she’ll do anything for her husband because they are partners for life. She then wonders if Iris would do the same.
That’s when Iris storms into the courtroom planning to tell the judge about Barry’s true identity but he runs with lightning quick speed using a trick even he didn’t know he could do as he froze in time alongside his wife to implore her not to tell the world that he is the Flash. Instead, Barry promises to do whatever time is put upon him from this trial because that is somehow the right thing to do.
With that, the trial comes to a close with Cecile’s closing argument consisting of a flimsy plea that Barry Allen is a good guy so there’s no way he could have murdered DeVoe. The stumbling attorney from “My Cousin Vinny” conceivably could have done a better job here.
Fallout
The meta-human of the week is another dark matter bus survivor who drives a truck filled with nuclear waste so of course he becomes a human nuclear bomb, unknowingly pumping out deadlier and deadlier levels of toxic radiation to anyone and everyone around him.
Given the nickname ‘Fallout’, he isn’t exactly a villain because he has no idea that he’s giving everyone around him radiation sickness while the nuclear power inside his body continues to grow and tick off the chart to the point where Harry and Cisco are concerned that he’s going to blow up and take out all of Central City.
When Fallout finally goes nuclear with body about to explode and level everything in the city, Barry is forced to leave his trial to save the day as the Flash.
Barry rushes into the fray — with some brief help from Killer Frost — and contains Fallout by creating a vacuum around him as continues to go nuclear. Cisco also joins the fun and creates a breach to Earth-15, which Harry says is a dead world with nothing on it. Fallout’s explosion goes nowhere but into the breach and Central City is saved.
Barry returns to STAR Labs to allow his radiation burns to heal and that’s when he gets some bad news.
Crimes and Punishment
The jury needed less time to deliberate than it took for Barry to save the day as they return a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.
Barry gets gut punched by the news, although he expected this to happen, especially after the stellar defense he was given during the trial. Barry spends a final few minutes with Iris before going to the courthouse to receive his sentence.
There the judge admonishes Barry for being a public servant on the surface but a cold blooded killer underneath who betrayed the trust of the people by committing this heinous act. Simultaneously, Captain Singh is offering the Flash a commendation for saving the city from a potential nuclear fallout by stopping the latest meta-human threat.
Finally the judge rings down the gavel after handing Barry a life sentence with no possibility of parole.
Barry is hauled off to Iron Heights prison much to the horror of his wife, friends and family who never felt like this day would come. When Barry is finally locked in a cell, he sees scribbles along the back wall with the words — Henry Allen was here.
Sharing the same cell his father once occupied when he was imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit is the final nail in the coffin for Barry Allen as he begins his life sentence that will undoubtedly last for only a few episodes because you can’t have ‘The Flash’ without the Flash.
Next week, Barry will sit in prison while Ralph Dibny puts on his hero pants to save the city when the Trickster comes back to town. ‘The Flash’ returns next Tuesday night at 8pm ET on the CW.
