The Flash Season 4 Episode 15 Recap/Review: 'Enter Flashtime'

The Flash season 4 has been a mixed bag for me in my opinion as the series started to feature more campy humor and focused too much on the new character of Ralph Dibny.

Thankfully, the latest episode called 'Enter Flashtime' is a much more serious and engaging one that feels more like the prior seasons.

Ralph Dibny is nowhere to be seen in this episode as it focuses more on an exciting scenario that puts all of Central City in danger.

A terrorist by the name of Veronica Dale is about to blow up the city with some sort of big nuclear bomb.

The cool thing about this episode is the fact that the majority of it takes place in 'Flashtime' which is the slow motion effect similar to Quicksilver from the X-Men movies.

Pretty much speedsters can travel up to several minutes at a time in less than one second.

From a plot standpoint, making The Flash and the other speedsters really fast makes this episode unique and exciting.

However, it's weird The Flash can travel so fast in this episode, yet in other episodes in Season 4 he couldn't even catch up to slower baddies running away...

Despite the narrative flaw, 'Enter Flashtime' is great because Ralph Dibny has been replaced by both the much more enjoyable Jesse Quick and Jay Garrick as the sidekicks.

They are the only ones able to help Barry stop the nuclear bomb.

Veronica Dale already detonates the bomb, so the speedsters literally only have one second to find out how to stop it. However, in their time they can travel so fast so time slows down to a halt. 

The speedsters have to be quick though because time is literally running out. By touching other people, they can talk to others in 'Flashtime', but not for very long. 

Barry at first tries to ask Cisco for help, but he does not know how to get rid of the bomb. Not only that, but his body cannot handle traveling very fast and he gets tired. 

Another plan is for Killer Frost to freeze the bomb, but that does not work either. This is because the ice starts to melt when she shoots it from her hands because she's moving way too fast as well. 

Jesse Quick runs to get Jay Garrick while Barry goes to Harrison Wells to ask for help. Harrison Wells feels they should chuck the bomb in the Speed Force, but that would erase all of the speedster's powers. 

Jay Garrick does not like the idea of the Speed Force getting destroyed, so the trio come up with another plan to neutralize the bombs with three lightning strikes.

The plan fails though because Jay Garrick's body cannot handle being in 'Flashtime' for too long and he also gets tired.

The episode gets very emotional because it seems like both Jesse and Barry start to give up and accept death.

Barry just cannot seem to find a way to get rid of the bomb, and his incident with Flashpoint is preventing him from just going back in time and arresting Veronica Dale before she detonated the bomb.

Jesse Quick goes to Harrison Wells for one "last" goodbye while Barry talks to Iris. Thankfully, Iris is the smartest person in the entire episode and suggests Barry can use the Speed Force's own lightning to somehow neutralize the bomb. 

To cut a long story short, The Flash runs to the Speed Force and lures it to the area of the bomb.

Thankfully, the plan works as the Speed Force's lightning is fast enough to stop the bomb from going off and everyone is back to normal speed.

For an episode that featured no Ralph Dibny or The Thinker, I have to say it's my favorite one of season 4 thus far. The serious tone and drama made this week's episode much more engaging and exciting. 

That said, I still feel it's weird that The Flash's speed is inconsistent week in and week out.

Sometimes he can travel super fast that time stands still, but as I aforementioned in some weeks he can be super slow and cannot apprehend normal criminals!

Anyway, I'm hoping this is the type of direction the rest of Season 4 follows.

I don't mind some humor here and there, but they have went overboard lately when they featured too much of Ralph Dibny and not much of The Flash himself.

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: The Flash Season 5 Episode 5 Review: 'All Doll'd Up' (more); Jesse L Martin Taking A Leave Of Absence From The Flash (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 4 Review: 'News Flash' (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 3 Review: 'The Death of Vibe' (more).

And here are some more related articles: The Flash Season 5 Episode 2 Review: 'Blocked' (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 1 Review: 'Nora' (more); Candice Patton Criticizes Lack Of Female Funko Pop Toys Being Made For The Flash (more).

A few more: Kid Flash Won't Be In Many Episodes Of The Flash Season 5 (more); Comic Con: The CW Releases New Trailers For Supergirl and The Flash (more).