The Flash Season 4 Episode 17 'Null and Annoyed' Review

The Flash is back from its month long break and the team are still finding the two last metahumans before Clifford DeVoe can get to them.

Time is running out though because Clifford DeVoe will be super powerful if he beats them to it.

The last few episodes of The Flash have been quite good because they had a more serious approach.

However, this week's episode called 'Null and Annoyed' sadly goes back to the goofy humor thanks to Ralph Dibny getting all of the spotlight.

I did not mind Ralph Dibny in small doses, but he's making me cringe a lot with him being one of the main characters. He gets more screen time than Cisco, Caitlin, Iris and even Joe throughout this entire season. 

I know TV shows usually have to add new characters to make things fresh, but sometimes this can backfire. In my opinion, Ralph Dibny is starting to become unwanted like the character Poochie was in the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon. 

The funny thing is that this episode delves upon my frustrations towards Dibny's comedy routine as Barry Allen himself is starting to get sick of him.

A new metahuman named Null is using her helium like powers to steal jewels and Dibny kind of ruins the investigation with his non-serious attitude.

However, by the end of the episode Barry finds out that he needs Dibny because he's "important" but the way they catch Null is goofy and not very humorous.

Again, I feel the Season 4 show writers have been adding too much unwanted comedy making the series not as exciting as it was in the past three seasons.

Whether or not Dibny will be a mainstay in Season 5 remains to be seen.

However, a part of me hopes that he does not come back or at least gets a diminished role as I'm not liking him being the second main character of the show.

I did like this week's side story more than the main story because Danny Trejo comes back to play Breacher. Breacher needs Cisco and Caitlin's help because he is losing his powers. 

Little does Breacher know is that he's losing his powers due to old age and Cisco is finding it really hard to tell him the truth. He's scared Breacher will get angry and won't let him see Gypsy ever again. 

The most interesting part of this week's episode though involved two things.

First Clifford DeVoe's wife is starting to realize she's being drugged by him so she could be a future ally that Team Flash can use in the near future.

The end of the episode got even more interesting because we see Harrison Wells access the Time Vault again to put away his Thinker cap.

He then powers on Gideon for some reason to talk with her for the first time in years.

This excites me because it sounds like Harrison Wells might be up to no good thanks to him using the Thinking cap for too many times.

Whether or not he becomes a bad guy in the future remains to be seen though!

Anyway, hopefully the remaining episodes of Season 4 gets more serious as I'm kind of getting sick of the lame comedic tone that the series has started to adopt.

This week's episode had some interesting moments, but the main story was average thanks to Dibny.

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: The Flash Season 5 Episode 9 'Elseworlds Part 1' Review (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 8 Review: 'What's Past Is Prologue' (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 7 Review: 'O Come, All Ye Thankful' (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 6 Review: 'The Icicle Cometh' (more).

And here are some more related articles: 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).

A few more: The Flash Season 5 Episode 3 Review: 'The Death of Vibe' (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 2 Review: 'Blocked' (more).