The Flash is preparing the team and Central City for a life after Crisis and after the Flash (Grant Gustin) is gone. In “License to Elongate,” Barry (Gustin) tags along with Ralph Dibney (Hartley Sawyer) on the Sue Dearbon case to get a feel of what kind of a hero Ralph can be. Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) takes an interest in Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight) after he is declared dead on paper, but very much alive in real life. And Allegra (Kayla Compton) tags along with Nash Wells (Tom Cavanagh) in his quest to find the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett).
This episode was directed by the Cold One herself, Danielle Panabaker!! What can’t she do?
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WHAT’S UP PARTY PEOPLE!
Chester P. Runk has been in the STAR Labs MAC, the Mental Augmentation Chamber for about five, maybe six weeks. Something like that. When he’s finished baking, Chester is more than ready to return to his life outside of the chamber. There’s just one problem. Chester was declared dead after the whole black hole incident.
Cecile helps reestablish is ‘alive’ status and she also wants to help get him back into society. Jitters was his place to hang out, mainly because of Natalie (Tess Adkins), the barista. But Jitters was taken in the black hole, but they are operating as a delivery service.
Cecile makes Chester wear an earpiece. She is going to use her powers to read Natalie and tell Chester what to say to her to make her like him. And Frost (Panabaker) is there too…yeah, she wants to help.
Cecile is reading Natalie all wrong and causes Chester to totally blow it. He’s super nervous to begin with, she tells him to compliment the girl’s old sneakers, and then Chester ends up spilling coffee everywhere.
PEOPLE ARE RESOURCES
Nash told the team that he knows how to save the Flash from dying. He takes the team to the tunnel where he thinks the Monitor, Mar Novu is hiding. Nash says there is a portal behind the wall that leads to another world or dimension, but it’s protected by eternium. He needs to find a way through the wall without destroying the portal. The team leaves him to it.
Nash enlists the help of Allegra, because he can read her ultraviolet rays and figures out that she’s a meta. He has to tell her about the multiverse and superheroes to get her to help him. The biggest secret that he spills is that Barry Allen is the Flash. Talk about a news scoop.
When they get to the tunnel, Nash basically tells her that he is needs to find Mar Novu so he can kill him. Allegra doesn’t want to be a part of anything bad so she packs up and leaves. She eventually comes back and uses her rays to show him what he needs to see. And yes, there is a portal behind that wall.
At the end of the day, Nash thanks Allegra for her help. He looks at her funny and says she reminds him of someone. She asks if it’s a doppelganger and Nash says it’s something like that. As he walks away, I’m pretty sure I saw tears in his eyes.
FEAR IS THE MIND KILLER
This isn’t really about Chester though. It’s about Cecile. She wants to help metas so bad that she is just over zealous about the whole thing and it’s causing her to not ready anything right. Cecile is afraid that she made the wrong decision of leaving her assistant district attorney job for a meta defense lawyer job. Chester says he was afraid of asking out Natalie, but if he’s always afraid, nothing will change. They both just need to get past their fear.
Chester does finally ask Natalie out and she says no. But! Chester has a new outlook on life one where he’s not as afraid to go after his dreams. Cecile needs to do the same. She thanks Chester and says he would be a great addition to STAR labs. Chester nerds out at the idea, but says goodbye for now.
THE NAME IS ALLEN BARRY
Barry visits Joe (Jesse L. Martin) at the station to show him the Elongated Man’s (Sawyer) new emblem. Barry plans to hold a press conference as the Flash to name the Elongated Man as a hero of Central City. the surprise is almost spoiled when Ralph shows up unexpectedly. Joe gives Ralph a lead on the Dearbon case in Midway City. Barry asks to tag along for the night and Ralph loves the idea.
When they get to Midway City, Ralph show Barry a picture of a woman in a gold dress. Sue Dearbon was seen wearing that same dress. Ralph wants to crash a fancy party where he thinks they will find Sue. But when he says suit up, he doesn’t mean superhero suits. He means tuxedos. Cue the Bond theme song.
This is an interesting scenario because Barry has no clue how to act, talk, or behave in Ralph’s super detective world. It’s kind of cute. Ralph introduces himself as Dibney…Ralph Dibney. Barry gives it a try and is only smooth enough to introduce himself as Allen Barry.
NOT SO SMOOTH
The game is Mahjong and the opponent is Remington Meister (Carlo Rota), who is aware that Ralph and especially Barry don’t belong. Ralph tries to play it cool, going directly to the reason they are there. He asks Meister about Sue. Meister doesn’t deny knowing who she is, but he says he hasn’t seen her in a while. And Meister secretly alerts Ultraviolet (Alexa Barajas) of the party crashers.
Barry wants to get back into his comfort zone and use his speed to search the place, but Ralph says they need to do things his way. And Ralph’s way get them caught. Well, it doesn’t help that Barry ignored Ralph’s suggestion and put on his super suit anyway. The meta human detectors go off and Ultraviolet finds Flash pretty easily. Meister takes on Ralph and he has some kind of shock rings that subdue our would be hero.
Meister ties up the boys and points a laser at them to keep them from misbehaving. While they are alone, Ralph reminds Barry that, yes, the Flash is important to the City, but Barry is too. If he had been more focused on being Barry instead of the Flash, they probably wouldn’t have gotten caught. That’s a good point, but the real test comes after the escape the bondage and the laser.
GO TIME!
Barry follows Ralph’s lead in the next phase of their plan. Meister is trying to sell a satellite with the capability to reign fire on any location on the planet. It’s called the Ring of Fire. Meister wants to demonstrate the Ring of Fire and sets his target on Central City.
Before Meister can turn the key, Barry comes onstage, appearing to be drunk and looking for a bathroom. While everyone is distracted, Ralph runs to the stage to turn off the Ring of Fire. Both Ultraviolet and Meister catch the duo and a fight ensues.
Barry literally breaks a champagne bottle over Ultraviolet’s head and it doesn’t phase her at all. He has to bring down the house to knock her out. Ralph fights Meister, who is shocking him left and right, causing Ralph to fall to the ground. Ralph adjusts his bowtie, which has a camera in it and the flash blinds Meister enough for Barry to throw Ultraviolet’s weapon at Meister. His shocking rings go into overload and he’s down! Barry re-introduces himself as Allen…Barry Allen.
MEDAL OF HONOR
The duo heads back to Central City and to their press conference. The Flash presents Elongated Man to the city. Ralph makes a speech about being honored to serve the city, but he has something else he wants to do. Joe is totally in on this one. They call Barry Allen to the podium and present him with a medal of honor for his service as a CSI. Joe says he has helped multiple families gain closure and he does it in the most caring and honorable way.
Back at STAR Labs, Ralph informs Iris (Candice Patton) that Ultraviolet was in Midway City. She was last seen going to Iron Heights. Ralph has a picture of a man at the fancy party with a particular pin on his lapel. Iris recognizes the pin. After the particle accelerator exploded, a group of men found Ultraviolet and took her. Iris takes the file to research the secret organization that showed up at Midway City.
After Iris leaves Ralph on the rooftop of STAR Labs, Dr. Ramsey Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy) appears. He’s gone full evil meta and attacks Ralph. They both fall over the side of the building.
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News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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