THE FLASH “License to Elongate” Review: A Bond Riff Proves the Highlight of the Hour

The Flash — “License to Elongate” Pictured (L-R): Hartley Sawyer as Dibney and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW

The Flash “License to Elongate: Review

Barry and Ralph’s Riff on James Bond is the Highlight of the Hour

By Justin Carter

James Bond is such a popular icon in the world of pop culture that it’s hard to believe The Flash is only just now deciding to do a riff on the Bond formula. Maybe it took them awhile to realize their version of the Elongated Man would work well with that setup, and credit to the writers for being right on that belief, because this part of Tuesday’s “License to Elongate” episode is pretty fun. 

Barry and Ralph head to Midway City to look for Sue Dearbon at a gala event that quickly turns out to be a gathering of criminals pitching to buy a satellite weapon. If you’ve seen any James Bond movie, you more or less know what happens as soon as Ralph hands Barry a suit to wear. There’s even something of a Bond Girl for good measure, right down to the silly ass name. There’s likely a version of this episode where all the jokes wear thin, but I found myself enjoying all of them nonetheless. It’s been awhile since Barry and Ralph got to do a double act together, and their dynamic is still really great. The crowning moment comes when, after defeating the bad guy and his henchmen Ultraviolet in two separate one-on-one matches, Barry does the “Bond. James Bond.” wordplay he messed up at the start of the episode.

Everything else aside from Barry and Ralph is serviceable. Nash, meanwhile, recruits Iris’ intern Allegra to help him open the door that’s said to lead to the Monitor’s lair. When she learns that he’s using her just in the hopes of killing the Monitor, she freaks out because it reminds her of how Ultraviolet has been conscripted into killing for anyone with enough money. I am honestly not sure what to make of all this between them; the way Nash treats Allegra in comparison to everyone else implies that he knows a version of him from his own world. The choice to integrate her into Team Flash through Iris and Nash is an interesting one, and it would be nice to have someone around who could help them and isn’t a scientist. 

That growth of Team Flash also seems to apply to Chester, the black hole-making meta from the season premiere. Cecile and him get to hang out to help him ask out a girl he has a crush on, but botches it when Cecile starts keying in on her own emotions of inadequacy. When Cecile decides to focus on becoming an attorney for metahumans, she tells him to not be a stranger around STAR Labs. That’s certainly laying the ground for something, but what that is, like with Allegra, is incredibly vague at the moment. 

Our ending sees a newly deputized Ralph get jumped by Ramsey. A strange end to a fair episode, but given how Ramsey loves appearing randomly, it’s perhaps more than fitting. 

Additional Notes

• “No, Mr. Dibney, I expect you to die.” “You just took that from Goldfinger.”
• A shame the show didn’t riff on the Bond opening while it was at it, but maybe that would’ve been overkill. 
• No Cisco this week. 
• Laughed when Chester pointed out how it was unethical for Cecile to use her powers while the city’s DA.