THE FLASH Review: “A Girl Named Sue”

THE FLASH REVIEW: “A GIRL NAMED SUE”

BY JUSTIN CARTER 

Credit to The Flash for finally paying off the Sue Dearbon thread in a way that proved to be both novel and interesting.

True to its name, “A Girl Named Sue” is primarily about the subject of Ralph’s missing persons case that he’s been tackling for months, and in doing so gives the show a lot of forward momentum with its storylines. 

Like most of us, Ralph was likely expecting Sue to be a damsel in distress, but she proves to be anything but; she first appears by tackling him to the floor just before her apartment explodes. Seemingly on the run from a well connected criminal ex, the two team up to bring him down so Sue can finally go back to her normal life. It’s a fun A-plot; Hartley Sawyer and Natalie Dreyfuss play off each other really well and there’s a fun buddy comedy vibe between them. Which is just as good, because she ends the hour by betraying him, and with a whole lot of questions swirling about her, walking away with a diamond seemingly connected to Black Hole in some way. 

Speaking of Black Hole, we finally see Iris in the mirror world, and it turns out she’s not alone. Eva McCullouch, wife of Joseph Carver, was blasted into the mirror on the night of the particle accelerator explosion, explaining her apparent death. She’s spent the time since then trying to keep stable among her numerous failed attempts to escape. (By episode’s end, she’s done 1,323.) Since Iris has had experience with people trapped in mirrors in the past, the two try and freeze the mirror they’re trapped in, but it shatters to pieces in the process. Fortunately, it turns out Eva has some mirror mastery powers of her own that allow her to repair it with no effort. It’s just as well, because Mirror Iris now has the Mirror Gun from the original Mirror Master in her possession. 

Black Hole feels like a good enemy for Team Flash to tackle that’s unique to them. Not only do they have a seemingly reliable supply of henchmen for our heroes to fight, as evidenced by the return of Ultraviolet, but they also provide a creative solution to giving everyone on the team something to do. Barry and Joe now get a chance to finger a mole in CCPD, while Iris can pursue them from a journalistic angle, and Ralph gets to flex his PI muscles. It doesn’t hurt that they aren’t taking up a whole season as they otherwise might have in previous years, so they’ve yet to wear out their welcome the same way the Thinker or Savitar did. I hope this creative thinking continues, both for Black Hole and future seasons going forward. 

Additional Notes 

• Next week: Gorilla City and the return of Grodd! 

• Nash is still seeing Harry, and now he has his journal, which means he may be losing his mind. 

• TV Guide published a great piece on Candice Patton and Iris’ growth throughout the series, you can read it here.