THE FLASH “The Death of Vibe” Review

The Flash — “The Death of Vibe” Pictured: Carlos Valdes as Vibe — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW

THE FLASH “The Death of Vibe” Review

By Justin Carter

Alright, let’s get this out of the way: “The Death of Vibe” isn’t quite as literal as its title sounds. While Cisco is still alive and kicking by episode’s end, his heroic alter ego Vibe is assumed to be dead after he is nearly killed trying to blow up Cicada, but is saved by Nora at the last minute. A bit anticlimactic, but it does show that Cicada is nothing if not relentless and a credible threat if he can make Team Flash bench one of their own in secret. As for the rest of the episode…

How long can The Flash keep this going?

By which I mean, how long can The Flash keep bringing in a different Harrison Wells so that Tom Cavanagh can dress differently? It’s something I found myself pondering as we get our new Wells for the season, Sherloque Wells, supposedly the greatest detective in the multiverse as proclaimed by Herr Wells. (The German Steve Jobs-alike from last year that Cisco hates but charms the West-Allen trio with compliments as it’s revealed he’s a big Flash fan.) Sherloque, in true Sherlock fashion, is obnoxiously deductive and smart which makes him the perfect choice to catch Cicada, a serial killer who’s never been caught in Nora’s time, not by Team Flash or their other superheroic friends.

Like all the other Wells, Sherloque’s lasting charm will depend on who he’s paired up with on a weekly basis. He already seems to have a funny rapport with Cisco and Ralph, even though I’m pretty sure that by now all they do to test potential Wells is have Cavanaugh and Carlos Valdes just talk for about an hour. What makes him noticeably different here is that he shows his dickish nature faster than his previous selves; he charges Team Flash a crazy high price for his services, and when they demand to be paid back after it turns out he’s going through the formula of capturing Cicadas from the multiverse, fakes his death. It’s kind of nice to get a Wells’ true colors out the way immediately, though it seems he may prove to be a problem for Nora in the future.

The reason arresting Cicada isn’t so simple as the other 37 times Sherloque has done so is that Cicada isn’t his normal alter ego, David Hersch. Since Nora’s arrival, things have changed, meaning Cicada is now a completely different man named Orlin, one who’s a father with a comatose child. It makes him the most relatable Big Bad of the series and explains that particular hesitation he had when fighting Flash last week. Cicada mostly spends the episode torturing Joe in his home and looking intimidating, which Chris Klein admittedly does pretty well.

“Death of Vibe” is a pretty good episode helped in part by character chemistry. It’s admittedly surprising to see how improved Ralph has been only a few episodes into the season, and he’s proven to be the perfect comic relief and straight man as Caitlin continues to find out what’s going on with her dad. I quite like this pairing and hope that the two stick around each other more, even if does have the unfortunate side effect of seemingly isolating them from the main plot.

Additional Notes

• Caitlin’s dad didn’t kill himself, but he is trapped somewhere. And someone is watching her, because of course.

• Did Nora decide to show up and save Barry all on her own? Seemingly not.

• Sherloque spent the West-Allen’s money on his many ex-wives, one of whom he married twice and did the same fake death trick on. What a guy.

• Speaking of, he should not be French, even Elizabeth Olson would have questions about his disappearing accent.

• Cisco’s benched until he heals, but he’ll probably still suit up every now and then, right? I’m sure he could borrow the codename Breacher for a while.

• Jesse Martin sure has been sitting a lot this last month. I hope he’s okay, because it’s really noticeable here.