After what seemed like a pretty innocuous start, “True Colors” did a quarter season’s worth of plot development in its last 15 minutes or so. Strap in folks, spoilers abound.
1. Convenient new powers
After last week’s ‘gestational telepathy’ revelation, this week Ralph becomes a shapeshifter. While this idea isn’t entirely absurd – he went undercover in the New 52 “Secret Six” by shifting into a totally different body shape – it was handled in the more ridiculous, The Flash Season 4 way possible. Ralph’s unintentional shape shifting, replete with voice/accent change, was a silly idea at best. But then, Ralph uses it to shape shift into Warden Wolf who, spoiler alert, is black. How exactly does his body contort so much that he becomes another race? I can’t even begin to deal with that question.
That said, it does lead the end of the episode, where Ralph shapeshifts into DeVoe’s body, leading the judge to free Barry. It is nice to see Ralph gain some confidence, even if the clunky mechanics of getting Ralph there (like how it is hard to walk when shapeshifting, so a wheelchair helps) were not exactly elegant. But the ploy does its job, and Ralph, almost single-handedly, is able to free Barry from prison. While this resets the status quo, it does so in a way that seems unsustainable. Will Ralph have to live as DeVoe full time for a bit? How will he do that without it being weird that he’s not living with his wife? How can he sound smart?
2. Amunet still sucks
The show continues to absolutely waste Katee Sackoff, who brought such life and spunk to Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, but who is a broad caricature with an Ariana Grande hairstyle here. This season has been, by far, the worst at developing compelling villains, and Amunet Black should be easy: she sells metas. That is Evil 101, so add a little backstory, a little fear, and you’ve got something. But there’s just nothing there, so she falls flat every time she’s on screen, no matter how much scenery chewing happens.
Similarly, aside from Becky Sharpe (whose hair was entirely too cute to have been done in solitary, but I digress), did anyone remember anything about the motley crew of metas that Barry helped escape? I know some of them we met as recently as last week, but I’d be hard-pressed to identify their powers if no one told me. If there was a lineup of those folks, I’d seriously struggle to figure out who was who.
And that’s an indictment of the show’s writing. I still remember single serving characters from LOST, Quantum Leap, and various other shows I haven’t rewatched in years. All these new metas need a little more in the charisma and backstory department.
3. Why is Iris in a bathrobe at prison?
When Iris went to visit Barry in prison, she appeared to be wearing an oversized bathrobe.
Is this a new fashion statement? Is this an outward sign of her inward depression? Did they forget she was wearing it after leaving hair and makeup, and then had a great take, and so had to retcon it to be her outfit?
I ask that, to ask this: If that’s fashionable now, I’m wearing my bathrobe everywhere I go, like a sad, fat Hugh Hefner.
4. Still no DeVoe logic
I’m sure there was a throwaway line or two about DeVoe’s reasoning for all of this, but it still makes no sense. I don’t know why he needed to take Becky’s body, as he already had a perfectly good new body that no one suspected is possibly housing the mind of a dead man. The only part of the DeVoe story that makes any sense is that his wife is starting to get scared of him which, of course, is the proper reaction.
I was very big on the ‘no more speedsters’ mandate for this season’s villains, but something’s gotta give.
5. Gingold!
Finally, a Gingold reference!
