Ralph Dibny stretches his way onto The Flash tonight! And he’s kind of a jerk. It’s not the Ralph that people know and love from the comics, but like any good comic book character, he needs to grow and get better.
As exciting as the coming of the character we’ll eventually know as the Elongated Man is, the most fun to be had from tonight’s Flash, “Elongated Journey Into Night,” is the arrival of Danny Trejo as Gypsy’s father, “Breacher.” The way he interacts with actors Jessica Camacho and Carlos Valdes is alone worth the price of admission; there’s something comical about seeing someone who looks so mean and menacing but you know he’d do anything for his daughter.
“Elongated Journey Into Night” is also notable because it’s co-written by Sterling Gates who was the writer of the best Supergirl comic books of the past decade. With that background, he obviously knows the material, and you can also tell he cares a lot about the characters of The Flash. Also a plus in the knowledge department is director Tom Cavanagh (pulling double duty with acting as Harry Wells), who even had some input into how one of the final scenes of the episode would be shown.
What else can be said about tonight’s episode?
Ralph Dibny doesn’t like Barry! Can you believe it? And it’s not because of something Barry has done as The Flash; it’s because of something he did as Barry Allen.
Elongated stretches. The VFX team beyond The Flash seem to have a lot of fun with Dibny who pulls off some of his signature moves from the comic books. Hartley Sawyer’s face seems naturally fit for stretching, and at times he looks just like the comic book version of the character.
Danny Trejo’s delivery. Always Danny Trejo’s delivery. So much fun, and he has some great lines.
Cisco says three words to Gypsy. Not the ones you are expecting. And obviously, Carlos Valdes plays a terrified Cisco so, so well.
How long will it be before people find out Joe and Cecile’s good news? Self explanatory.
Mayor Anthony Bellows has his largest role yet. One underrated great thing The Flash has done is bringing in actors from the original Flash TV show. Tonight’s episode reveals something about Bellows that is a more direct tie to the original show, though sadly, there’s no mention of his late partner Murphy, if you can guess where I’m going with this. It was such a fun idea to use actor Vito D’Ambrosio more on this show; hopefully this will be going on for a while.
So how is the episode? As cool as it is to see Ralph Dibny, the real treat here is the Cisco/Gypsy/Breacher plot and any possible story developments with The Thinker. Some parts get silly, as one would expect from a story with the Elongated Man, but fortunately, it’s not as ridiculously silly, as, say, Hazard was last week. The story also does a great job of setting up what might happen next.
You can see some preview images from “Elongated Journey into Night” below.
THE FLASH
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The Flash -- "Elongated Journey Into Night" -- Image Number: FLA404a_0227b.jpg -- Pictured: Hartley Sawyer as Dibney -- Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW -- é 2017 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.