The Flash (TV Series) Elongated Journey Into Night (2017) User Reviews

The Flash - S04E04 Elongated Journey Into Night

[j_forbesy · 9/10 · 31 October 2017]

I have really loved what The Flash has done this season so far. Within 3 episode I think they have set a really strong foundation for this season to be built off.

I really loved this episode. It had some really good story lines that played out this episode while still adding some solid information towards our main story. I really like when they have episodes like this because they can stand as their own self contained story while still adding into the larger cause.

The main story in this episode was the Elongated Man. They approached this story in a really interesting way because while he was one of the 12 people on the bus, we also saw he had a beef with Barry. I think this beef between the two turned out to be something really interesting because it really made Barry question what Ralph did compared to what they do now. I also thought that Hartley Sawyer who plays Elongated Man did a really great job playing that jerk character who does have that softer side.

Going forward with Ralph/Elongated Man, I'm really interested to see how they take him now that he is kind of joining the team. With both Wally West and Julian leaving, the time was a bit light on team members. Why I don't necessarily want another member on the team, I think he could be a strong story to be played out for a few episodes that will have a pay of later on in the season.

The secondary story was perhaps my favourite part of the episode. I thought Danny Trejo as Gypsy's father was fantastic. I think his serious tone worked really well against Carlos Valdes funny tone with Cisco. 

While they were never going to give the win to Breacher, I really liked the way this played out because it adds into the Cisco/Gypsy relationship which I really enjoy. I have my fair share of relationship dramas on these CW superhero shows, but Cisco and Gypsy is the perfect example of how to do a relationship well. 

So far in The Flash, this season has set a tone that I have really enjoyed. It's very light hearted and campy that it gives season 1 vibes, which is something I am all onboard for. This vibe carried through to this episode and I really enjoyed how well it mixed with what was going on story wise.

Overall, I really loved this episode. The tone was perfect, the story lines worked really well, and it sets up some more foundation that they can build off next week. This season I feel like they have accomplished so much more in 4 episodes then other seasons have in this point.

9/10

New member stretches the team in a good way and Cisco Meets Gypsy's Father

[imakk2001 · 8/10 · 31 October 2017]

Cisco v Breacher was just sheer fun, I need Breacher to come back and make Cisco squirm some more. But please, no more Gypsy saying "daddy". CW just can't not infantilize female characters.

So much Joe/Barry! Doing their job, shooting the breeze/having a brew together, Barry noticing Joe's glow, but nothing maudlin or shoehorned. I'm kinda surprised the writers still gets them.

Barry Allen is the LAST person to flap his gums about good people not destroying lives or about not changing. Love Caitlin for reminding Mr. Holier Than Thou what happened to them and that she's still a doctor, and the other call-outs by Ralph. Still not enough, though.

Iris' "contribution" this week as Barry's field partner and Joe's reminder that she's the "boss" were little more than checking off the mandatory screen time for her. But at least, she didn't take up as much as she did in the 1st 2 eps. So, that's a plus.

Ralph as Flash's Mick Rory works. He didn't feel shoehorned, and the only stumble was the set up to his hero moment (because that helicopter should have been long gone while they're still babbling away), but that's a writing defect, not a character one. The team definitely needs someone to call b.s. on them, so while I'm still against a bloated team, I think Ralph will be a good addition.

I'm really liking how they're spacing out the VFX so it's not only 1 big sequence at the end.

A good fun ep, with both plot A and B aptly juggling the fun yet still kept the balls rolling. Score: 8.5

Danny Trejo and Hartley Sawyer steal the show

[T-ZER0 · 8/10 · 31 October 2017]

So on this episode of the Flash we get introduced to Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man and Breacher played by Danny Trejo.

Most people would think this episode is filled with the clichés and dumb subplots, but it actually goes together well in my opinion. Danny Trejo played Breacher (Real name Josh, and Gypsys Father). Cisco is nervous about meeting the father of his girlfriend, and Breacher isn't quite comfortable with Cisco. I'm familiar with Danny Trejo's acting career, but the way he did this part was awesome and hilarious. I especially loved the part where he was looking for Cisco and kept saying "Ciscy, Cisco! Where are you?" It was childish, but hilarious!

Meanwhile, we have Ralph Dibny, who is Elongated Man. I'm not familiar with the character from the comics, but I can say Ralph did a good job on this guy. I just hope they don't make him a love interest for Caitlin, the Julian/Caitlin relationship in season 3 was crazy enough. I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of hate towards this episode in the other sections and I will just end with this. Before you go by the reviews, watch the episode first.

Tom Cavanagh directs an excellent episode

[cobi-80620 · 1 November 2017]

Fantastic! This was probably the best episode so far this season. Besides the writers writing it, Tom Cavanagh did an excellent job at directing this episode.

Thoroughly enjoyed everything regarding Ralph Dibny. Hartley Sawyer who plays him did great and he and Barry make an interesting team that is sort of similar to Cisco and Harry. The effects for Ralph were good, especially the one where he sneezed and his face looked like it had melted or something. Looking forward to see what creative scenarios they can come up with involving his power and how he can use it to team up with Barry.

I never expected them to make the mayor, who we've seen like two or three times before, a villain. It's nice to get a non-meta villain now and then and it worked well within this episode where we still got a meta-antagonist in Breacher. Breacher was alright as in he was funny sometimes but he felt a bit too stereotypical with the whole protective father angle. However, I did like some of his lines like when he pointed out the poor security of STAR Labs or when he called Cisco "ciscy" although that was pretty silly. Cisco's reactions were hilarious and the force field trap from season 1 was a nice surprise as well as Cisco entering the scene Mission Impossible-style. Only thing that seemed off about the whole hunt was that Gypsy made no effort in stopping Breacher. She supposedly let her father kill her last boyfriend and now she does nothing to keep Cisco alive? Strange.

At the end of the episode Barry found out DeVoe was the one who told Dibny to investigate the mayor. It's nice to know we're moving somewhere with the main plot and that Barry already has a hunch on who the villain might be. I just wonder what the Thinker's plan was concerning the mayor. Please don't drop this plotpoint.

All in all I think this was the best episode of season 4 so far. I liked the new characters, the mayor being the villain, the effects and the story. Think I'm going to have to watch it one more time right away, really enjoyed it.

The show is heading in the right direction

[asandc · 10/10 · 2 November 2017]

"The Flash: Elongated Journey Into Night" is a fun little episode introducing the "Breacher" (Danny Trejo) and "The Elongated Man" played by Hartley Sawyer. We learn that Breacher is Gypsy's father and is not too pleased that Cisco is dating his daughter. The scouring face that Trejo presented at all times was amusing to me and played a part in making the Breacher such an enjoyable character to see on screen."I will hunt" you added just that extra bit of icing on the cake. Now onto the "Elongated Man", Ralph Dibny, a once famous and respected cop now helping widows with their problems. Hartley Sawyer did an amazing job on perfecting the character as one that the audience can both hate and feel sympathy for. The ending was the most intriguing as De Voe was finally mentioned to Barry. The dealer on Dibnys phone line was none other than our old friend "the Thinker" and the mention of his name triggered Barry's memory. This episode was a fun and enjoyable one to watch and shows that the show is heading in the right direction. As the thinker gets more and more exposed what will Barry and his friends do to stop him?

Main plot movement...finally

[hawkins_saints_rock · 9/10 · 2 November 2017]

So after a slowish start to the overall plot of the season, we finally get some movement in that area. At the beginning of the episode we see Barry and Joe talking about the potential of a "greater threat" regarding the bus and new metas. And then later in the episode we get a DeVoe name drop! Anyways let's get into it.

This episode centred around the introduction of a new "hero" and what looks like a season regular in Ralph Dibney who will be known as The Elongated Man (looking forward to Cisco coming up with this one). Dibney is an ex-cop and a relatively dirty guy who has a history with Barry. It turned out Barry got him kicked off the force for using false evidence, so they both have a lot of tension towards each other. But it makes for great viewing as I thought that both Gustin and Sawyer had some great scenes together, which is good news for future episodes.

The first few moments of Dibney in star labs as the team get a look at his powers are hilarious, especially that sneeze! Man his face looks messed up after that. We also learn that Dibney has some business with the Mayor who basically becomes the villain of the week. Also how awesome was it watching Barry take out the "cops" working for the mayor! Once again shows how fast he has become.

A big part of this episode surrounded Cisco, Jypsy and her father Breacher (Danny Trejo) who is not a fan of Cisco at all. This leads to a fun arc between these three, especially Cisco and Breacher as he tries to hunt down Cisco. This arc just reaffirms how much of a bada*s Danny Trejo is, he's such a great actor and so good to watch. In the end, Cisco earns Breacher's respect when he stands up for the Elongated man. Hopefully, we have more of Trejo in the back half of the season.

Finally, we get a DeVoe name drop at the end of the episode. Dibney said that he was a previous client of his, what implication will this have for Dibney and his relationship with Team Flash? Nevertheless, this name drop means that we are finally getting into the good stuff. I expect a significant portion of next weeks episode to be De(Voe)ted to Barry and the Team finding out who he is.

My only negative this week is that once again we didn't have many Flash moments except for the end. This was easily the best episode of the season, but we need more moments of Barry as The Flash, something that has been lacking a bit in season 4.

9.0/10

**Something I want to add in - each week after Arrow airs (as it's the last episode of each week) I will be labeling one of the episodes as the "episode of the week". Just something that I want to do and maybe something that some other people will be interested in taking a look at. Will be going back through my previous reviews and editing in the episode of the week for the first 3 episodes of the season. Peace. *Tied for episode of the week with Legends

Stretches For Humor, But More Often Than Not It Succeeds

[ThomasDrufke · 8/10 · 1 November 2017]

Hey, why not introduce The Elongated Man at this point, right? I'll accept anything this show can do to change things up every now and then. At the same time, I like when it takes a page out of season 1's tone and keep things light. This week's episode introduced one of the more goofy DC characters of all time, in Elongated Man, and also gave us a pretty fun guest star appearance from Danny Trejo. So in all, it was a rather enjoyable week of the Scarlet Speedster.

Trejo provided much of the entertainment as he played Gyspy's (Cynthia) disapproving father. Of course, he's also a breacher (named Breacher) and posed a problem for Cisco as he just wanted to spend another romantic night with his girlfriend. Trejo brought just the right amount of 80's/90's action movie cheesiness and bad assery to solidify this guest star appearance as one of the most memorable on the show's 4 season run. This also gave Cisco an opportunity to step his game up in the field, and use his powers to save some people for once. I would definitely like to see a little bit more of that going forward.

The team also was made aware of who the mind is behind all of these new meta-humans, none other than DeVoe himself. Of course, the audience already knew that DeVoe (The Thinker) was behind the last few weeks of villains, but I was surprised to see the show reveal that so soon to its characters. After season 3 took a painfully long time revealing Savitar, it's only right that this season does the opposite. How does this affect things going forward though? How much does knowing his last name really help Team Flash?

Speaking of the team, Elongated Man was welcomed into the fold officially at the latter of this episode, perhaps too soon. But at the same time, now that Wally is out of the picture (for the time being), I guess a spot is open. The good thing is that his powers are different than anyone else on the show, and will give the writers some breathing room to develop new stories. It also helps that Hartley Sawyer did a nice job of displaying a tragic past with that of snarky humor. It was tough to warm up to him, and it sure seems like he's being welcomed to the team rather fast, but I'm sure he'll work well with the team soon.

Overall, this episode was perhaps the most fun episode of the season. Sure isn't saying much, but to be honest, besides The Thinker, I'm liking the direction this season is taking. At least, in terms of the tone. We haven't completely been introduced with the bigger character arcs just yet.

8.0/10

FLASH + THE ELONGATED MAN = PERFECTION

[the_skywalker000 · 10/10 · 25 October 2019]

This was by far one of the most amazing and fun episodes of flash, FUN an element they had forgot about in the previous season as THE FLASH is a Jolly character, glad they came around and gave us such an amazing episode plus the introduction of the elongated man. The Guy playing him is perfect in all regards and the character will add the much needed depth to The flash. AND THE LAST REASON WHY THIS EPISODE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING IS BEACUSE IT DOESN'T HAVE ANY IRIS BULLSH1T🙃

Ranking/Reviewing every Flash episode: Elongated Journey Into Night

[lbramson · 8/10 · 12 June 2023]

The best episode so far this season! Ralph Dibney from the CCPD has powers and joins Team Flash. Meanwhile, Cisco has to survive Gypsy's angry dad played by Danny Trejo of all people! Both plotlines collide in a funny, exciting episode directed by Harrison Wells himself! The introduction to Ralph is enjoyable with his powers malfunctioning, it's very fun! I think I like the stuff with Cisco and Breacher a little bit more. Cisco being chased around STAR Labs allows for some delightful moments including my favorite Cisco line ever! "Guess whose got a hologram? Ho...ho...ho" Top tier Season 4 episode right here!

8.5/10-Great!👍👍

We're Flashing Back...

[lassegalsgaard-45284 · 7/10 · 21 January 2018]

It has come to this point in this season of "The Flash" that I am looking for anything to indicate that we are not just going to go the goofy and stupid route, however, everything so far hasn't really given that vipe. The last few episodes have done nothing but introducing cringeworthy villains and had some of the worst humor that this show has ever had. It was a huge turn-around from the very serious tone of Season 3, but it didn't fit the overall tone that "The Flash" had in the first place. I still don't see where the season is going and I am having a hard time finding the red thread in all of this, but if this episode did anything, it was increasing my enthusiasm about the show, because this episode was a return to form for the show. I couldn't have enjoyed the progress of this episode more as it was a combination of funny humor and serious development in both the characters and the storyline. If the upcoming episode is able to keep up this momentum, I think we could be in for something different.

The big thing that I took away from this episode was the dynamic and the conflict between the team members. Most noticably, Barry and Caitlin who took completely different sides when it came to helping the newly introduced Ralph Dibny. I love when the writers make both parts seem reasonable, and in this episode I totally understood where both Barry and Caitlin were coming from. It didn't feel forced, nor did it feel out-of-place, because Caitlin has never really had her voice on the team, since the story arc with Ronnie Raymond in the first season, so I liked that she got to be the one with the voice this time.

The subplot featuring Cisco going up against Danny Trejo's Breacher was also very funny and felt almost like some kind of action film from the '80s. I loved the tone of the subplot as well as the progression, because it never felt like any of the characters were over-doing it at any point, but more like they were exploring their characters. And this is the first time we see Breacher, so it was cool to see some other characters from Earth-19, and Trejo played the character just perfect. There was also a nice little reference to the episode when we first saw Gypsy, and I thought that was a very funny reference.

I also loved the overall arc of this episode, and the fact that it felt like a Season 1 episode. They are really going for that vipe in this season, but because of some very cringeworthy villains, I feel like they have failed that in the previous episodes. The meta that we get introduced to this time is Ralph Dibny, and he was a great presence in the episode, and Hartley Sawyer gave a very good performance as the character, who I am assuming is going to have a bigger role in the season than first anticipated. I will look forward to seeing more of him, but I do think they need to write some better jokes for him, because some of the jokes in the episode were really not that good.

And that leads me into the more negative part of the episode, which is the entire subplot with the mayor suddenly turning out to be some evil gangster. I know that he wasn't really a gangster, but his entire arc in this episode just made it look that way, and it didn't fit into the tone that they were going with for the rest of the episode. I also think that the character of Mayor Bellows wasn't set up nearly enough as he should have been. Actually, I think the writers made a big disservice to the character by just making him another disappointing and forgettable villain of the week.

A Weak Flash Episode

[garak99 · 3/10 · 1 November 2017]

I like The Flash it's my favorite current TV Show it seems to run hot and cold episodes 2 weeks ago "Mixed Signals" IMO opinion was the top episode to date in it's almost 4 season run with the A and B Plots really strong this episode "Elongated Journey Into Night" was more a comic story then a attempt atsomething serious I can understand some mild comedy to lighten thingsup. This went way beyond that it was played to be funny it was notfunny I thought it was just plain stupid

More comedy than action but building up the pace!

[asb_deutsch · 7/10 · 7 November 2017]

Finally, the series starts to looking forward. The Thinker definitely has a different type of spreading evil but what is his plan? Now Barry Allen knows more about him. Is this like the Batman v Joker cat-and-mouse mental game?

The side character had a different role, and it was a nice introduction of Plastic Man as I only heard of him in the comics. But this episode again makes you care about the other characters also. I must add, there was one line, especially when Barry Allen says in this episode "Good people don't destroy lives and call it noble."

My ratings (based on what I marked on IMDb): Season 1: 200/23 = 8.69 Season 2: 193/23= 8.23; Season 3: 188/23= 8.17; and Season 4: 27.5/4 = 6.875

See you flash fans next week!