'The Flash' Recap: 'Luck Be a Lady'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

I've always found it quite interesting how people interpret the concept of luck. Some people firmly believe it is related to karma in many ways and your fortunes are determined by the good vibes that you put into the world, while others are of the opinion that we forge our own luck and our own way, and some...well they simply believe in pure destiny, wherein the universe decides what kind of fortunes will come your way. But regardless of which school of thought you subscribe to, the beauty of the mystery of luck, is that it can be explored in wonderfully creative ways thanks to fiction. 

Which is precisely what The Flash did last night, by injecting a little artificial science into the notion of luck and by toying with it, the series delivered another utterly hilarious and fun episode that still found a way to keep the audience thinking. In 'Luck Be a Lady' we are introduced, by way of our grand mystery villain, to a young lady named Rebecca Sharpe, who simply cannot get a break in life. It seems everywhere she turns something bad is waiting to happen to her, that is until a 'lucky break' from the universe gifts with her Meta Human abilities, and now she enjoys wonderful luck and good fortune everywhere she goes, the only problem is...the more good luck that is bestowed upon her, the worse things go for those around her...

So I have to get this out of my system right now...I loved, loved, LOVED this episode. Everything about this one was just completely and utterly on point. The comedy that came about from the bad luck that Rebecca bestowed upon Team Flash was simply amazing and on several occasions I found myself having to pause my DVR to get the laughs out so I wouldn't miss another moment in the episode, and speaking of the comedy, who knew that Grant Gustin and Candice Patton had such amazing comedic chops? Because the entire Church sequence was perfect and utterly hilarious. But all comedy aside, there were some important moments that popped up in this episode as well. We learned that Barry's return is what created the twelve new Metas that our big bad is currently hunting for, and there was also quite the heartbreaking moment as well since Wally had his heart shattered by Jesse so badly...he's leaving Team Flash to find himself and a purpose in life. 

But what truly caught me off guard last night, was our villain. Because Rebecca Sharpe, aptly nicknamed Hazard, turned out to be quite the different breed of baddie. While most evil doers that come in contact with the Flash have a vendetta in their hearts or murder on their minds for being wronged at some point in their lives, Rebecca was the polar opposite. She was just an everyday woman, one that truly did see an incredible streak of misfortune in her life, and well...it makes sense that seeing her life improve in such amazing fashion would send her spirits soaring and drive her to enjoy it to the fullest. Yet I'm constantly reminded of the moment in Jitters with Barry, where she pointed out that it was high time that others understood the pain she experienced and it was simply stunning and tragic to see a character that devastated and jaded by the world to the point where she was okay with being selfish in that manner, and I'm wondering if more of the Metas we encounter this season are going to be like her and I kind of hope they will be in the respect that there was some serious depth to Hazard and the notion of a villain pushing forward out of frustration and pain is something new for this series. 

In the end however, I love how season four is shaping up. It's wonderful that the characters are finding new ways to grow in the absence of a massive crisis and I certainly hope that Wally's self imposed exile helps clear his head and that Earth-2 Harrison finds peace as well since his daughter has now shunned him and it should be equally as intriguing to see how Joe deals with the fact that Cecile is pregnant, since that will definitely change up his role on the team. Either way, there's a wonderful family feel that is permeating this season, and the slow burn that our villain is building to is downright fascinating and while this one may not have advanced the plot by leaps and bounds, all that matters is that we had some serious fun with Team Flash and I'm glad to see that this lighthearted approach to the plot appears to be here to stay.  Until next time. 

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