Larry David in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ (Photo by John P. Johnson / Courtesy of HBO)
HBO’s much-anticipated new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm continues with four new half hour-ish episodes in November 2017. The ninth season premiered on October 1, 2017 and airs on Sunday nights at 10pm ET/PT. Larry David stars along with Jeff Garlin as Jeff, Susie Essman as Susie, J.B. Smoove as Leon, Cheryl Hines as Cheryl, Richard Lewis, Bob Einstein, Ted Danson, and Mary Steenburgen. Katie Aselton, Elizabeth Banks, Ed Begley, Jr., Carrie Brownstein, Bryan Cranston, Lauren Graham, Jimmy Kimmel, Nick Offerman, Nasim Pedrad, Elizabeth Perkins, June Diane Raphael, Andrea Savage, Damon Wayans, Jr., Steven Weber, and Casey Wilson guest star.
Curb Your Enthusiasm was created by Larry David, with David executive producing along with Jeff Garlin and Jeff Schaffer.
The Plot: The show stars Seinfeld co-creator David as an over-the-top version of himself in an unsparing but tongue-in-cheek depiction of his life. This season, Larry has a new venture that elicits promising feedback from a number of prospective investors – until a string of missteps undermines the plan, at least temporarily.
Curb Your Enthusiasm November 2017 Episodes:
Episode #86 (season 9, episode 6): “The Accidental Text on Purpose”
Debut date: SUNDAY, NOV. 5 (10:00-10:40 p.m. ET/PT)
Larry (Larry David) invents an ingenious ploy for getting his friends out of relationship jams. Larry upsets Funkhouser’s (Bob Einstein) new girlfriend.
Story by Larry David & Jeff Schaffer & Jon Hayman; directed by Larry Charles.
Episode #87 (season 9, episode 7): “Namaste”
Debut date: SUNDAY, NOV. 12 (10:00-10:35 p.m.)
Larry (Larry David) angers a hot yoga teacher, has an auspicious first date and seethes over a run-in with an unfair Uber driver.
Story by Larry David & Jeff Schaffer; directed by Jessie Nelson.
Episode #88 (season 9, episode 8): “Never Wait for Seconds!”
Debut date: SUNDAY, NOV. 19 (10:00-10:35 p.m.)
Bridget (Lauren Graham) asks Larry (Larry David) for a favor on behalf of her son. Larry earns unexpected gratitude in a buffet line, and realizes that tips are better than favors.
Story by Larry David & Jeff Schaffer; directed by Robert B. Weide.
Episode #89 (season 9, episode 9): “The Shucker”
Debut date: SUNDAY, NOV. 26 (10:00-10:45 p.m.)
Larry (Larry David) is blackmailed by an employee and tormented by someone from his past. Jeff (Jeff Garlin) and Larry pitch a new creative venture. Susie (Susie Essman) gets turned on by a surprising source.
Story by Larry David & Jeff Schaffer & Justin Hurwitz; directed by Jeff Schaffer.
Grammy nominee Demi Lovato has confirmed the details of her upcoming 2018 North American tour. Demi Lovato will kick off her 20 city tour on February 26, 2018 in San Diego, CA, and stops will include Las Vegas, Dallas, Brooklyn, Nashville, and Boston. The tour is scheduled to finish up on March 31st at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Demi Lovato will be joined on her 2018 tour by multi-platinum artist DJ Khaled.
Lovato will be touring in support of her latest album, Tell Me You Love Me, which debuted in the #1 spot on the iTunes album chart. The album’s single, “Sorry Not Sorry,” is one of Lovato’s biggest hits and has been streamed more than 350 million times.
Presale tickets will go on sale to Citi cardmembers on Monday, October 30, 2017 at 10am local time. Fans can register for the U.S. and Canadian tour dates through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, and tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning November 3rd at 10am local time via LiveNation.com.
DEMI LOVATO 2018 TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUEST DJ KHALED
Feb. 26 – San Diego, CA Viejas Arena at San Diego State University
28 – San Jose, CA SAP Center
March 2 – Inglewood, CA The Forum
3 – Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
4 – Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Arena
7 – Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
9 – Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
10 – Minneapolis, MN Target Center
13 – Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
14 – Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
16 – Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
17 – Montreal, QC Bell Centre
19 – Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
21 – Newark, NJ Prudential Center
23 – Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
24 – Washington, DC Capital One Arena
26 – Boston, MA TD Garden
28 – Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
30 – Miami, FL American Airlines Arena
31 – Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
Kiefer Sutherland in ‘Designated Survivor’ season 2 episode 5 (ABC/Ian Watson)
“They’re calling it Suckergate, sir,” says Lyor Boone (Paulo Costanzo) to President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) after something he said to a senator was taken out of context in season two episode five of ABC’s political drama, Designated Survivor.
The episode begins with a woman running in the park when she’s shot and killed. The very next scene is a government-sanctioned hockey game with President Kirkman participating. After the game, Kirkman’s reaching out to a senator friend of his in the locker room trying to get him to push his Republican friends to vote yes on the pension bail-out bill. In trying to get the reluctant senator to agree, Kirkman jokingly calls the American people suckers, a moment he’s going to wish he could take back. The President gets word about the shooting in the park and it turns out the victim was Charlotte Thorne, a member of parliament. Kirkman has FBI Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) assigned to the case, with Aaron Shore (Adan Canto) overseeing.
Wells has teamed up once again with Damian Rennett (Ben Lawson) for the investigation, and they get a lead that a legitimate arms manufacturer/seller has been having a war of words with threats of lawsuits with the victim, Thorne, who was anti-guns. Wells and Rennett question Darius Cray but he knows his rights. After admitting to threatening Thorne with lawsuits, he warns them if they approach him again he’ll have them up on harassment charges. This doesn’t scare them off; in fact, they become even more determined to follow and observe Cray.
Meanwhile at the White House, it gets back to the President that his “suckers” comment was quoted by the senator when he was on television to make it seem like the President believes the American people are easily fooled. This begins to take on a life of its own, with every news program talking about it. Poor Seth (Kal Penn) tries his best to defuse the situation with the press but to no avail.
Kirkman doesn’t believe it to be that big of a deal until he’s told by Emily (Italia Ricci) and Lyor that if he doesn’t come out fighting and denying that he said it, this could derail his presidency. Kirkman tells them he can’t because even though what he said was taken out of context, he did say it and won’t lie his way out of this problem. Lyor’s upset as he leaves the Oval Office, telling Emily, “If I had known he was this truthful of a president, I never would have taken the job.” Emily points out that’s why Kirkman has a staff willing to walk through fire for him.
Tom makes time during this incident to talk to his wife, Alex (Natascha McElhone), and encourages her to hire White House counsel Kendra to represent her mother and to fight the subpoena. At first hesitant, Alex talks to Kendra (Zoe McLellan) and decides to hire her.
Kirkman meets with the senator who revealed the private conversation to the press and asks him to clarify what they were talking about. However, the senator stands his ground and tells Kirkman he won’t back him and that he does think the President at times views the American people as suckers. Kirkman and his staff are shocked by the senator’s words.
Later, Kirkman is talking to his security man, Ritter (LaMonica Garrett), who tells the President that what he admires most about him is how he brings hope to the people’s lives and that he should continue to spread hope even when others are throwing mud.
Out by a boat Cray owns, Wells and Rennett decide to do some snooping on board. (Don’t they need a warrant to board and search a boat?) This is when Cray comes up behind Wells, obviously looking to do her some harm, and gets shot by Rennett.
Back at the White House, Kirkman tells his staff he wants to do a man-of-the-people publicity outing. A few hours later, Kirkman’s in a diner shaking hands, holding babies, and laughing with the patrons while the cameras roll and cover it. Things are going extremely well until he’s met by the advocate for those who lost their life savings in the pension fraud. The advocate points out that if he isn’t willing to give her his word and promise to pass the pension bail-out bill, then maybe the American people are suckers for believing in him. Back to square one for President Kirkman.
As Kendra heads in to try to get the subpoena thrown out, she’s met by Alex who wants to be her co-counsel. Kendra tries to talk her out of it but Alex insists. During the hearing, Alex keeps interrupting Kendra and lets her temper flare about her mother getting a subpoena. Kendra calls for a 10-minute recess which she gets. She uses it to tell Alex that if she’s going to do her job, Alex can’t be a co-counsel. Alex finally agrees and Kendra heads back into court. She reveals the documents that led to getting the subpoena were obtained illegally. The Judge agrees with Kendra and squashes the subpoena.
Wells is relaxing in her apartment when Rennett stops by to say goodbye. Seems like Cray was doing some under-the-radar gun dealing and is the likely suspect for killing Thorne. Wells and Rennett flirt a little and finally, Rennett kisses Wells. Just as the two are getting to know each other better, Wells’ phone rings and it’s Aaron who tells her he needs to see her because there has been a development in the Thorne case.
Believing he does need to stop Suckergate from getting any worse, Kirkman reluctantly agrees to talk to television host Carson Kramer (think a male Barbara Walters) to expose the ugly secrets of the senator who created this problem. But just as he’s about to do it, he flashes on what Ritter said to him about hope and goes a different route. Kirkman admits to calling the American people suckers because they believe in the American dream and so does he, which makes him a sucker too. Kirkman then uses the rest of the interview to push the country’s urgent need for the pension bail-out bill.
Aaron tells Wells and Rennett that solid proof came in showing Cray couldn’t be the one who killed Thorne and that they’re still on the case.
As Kirkman is getting ready to call it a night, he gets a visit from the senator who caused Suckergate. Kirkman says he doesn’t have much time for him and the senator apologizes and tells him he will back his bill. The senator asks if he can explain and confesses to Kirkman that his wife has been battling cancer and he was unfaithful to her during part of that time. The senator goes on to say that he and his wife are trying to work things out and he thought he could pull one over on the president for one last win. He admits it was stupid thinking. Kirkman does his best to console the senator and shows him the file he had on him that revealed his indiscretions. Kirkman tells the senator the information is already out there if his people could find it and that he has to get out in front of it before it’s too late.
Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 5 Review:
With Kirkman facing a silly crisis called Suckergate and a new political murder for Wells to investigate, the move to make the show a political drama/soap opera instead of a political thriller continues. One of the improvements this time is the murder of a member of parliament which could have much more to it than just being about gun control. This will give the show a little of the cloak and dagger aspect that was so strong in the first season and gave the show its suspense.
With Kirkman and his staff facing a major threat on the high seas in next week’s episode, here’s hoping the series starts to move back to the high-stakes politics and lives hanging in the balance risks it dealt with so well in the first season.
Selena Gomez visited the Radio Disney Studios (Disney Channel/Paul Hebert)
Selena Gomez is confirmed to perform her new single “Wolves” during the 2017 American Music Awards. This year’s AMAs will take place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on November 19th and will air at 8pm ET on ABC. Winners of the music awards are voted on by fans, with the American Music Awards nominees selected based on fan interactions in Billboard Magazine and Billboard.com between September 9, 2016 and September 14, 2017.
Bruno Mars leads the list of AMA nominees with eight, including Artist of the Year, Video of the Year, and Favorite Male Artist – Pop/Rock. The Chainsmokers, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd followed with five nominations each. Justin Bieber, Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi earned four nominations, Keith Urban picked up three, and Halsey and Rihanna each earned two.
dick clark productions and ABC previously announced Diana Ross will be honored with the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement and will take the stage to perform. The Lifetime Achievement award is being given in “recognition of her remarkable career and her outstanding artistic contributions to the entertainment industry and popular culture.”
More on Selena Gomez, Courtesy of ABC and dick clark productions:
Selena Gomez made her mark in entertainment by conquering film, music and television at an early age. On the big screen, she began making the transition from young actress to adulthood with such films as the much talked about Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers.” The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim while Gomez’s performance was singled out as a “breakout.” She appeared in the Academy Award® nominated film “The Big Short” opposite Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling as well as “Fundamentals of Caring” alongside Paul Rudd. The later film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and Gomez was named by Vulture.com as one of “The 20 Best Performances of Sundance 2016.” Other credits include: “Rudderless,” “Neighbors 2” and the James Franco directed “Indubious Battle.” She is currently filming the untitled Woody Allen feature opposite Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning and Jude Law.
As a recording artist, Selena has sold over 50 million tracks worldwide. She recently released two new singles “Bad Liar” and “Fetish” which garnered enthusiastic reviews. Entertainment Weekly wrote Gomez is making “the most unexpected pop music of the year” while Rolling Stone proclaimed the first single as “smart and streamlined.” In 2015, Gomez released her critically acclaimed album “Revival.” The first three singles off the album “Good For You,” “Same Old Love” and “Hands to Myself” went to number one on the US Top 40 chart. Gomez joins an elite group and becomes only the sixth female artist to have at least three songs from one album reach the #1 position since the chart launched in 1992. Gomez has added executive producer to her impressive list of credits serving as an executive producer of the hit Netflix original series “13 Reasons Why.”
Giving back has always been an important element in her life. She was named the youngest goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF at 18 years old and has worked tirelessly to support this organization ever since. Gomez has traveled to Ghana, Chile and Nepal as an advocate for some of the world’s most vulnerable children with UNICEF. Selena was honored for her continued support at Variety’s first ever Unite4: Humanity event with the Young Humanitarian Award alongside Bill Clinton. She has hosted “We Day” in Vancouver, Chicago and Los Angeles for We The Children, an organization that empowers young people to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change by being active local and global citizens.
Netflix released a new official trailer for the dramatic film, Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees (Pariah, Bessie). The film’s based on the bestselling novel by Hillary Jordan and was adapted for the screen by Rees and Virgil Williams. The cast includes Carey Mulligan (Suffragette), Jason Clarke (All I See Is You), Jason Mitchell (Detroit), Mary J. Blige (How to Get Away with Murder), Rob Morgan (Stranger Things), Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul), and Garrett Hedlund (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk).
Mudbound is opening in select theaters and on Netflix on Friday, November 17, 2017.
The Plot: Set in the post-WWII South, Mudbound is an epic story of two families pitted against a barbaric social hierarchy and an unrelenting landscape as they simultaneously fight the battle at home and the battle abroad. The film is about friendship, unacknowledged heritage and the unending struggle for and against the land.
Newly transplanted from the quiet civility of Memphis, the McAllan family is underprepared and overly hopeful for Henry’s (Clarke) grandiose farming dreams. Laura (Mulligan) struggles to keep the faith in her husband’s losing venture, meanwhile, for Hap (Morgan) and Florence Jackson (Blige), whose families have worked the land for generations, every day is a losing venture as they struggle bravely to build some small dream of their own. The war upends both families’ plans as their returning loved ones, Jamie (Hedlund) and Ronsel (Mitchell) forge a fast, uneasy friendship that challenges them all.
A scene from ‘Mudbound’ (Photo Courtesy of Netflix)
The CW’s The Flash season four episode three found Team Flash discovering that by rescuing Barry from the Speed Force, new metahumans were created from the burst of energy. The first new metahuman the team had to deal with was ex-casino employee, Becky, who happened to be the unluckiest person in town. Now that the group realizes what’s happening, the upcoming episodes will deal with tracking the new metahumans before they can cause havoc in the city and figuring out who’s behind the Samuroid.
Up next, season four episode four titled “Elongated Journey Into Night.” Series star Tom Cavanagh directs from a script by Sterling Gates and Thomas Pound. Episode four will air on October 31, 2017 at 8pm ET/PT.
The season four cast includes Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash, Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, Candice Patton as Iris West, Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West/Kid Flash, Carlos Valdes as Cisco, and Jesse L Martin as Joe West.
The “Elongated Journey Into Night” Plot: DANNY TREJO GUEST STARS AS BREACHER — Cisco (Valdes) is shocked when Gypsy’s (guest star Jessica Camacho) father, Breacher (guest star Danny Trejo), shows up on Earth-1. Breacher takes an immediate disliking to Cisco and decides to hunt him. Meanwhile, Barry (Gustin) runs into his old nemesis, Ralph Dibny (guest star Hartley Sawyer).
The third season of Syfy’s horror anthology series Channel Zero is officially titled Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block. The reveal of next season’s title came just hours before the season two finale airing on October 25th at 10pm ET/PT. Channel Zero was created by Nick Antosca and season three is inspired by Kerry Hammond’s “Search and Rescue Woods” Creepypasta tale.
Season three will arrive in early 2018.
Showrunner Nick Antosca is writing and executive producing. Max Landis (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) is executive producing and Arkasha Stevenson will direct season three.
The Plot:Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block tells the story of a young woman named Alice (Olivia Luccardi, It Follows) who moves to a new city and learns about a series of disappearances that may be connected to a baffling rumor about mysterious staircases in the city’s worst neighborhoods. With help from her sister, they discover that something is preying on the city’s residents.
Cast includes:
Olivia Luccardi stars as Alice Woods, an idealistic young woman who devotes her life to helping the less fortunate, including her schizophrenic sister. But behind a facade of composure, Alice’s struggles with family, money and her own personal health are threatening to push her over the edge.
Holland Roden (Teen Wolf) as Zoe Woods, Alice’s older sister – a sharp, tough young woman whose struggles with mental illness have worn her down over the years. She hates that her younger sister has to take care of her and she’d give anything to go back to the way things used to be.
Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) as Joseph Peach, a 1950s meatpacking magnate who grew increasingly reclusive and then disappeared after his beloved daughters were murdered.
Brandon Scott (Wreck-It Ralph) as Officer Luke Vanczyk, a young but already jaded cop, living in the shadow of his father, the Chief of Police. Luke’s world-weary exterior hides a fierce commitment to justice, and a deep love for his troubled community.
Krisha Fairchild (Krisha) as Louise Lispector, a retired journalist who has lived in Garrett, Michigan her whole life. Now she spends her days doing taxidermy and working on her personal project: A book about a pattern of disappearances in the city’s worst neighborhood. But when she rents out part of her house to Alice and Zoe Woods, she finds herself in danger from the people behind the disappearances.
Prolific series creator Ryan Murphy has made television history with his new series, Pose. Pose marks the largest number of transgender actors ever assembled in series regular roles for a scripted show. The FX series will begin shooting this November in New York City, with series co-creator Steven Canals working on the scripts along with Our Lady J (Transparent) and author/transgender rights activist Janet Mock.
Per FX, Pose takes place in the 1980s and “looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world.”
“We are thrilled that Pose pushes the narrative forward by centering on the unique and under-told experiences of trans women and gay people of color,” said Canals. “Ryan has assembled a strong team of storytellers and innovators to collaborate on telling this important narrative. As a Bronx-bred queer writer of color, I’m honored to aid in ushering this groundbreaking show into homes.”
Michael Roberson and Twiggy Pucci Garcon will serve as ball culture consultants and, according to FX, will “help populate the series with people from within the New York ball community, as well as to help develop authentic ball world stories to be featured in the show.”
Brad Falchuk co-created the series and Alexa Fogel (Atlanta) is the show’s casting director. Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall, and Sherry Marsh are executive producing. Hector Xtravaganza, Skylar King and Sol Williams are serving as Pose consultants. Leiomy Maldonado and Danielle Polanco are choreographing the series’ ball scenes. Trans activist director Silas Howard is the co-executive producer, and Murphy will be bringing in emerging transgender directors to participate in his Directing Mentorship Program.
Details on the Cast:
“MJ Rodriguez (Blanca) is a theater and film actress who has appeared on Nurse Jackie, The Carrie Diaries, Luke Cage and was recently featured with Indya Moore (Angel) in Saturday Church at the Tribeca Film Festival. Dominique Jackson (Elektra) is a fashion model and icon in the current New York ball scene. Hailie Sahar (Lulu) has been seen on Mr. Robot and Transparent. Angelica Ross (Candy) was recently on Transparent as well as on several episodes of Claws. All will be playing authentic transgender characters.
Additional casting for the series includes Ryan Jamaal Swain (Damon), who recently filmed God’s Rock. Billy Porter (Pray Tell) is currently reprising his Tony® award-winning role as “Lola” in Kinky Boots on Broadway. Dyllon Burnside (Ricky) was seen in Holler If Ya Hear Me on Broadway.”
The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow season three episode three introduced the team to the new key character, Zari. The episode also reunited Nate with his recent ex, Amaya, and found poor Nate spending much of the episode high as a kite. Next up, season three episode four titled “Phone Home.” Directed by Kevin Mock from a script by Matthew Maala, episode four will air on October 31, 2017 at 9pm ET/PT.
The season three cast includes Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/Atom, Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave, Franz Drameh as Jefferson “Jax” Jackson/Half of Firestorm, Victor Garber as Professor Stein/Half of Firestorm, Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary, Nick Zano as Dr. Nate Heywood/Steel, Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Amaya Jiwe/Vixen, and Tala Ashe as Zari.
The “Phone Home” Plot: HELPING ONE OF THEIR OWN — The Legends learn that Ray Palmer (Routh) will die because they broke time, causing them to race back to 1988 to try and save his life. When they arrive, they are surprised to learn that young Ray Palmer has befriended a time-displaced baby Dominator putting him in harm’s way with the government and the Dominator’s mother. New to the ship and missions, Zari (Ashe) must find her place and learn to trust the team. Meanwhile, Stein (Garber) begins working on a secret project on the ship which makes Rory (Purcell) and Jax (Drameh) suspicious.
“Guys, the particle accelerator turned back on. It’s going to explode!” yells Iris (Candice Patton) to Team Flash as they struggle to deal with multiple problems happening around Central City in season four episode three of The CW’s comic-book inspired series, The Flash.
As the episode begins, The Thinker (Neil Sandilands) is observing a young lady named Becky Sharpe (Sugar Lyn Beard) he calls Subject Two. She’s a blackjack dealer who he says has a defeatist attitude and has the worst luck imaginable. Over the last three weeks, poor Becky walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her, got fired from her job at the casino, and her car was impounded. Becky was forced to take the bus home after losing her car and as the bus pulled away, there was a flash of very bright light.
Jump to present day and Barry (Grant Gustin), Cisco (Carlos Valdes), and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) are playing laser tag and losing to a group of obnoxious kids. (Finally, an original Team Flash scene outside of S.T.A.R. Labs!) Afterward, Cisco, Barry, and Caitlin meet up in the park with Joe (Jesse L. Martin), Iris, and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) for a fast food dinner and that’s when they get an alert that an unauthorized breacher is about to enter S.T.A.R. Labs.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) is anxiously waiting for Jesse (Violett Beane) so they can have their long-awaited date night when her dad, Harry (Tom Cavanagh), comes through instead. It seems Jesse has sent her dad with a break-up cube that contains a hologram message from Jesse. To make things more awkward, the device doesn’t work so Harry has to tell poor Wally that Jesse thinks he’s great but she needs to work on herself now. With the rest of Team Flash watching, Wally’s heart is broken. Caitlin shoots Harry dagger looks for how horribly he handles delivering the bad news just as a crime alert goes off.
Over at one of Central City’s banks, Becky walks in all smiles. As the song “Luck Be A Lady” plays, a series of bad events happen to those who work in the bank which gives Becky the chance to go into the bank’s vaults and steal some cash. As she leaves the bank, The Flash is racing to catch up to her when a large tub of marbles (what business needs a tub of marbles?!) accidentally spills onto the street and causes The Flash to stumble and fall as though he’s Wile E. Coyote in a Road Runner cartoon.
Team Flash put their heads together and realize Becky is a new meta-human. Her power seems to be a “Good Luck Field,” as Cisco calls it. As her luck improves and things go her way, negative energy – or bad luck – goes out to those close by. Joe asks again where these new metas are coming from because Becky only moved to Central City three years ago. She wasn’t in town when the particle accelerator exploded four years ago. Harry and Cisco realize that somewhere in town Becky had to be exposed to dark matter.
Cisco, Harry, and Barry head out to try to find the spot, using a new device that can detect residue of dark matter. It’s not too long before they do and Barry remembers it’s where he came out of the Speed Force. A bus with 12 passengers was exposed to the dark matter when Cisco and Caitlin pulled Barry out of the Speed Force.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Harry blames Cisco specifically for the new metas, saying he should never have tried to get Barry out of the Speed Force without consulting him. It gets heated between the two and Joe breaks it up when he gets a phone call from Cecile. He tells Barry he needs The Flash to carry him home immediately. When they get to Joe’s home, both Barry and Joe see Cecile dealing with plumbing leaks all around the house. Cecile encourages Joe to sell the house so they can get a new, smaller place for just the two of them.
Barry gets a call from Cisco saying he and Harry tracked Becky and she’s at Jitters. Barry goes to talk to Becky hoping he can talk her down. (He told the team earlier that Becky isn’t the same kind of villain they usually deal with and he hopes to reason with her.) Alas, no such luck. It seems Becky is enjoying her new luck and believes the universe is finally sending her some long overdue payoffs. She also believes that if other people around her are hurt, that’s fine. They can feel what it’s been like for her her whole life. As she leaves, she warns Barry not to get in her way because bad things happen to people who do that.
Barry gets another call, this time from Iris who wants him to meet her at a church. He shows up with a nice new white shirt and tie as she instructed, asking why she wanted him to meet her at a funeral. Iris tells him she wants to get married now. It seems earlier they lost their wedding venue and Iris is afraid if they don’t get married soon, it will never happen. Barry tries to talk some sense into her, but Iris is in panic mode. In one of the funnier scenes in the episode, Iris turns the photo of the dearly departed, who has just been carried out in a coffin, around and asks the priest to marry her and Barry right now. Taken a bit aback, the priest does agree but must stop early on when he breaks out in hives from being exposed to the cinnamon incense the altar boy used. Wedding canceled.
Harry’s working on a way to help Team Flash stop Becky, who Cisco has nicknamed “Hazard,” when Cisco walks in to apologize for the fight they had earlier. Harry confesses to Cisco that Jesse kicked him off her crime-fighting team for being too controlling and strict. Cisco tells Harry he’s part of the Team Flash family and he should stay on their Earth to fight crime. Cisco assures Harry he’ll always have a place with them.
More alarms are set off at S.T.A.R. Labs and Iris yells to the team that Becky is back at her old job in the casino and is having such good luck that her negative energy field is expanding out over Central City. Barry races over to the casino to try to stop her but ends up slipping on some loose change and accidentally handcuffs himself with the power-reducing handcuffs. Over at Joe’s house, Cecile is dealing with one big leak after another, slipping and knocking herself out as Joe tries to get into the house.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the particle accelerator turns back on and starts its countdown. Cisco and Harry work frantically to shut it down but the system is not cooperating. Fortunately, Harry has a mental breakthrough and tells Cisco they should let it explode. He thinks it will temporarily mute Becky’s powers. Boom! The particle accelerator does go off and the wave spreads out stopping Becky’s powers long enough for Barry to get the power-reducing cuffs off himself and on her.
A little later Harry tries to apologize to Cisco and they agree he’ll stay with them on Earth-1. Team Flash will help Harry make a new life for himself with them. As the Team congrats itself on stopping another meta-human, and for figuring out how many are out there, Wally reappears telling everyone that he was on Earth-2 talking to Jesse and he’s realized he needs to leave Central City and find out where he belongs. Barry tells him he understands and that every hero has to discover his own road. Caitlin and Cisco hug him goodbye and Joe tells Wally he just wants him to be happy but that he doesn’t want to lose him. Wally tells Joe he could never lose him and if he ever needs him, he’ll race over in a second since he’s a speedster.
Harry realizes whoever sent the Samuroid to demand the original Flash face him orchestrated it to force Cisco and Caitlin to rescue Barry from the Speed Force so innocent people would be exposed to the dark matter and new metas would be created. The next scene is in The Thinker’s lair where he’s spying on Team Flash from the Samuroid helmet they kept after they defeated it.
In the final scene, Joe goes home and tells Cecile he’s ready to give up his old house. However, Cecile has changed her mind saying when she heard Joe talking about raising Iris and Barry in the house, she couldn’t think about selling it. Besides, she has some news of her own. “Joe, I’m pregnant,” says Cecile to a shocked and speechless Joe.
The Flash Season 4 Episode 3 Review:
Funny, lighthearted, and a little silly, episode three titled “Luck Be a Lady” continues to bring the series back to the formula that made season one such a big hit: some fun humor, a few heartfelt scenes between members of the team, bonding moments, and some exciting heroics. The stand-out performance in this episode goes to the team of Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh as Cisco and Harry. The wonderful chemistry between these two actors make their scenes crack with energy and humor. The way Cisco and Harry argue and call each other names and then apologize and confess what’s really hurting them is a perfect mix of laughs and pathos.
The big surprise in this episode is not The Thinker spying on Team Flash but the departure of Wally aka Kid Flash from the team. To be honest, with Barry back and Jesse off having fun with her superhero team on Earth-2, it’s a fair argument to make that there doesn’t seem to be a storyline for Wally so far this season. The real question is just how long will he be absent from the show. And, will he be missed?
With Team Flash now realizing there’s a mastermind behind the new meta-humans and The Thinker spying on our heroes, it should be interesting to see who makes the next move and just what is the end game for The Thinker.
