Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't yet watched the most recent episode of The Flash.
Now, we all know that The Flash takes as many reality-eschewing liberties as any other super-fictional TV show when it comes to laying out high-stakes situations. And Season 4's "Luck Be a Lady" had already taken things to ridiculous extremes with the live-action debut of DC villain Hazard (as played by Sugar Lyn Beard), whose metahuman-induced luck got a "scientific" explanation. But the episode's most WTF moment wasn't about her powers, nor Wally West's exit, nor Cecile's pregnancy. It was the episode's climax, which featured the longest and most drawn-out slot machine spin in the history of slot machine spins.
A quick recap: Hazard's human alter ego was the klutziest person in Central City until she was granted her fate-changing power that caused just about everyone around her to experience the same luck-challenged life that she had. Yep, even The Flash, whose new suit sadly did not contain marble-proof boot soles. Anyway, near the end of the episode, Hazard went to a casino to up her financial worth, at a time when her quantum field of negative-luck had expanded to the point where an mid-flight plane started malfunctioning. And just before Barry arrives at the casino, Hazard sits down at what looks like an average slot machine, but what must have actually been a pile of molasses disguised as one.
From the point when Hazard pulled the arm of the slot machine (while singing the opening bars about wanting all cherries) to the point when that quantum field was depleted, two minutes and 37 seconds of screentime passed. 157 seconds for THREE SLOT MACHINE REELS TO FINISH SPINNING. If all gambling devices worked like that, instead of taking like five seconds, casinos likely wouldn't make any money, because no one in their right mind would play more than one round. Imagine if a roulette wheel spun around for over two minutes, stretching out the anticipation to the point where someone would start screaming while flipping the gaming table over.
We probably aren't meant to think that a full two minutes and 37 seconds passed while Hazard continued her cherry-flavored ditty, but this was not a case of "It was happening in Human time while Barry was zipping around and doing his Flash thing." No, we saw Barry in the casino communicating with Iris while Cisco and Harry were back at S.T.A.R. Labs trying to fix things on that end. Plus, there was a damned plane in the sky seemingly set for a crash course with the ground. And all the while, Hazard is sitting there, just waiting on that last cherry.
And then, in the instant that all the luck-science had been sorted out, said slot machine seemingly comes to a stop on the third cherry before slowly flipping once more to the star symbol, which obviously bummed a confused Hazard out.. As if this was a tactile Wheel of Fortune wheel and not a completely digital program that wouldn't/couldn't do something like that.
Now, it might sound like I'm just being overbearingly picky here, because "Hey, this is a TV show about a guy with super-speed, bro, so it's not meant to be taken so literally." And, yeah, I do get that. However, that super-tinged foundation is essentially why The Flash should at least casually strive to bring hints of realism into each week's adventures. I mean, I'm fine with buying into last week's ridiculous elevator scenario, and that The Thinker was able to create metahumans, but I cannot happily stand for something as relatively simple as one round on a slot machine lasting longer than a lot of hardcore punk songs and movie trailers.
The Flash will continue tellingits brain-boggling stories to fans every Tuesday night on The CW at 8:00 p.m. ET. To see what other shows are coming to the small screen in the near future that will certainly confuse and amuse us, head to our fall TV premiere schedule.
