‘The Flash’: Grant Gustin Teases The Thinker’s Objective, Barry’s Obsession With DeVoe

While Clifford DeVoe, aka The Thinker, has been watching Team Flash’s every move since the Season 4 premiere of “The Flash,” this year’s big bad is not really after Barry and his team.

“The Thinker (Neil Sandilands) is less about Barry (Grant Gustin) and more about his vision of Central City, and how he thinks he can make it better and make the world better,” Gustin revealed in a recent interview with TVLine. “He doesn’t really become obsessed with Barry and the team.”

Interestingly, it’s Barry who’s going to be obsessed with Clifford. At the end Season 4, episode 6, the Council of Wells narrowed down the long list of DeVoes to one Clifford DeVoe. With this knowledge, Team Flash quickly headed out to pay Clifford a visit. But as revealed at the beginning of the hour, Clifford and his assistant The Mechanic (Kim Engelbrecht) predicted that Team Flash would find them on that day, so they welcomed them at the front door of their home disguised as husband and wife.

Despite Clifford’s unassuming appearance, Barry is not completely convinced that the wheelchair-bound man has nothing to do with the “bus metas.” “This guy, he feels more dangerous,” Barry says of DeVoe in the trailer for the episode. “He’s not what he seems. … This guy wants us to think that he’s unassuming but he’s not.”

While the rest of the gang “has their doubts” about Clifford, Gustin told TVLine that Barry “starts to — before anybody else on the team knows for sure that this is our guy — become a little bit obsessed with getting him, because he doesn’t want things to get out of hand again, as they always do.”

In an attempt to prove his suspicions about Clifford, Barry embarks on what appears to be a solo mission and breaks into Clifford’s home. While Barry only wants to know the truth about Clifford, Candice Patton told TVLine that Barry’s reckless behavior is “troubling for Iris.” The actress, who plays Iris, added, “I think she thinks, ‘Barry, you’ve got to take a step back, or you could end up in a lot of trouble. You can’t go after people like that. There are laws and rules.’”

“The Flash” Season 4, episode 7, titled “Therefore I Am,” airs tonight at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.