The Trial of The Flash Verdict Revealed

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "The Trial of The Flash," tonight's episode of The Flash.

While "The Trial of The Flash" may have gone on for literally years when it took over the final pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths issues of the title hero's comic book series in the '80s, tonight's episode of The Flash, which shared the storyline's titles, lasted just over 40 minutes.

By the end of this week's hour of television, the foregone conclusion had been reached, and Barry Allen had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

As an added dramatic flourish, he was placed in the same cell where his father, also wrongly convicted of murder, had been incarcerated for years.

The midseason finale ended in December with Clifford Devoe (The Thinker) having traded in his own body for that of another metahuman, and faking his murder at the hands of Barry. The police stormed Barry's apartment, where the off-duty superhero was standing over DeVoe's body holding a knife.

In spite of character witnesses and some private eye-ing from Elongated Man Ralph Dibny, Barry's defense was hardly present as even he seemed resigned to the fact that he would be wrongly convicted by the episode's end.

The only coherent defense strategy that Cecile had devised was for Barry to out himself as The Flash, allowing him to properly explain all of the confusing actions and events that made him look guilty. Unfortunately for the city, Barry was unwilling to do that as he felt that going public with his identity would put his friends and family at risk. Instead, he will sit in prison until such time as Team Flash can figure out a way to prove his innocence (and ideally find a way to punish DeVoe for the murder of the man trapped in DeVoe's body).

In the meantime, look forward to next week's "The Elongated Knight Rises," in which Dibny will step up to take point with Team Flash, hoping to fill the void left behind by Barry's most recent setback.

The Flash airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.