Now that the Flash is back from his time trapped in the Speed Force, it’s back to business as usual. Unfortunately, that business involves fighting metahumans and trying to save the city. Since Barry’s been gone for six months, there is still some adjusting to do. It turns out his return hasn’t exactly been a smooth transaction for everyone.
While Barry tries to sort things out, he has a new villain to deal with, as well as…a therapist.
There will be some spoilers for The Flash Season 4, Episode 2: “Mixed Signals,” below.
There’s A New Metahuman, And Kilg%re Is His Name
Barry and Joe get called into a case after a rich business guy is killed by an elevator. How was he killed? A metahuman, going by the name Kilg%re, managed to hack into the elevator’s computer system and caused the elevator to kill the guy.
It turns out the guy is targeting three former colleagues he claims stole his idea. They became rich, and he simply wants revenge. Team Flash is able to save the others which leads Barry having to fight his own suit. Cisco installed several gadgets and upgrades into the Flash suit, and Kilg%re took advantage of this. After a suggestion from Iris, Barry overcomes the threat of the suit and injects Kilg%re with digital antibodies Cisco and Caitlin created in order to subdue him.
Barry and Iris
Barry is making up for lost time. While doing a rendition of “Old Time Rock & Roll” (from Risky Business), making a huge breakfast, and catching up on a high speed supercut of all the shows he missed, Barry also had time to make all the wedding plans so Iris could relax. While Barry is saving one of Kilg%re’s targets in a hacked runaway car, he almost causes a fatality by not listening to Iris’ advice on where to direct the vehicle. Iris finally takes Caitlin’s advice and arranges couples therapy since they are now working and living together.
The therapy session goes as awkwardly as you would expect. The truth finally comes out when Iris expresses her feelings about Barry leaving her. He made the decision to leave and trap himself in the Speed Force with barely saying goodbye. She had to lie to everyone in order to explain his disappearance while trying to deal with the fact he might never return. He explains it was because he didn’t have a choice since he’s the Flash and talking to her might change his mind. Iris tells him, he’s not the Flash, “they” are.
Cisco and Gypsy: 1+1=1
There’s an unauthorized breach at STAR Labs (and Caitlin needs to fight the urge to transform into Killer Frost). The intruder turns out to be Gypsy, who is there for a date night with Cisco. Because he’s in the middle of trying to figure out how stop Kilg%re, he asks her to give him an hour. Gypsy realizes their date isn’t going to happen after time passes, and Cisco is still immersed in work. She tells him it’s fine and leaves. They’ll go out some other time.
Caitlin explains to Cisco that it’s not okay. Gypsy is very upset. Cisco later finds out it was 1-1-1 day on her Earth–a day where one soul plus one soul equals one soul. She really cares about him and wanted their date to be on that day. She’s embarrassed and says it was a mistake.
Cisco later makes it up to her.
More Trouble Is Coming To Central City
The mysterious figure seen last episode has been credited as The Thinker. He seems to have connections to Barry’s bizarre-symbol writing when he emerged from the Speed Force (as seen by the marking on his face) as well as Caitlin’s “boss” at the bar (the thug had symbols tattooed on his knuckles).
When Kilg%re is locked up in the metahuman section of Iron Heights, Barry and Joe try to find out how he gained his powers if he wasn’t in Central City when the particle accelerator went off. Kilg%re doesn’t explain and only says it was a life changing moment and that he wasn’t the only one.
The Thinker is informed by his assistant that Kilg%re is locked up and is pleased. He says he’s right where he wants him. Now it’s time to locate the others, and a computer screen suggests there are 11 more. Is the Thinker responsible for these new metahumans?
If this wasn’t enough, the warden at Iron Heights is Warden Wolfe. This is Gregory Wolfe, a character from the comics who hates his inmates. With the way he looks at Kilg%re when he’s locked up, you know there’s going to be trouble with him.
Thoughts
This week’s episode has a sort of odd feeling. We’re continuing to see a more lighthearted approach for the episodes compared to last season. Barry doing a Tom Cruise impression was clearly meant to add humor. The same goes for the awkwardness of Barry and Iris’ couples therapy session. Any time Cisco can take the spotlight, he also adds to the hilarity. Despite the levity, we had a guy killed in an elevator who Cisco basically described his body as looking like Sriracha sauce.
It’s great to see Iris take on a bigger role in Team Flash, even though it’s a little odd how she gained that role. Perhaps I missed something. She’s been issuing orders to the others despite being part of the “team” for the shortest amount of time. She’s the one that figured out how to stop Barry’s suit despite Cisco and Caitlin being at a loss for answers. She’s trying to take on more of a leader-type role, but also expressed being upset with Barry deciding to sacrifice himself without saying goodbye to her. Of course, this shows that she is human. She’s not meant to be a robot that can simply turn off emotions in order to fulfill a job duty. Regardless, I couldn’t help but cringe a little over the “You’re not the Flash, we are” line.
We also have a storm brewing with the Thinker and whatever plan he’s cooking up. It seemed he wanted Barry’s return yet it’s possible he’s responsible for Kilg%re and the 11 others gaining their metahuman abilities. It’s not clear what exactly he’s up. He could be trying to put the Flash through a series of tests in order to determine if he’s worthy to face him, in the end.
With this, it’s a great twist to have metahumans exist that didn’t gain their abilities the night the particle accelerator blew up. If this was the case for every single metahuman, you’d have to wonder where any “new” characters have been in the past four years. This opens up the door for other characters to be introduced without having to depend on a single origin.
Kilg%re may not have been the fiercest villain to be introduced, but it’s good to see a new foe as well as the new developments seen with Barry and Iris as well as with Cisco and Gypsy.
Let me know what you thought of the episode.
What the Heck is going on?!? 