Wednesday, October 18, 2017

The Flash - Mixed Signals


If Iris (Candice Patton) ruins Barry's (Grant Gustin) new-found lighter outlook on life I may not forgive the character, or the show's writers. While relationship issues seep their way into both the main story involving Barry and Iris and the B-story involving Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Gypsy (Jessica Camacho), the threat of the week comes in the form of the meta-human Ramsey Deacon (Dominic Burgess), loosely based of the DC Comics' character Kilg%re. With a power to manipulate technology, the villain begins targeting his former associates who cut him out of the sale of lucrative technology he helped invent. Attempting murder by elevator, car, and insulin pump, the bad guy turns whatever tech he can find into a weapon - including Cisco's new upgrades to Barry's suit.

Even if "Mixed Signals" was only an excuse to go crazy with the Flash suit, it would still be a fun episode. I do like the improved design (but still would like little less gold pipping and the removal of those pointless ridges on his cowl), and I'll be curious to see how much of the tech remains in the suit going forward given the trouble it causes here. As for Kilg%re, it appears what could be a simple throwaway villain may play a larger role in the plans of the Thinker (Neil Sandilands). There's also the unanswered question of how Deacon, and others, got powers without being exposed to the particle accelerator.

Okay... on to the relationship madness. Cisco's date night with Gypsy getting cancelled for his help on the case plays as expected. Iris' behavior here , even if she has valid points (the tumoil of Barry's absence and return, Barry taking the lead without asking her opinion, and the shake-up of Team Flash), doesn't come off nearly as well given how she approaches the situation. It's great to finally have positive Barry back, and I really, really, really don't want to see Iris be the one to derail the positive vibes. Hopefully this will be just a minor hiccup as the pair seem on much more solid ground as the episode comes to a close.



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