THE FLASH Recap (S04E02) Mixed Signals

Noetta Harjo

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The Flash is back! And he is wasting no time jumping right back into the action.  What can you expect from Team Flash? How about a lot of miscommunication amongst the couples?  Well, not all of them, but definitely Barry and Iris.  I mean…I’m sure Iris is glad to have Barry back, but he has six months to make up with her.  Not to mention…Iris has a bigger role in Team Flash.  

Soooo…let’s get started…

RELATED: Recap THE FLASH Season Four Premiere, “Flash Reborn”

At the end of the season premiere we met The Thinker and his assistant, The Mechanic. They created the Samuroid to threaten Central City. He demanded that The Flash face him or he would destroy the city.  Team Flash went behind Iris’ back and did exactly what the Samauroid wanted.  So Barry is back…but the question is, what is the Thinker up to?

Mixed Signals

A man gets on an elevator that malfunctions.  The last thing he sees on the electronic display is the word ‘Kilgore.’ The elevator goes up and down between like 5 or 6 floors and then drops several stories.  The elevator opens and a elderly woman screams at what’s inside. A man in a hoodie (Dominic Burgess) watches.  His eyes have a pinkish purple square pupils.  

The next morning, Barry (Grant Gustin) gets up really early…does his best Tom Cruise/Risky Business impression, makes breakfast, catches up on Game of Thrones, does some wedding planning….Oh Barry.  It’s his first day back at CCPD and he’s in a really good mood!  Until he sees the man in the elevator.  

Cisco (Carlos Valdes) meets Barry and Joe (Jesse L. Martin) at the crime scene. He’s the new tech consultant for the CCPD.  Cisco says the elevator system has been hacked.  He downloads the code and takes it back to STAR labs for analysis.

While the computer works on decrypting the code from the elevator glitch, Cisco shows Barry some of the amazing new features of his suit.  Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) is jealous…but he has a cute new haircut, so he should be okay.

Barry is literally bouncing off the walls and taking back control of Team Flash.  Iris (Candice Patton)reminds him that he has a training scheduled for that night. He says he cancelled it and runs away.  Iris is looking a little annoyed.

Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) watches them and says it must be great having him back.  BUT…after being apart for so long, it can be hard to readjust to being a couple…like her and Ronnie.  Maybe they should to to couple counseling. Iris says she isn’t worried. 

Red Alert…unauthorized breach!  Iris grabs a gun and races off.  She yells for Caitlin to help her, but Caitlin is busy trying NOT to turn into Killer Frost.  Wally meets them and is ready to whatever is coming through the breach. It’s only Gypsy (Jessica Camacho)…here for a date with Cisco!  Cisco says he’s a little busy, but he will make it up to her. Gypsy says Cisco is lucky that he’s so cute! (awwwww)

Red Alert…for real this time. The hoodie guy from the elevator accident has targeted a new victim in a sports car.  The word ‘Kilgore’ appears on the guy’s phone before he takes off at high speeds.  

Barry says he will go alone…but Wally really wants to help!  Iris is trying to lead Barry and the car to safety.  He doesn’t listen and sends the car towards road construction.  Barry literally tears the car apart to stop it, saving the driver and the construction workers. They take the car parts back to the lab.  Cisco discovers the car has the same hacker code that he found in the elevator.  Caitlin says the code is a virus…but not a computer virus.  It’s a meta virus. The hacker is a meta.  

Cisco recognizes the last names of the victims, Tim Kwon (Donald Heng) and Kurt Weaver (Ryan McDonell). He saw them in a computer magazine.  Wally laughs because Cisco collects computer magazines.

Iris pulls Barry aside to tell him that it’s important that they communicate.  She wants to go to couples therapy. She assures him that nothing is wrong, but they need to do a tune up to keep running smoothly.  Barry agrees, which is good because Iris already made them an appointment.

They go to the therapist and it’s obvious that Barry is uncomfortable…he’s rambling.  Iris talks a little about their past. Barry doesn’t like that the doctor keeps writing stuff down.  They mention that a lot of people have died since they’ve been together.  The doctor asks Barry why they are there. He says because he’s been gone and he just started working with Iris. Iris says they could work on listening to avoid anyone getting hurt.

Cisco finds the picture of the victims, Kurt and Tim.  They were part of a foursome, but only three of the four is named…Sheila is the third.  

Joe bumps into the guy in the hoodie, not knowing he’s the hacker.  Joe is talking to Tim about who might want to hurt him. Tim has no clue.  A battle bot rolls through CCPD with a grenade right into Joe’s office.  Joe sends a distress signal.  Barry gets it and rushes out of the doctor’s office and straight to CCPD.  He gets there just in time to dispose of the grenade, saving Joe and Tim.

Cisco finds the same hacker code in the battle bot. Kurt, Tim, and Sheila Agnani (Aliza Vellani) were a part of a tech startup team…Joe recognizes the hacker in the picture, but no name.   Sheila is next.  Wally and Joe are on the case.

Cisco and Caitlin try to figure out the code.  Its biodigital…the guy is a living computer virus.  Gypsy comes  as soon as they talk about how to stop the hacker.  Cisco tells Gypsy he has to cancel their date.  She says it’s fine and leaves.  Cisco thinks Gyspy is so cool for being okay with canceling. Caitlin tells him, he’s in a lot of trouble.

Iris and Barry go back to counseling. The therapist can see that Barry doesn’t want to be there.  Barry says he has a work thing that’s important.  Iris says counseling is important too.  Iris finally opens up about everything that has been bothering her…Barry canceled his training…he made a bunch of wedding plans without consulting her.  

Barry doesn’t think he has done anything that could cause major distress between him and Iris.  He recognizes that they need to work on a few things…then BAM!  Iris finally says what’s really bother her…how could Barry leave her like that!  Seriously!  I wanna know too!

Sheila is playing video games when Wally puts a listening device in her house.  Tim arrives to warn Sheila that Deacon is out for revenge for what they did to him.  Deacon arrives and blocks out the listening device. He says Kilgore was his idea.  They stole it from him and now they must pay!  Deacon turns up Sheila’s insulin pump, causing her to go in shock. Wally and Joe hear her breathing crazy and rush in. Wally injects glucose into her and she stabilizes.  She tells them that Deacon took Tim.

At the lab, Caitlin is looking for traces of Deacon and Tim.  Barry and Iris arrive and are obviously not in a good place.  Cisco is going crazy about why Gypsy is mad at him. And Joe is befuddled by all of them. Caitlin tries to talk to Cisco, but he’s not listening to her.  He says he can’t focus on science because he’s worried about Gypsy…which is exactly what Caitlin said to him.  

Gypsy appears and they talk.  She’s mad because it’s 111 day…kind of like Valentine’s Day.  Gypsy was embarrassed about 111 day because it’s so mushy.  Cisco tells her that she is important to him so…111…it clicks…Cisco runs away again…he’s in bigger trouble now.

Barry and Iris talk again. Iris is happy that Barry is back, but she had to lie about why he was gone.  Barry says he didn’t want to leave.  It killed him to go.  He says he was afraid that she would tell him to stay.  He says the weight of the city falls on his shoulders because he’s The Flash. Iris says when she put the ring on her finger, they…Iris and Barry…became The Flash.

Cisco calls them. They have a live stream of Tim admitting that he, Kurt, and Sheila stole Kilgore malware software from Deacon and sold it for billions.  

Cisco is able to track his location.  Barry and Wally are both going to stop Kilgore.  Cisco gives them a serum that will stop Deacon.  CISCO AND CAITLIN SCIENCE EXPLANATION…something about replacing 1’s with zeros…I don’t know…the guy is a living computer…he probably has a binary code and they have to hack him…right?

Deacon finishes recording Tim’s confession.  He puts the camera down, ready to kill Tim.  Deacon activates a device that will stretch Tim.  Flash saves Tim.  Deacon smells the technology in the Flash’s suit.  Ooops! Cisco!

Kilgore knocks out Kid Flash with a blast from the suit and starts to play with The Flash like a puppeteer. He makes Flash do tricks and cuts communication with Team Flash.  

Tim runs away, breaking Kilgore’s hold on Flash.  Flash is able to get away and make a phone call to STAR labs.  A lot the features are activated, including the self destruct.  He can’t get the suit off because it is locked. Iris tells him to throw a lighting bolt at himself to disable the suit’s upgrades. Barry runs in a circle, throws the bolt and runs to get in front of it.  It works!  Barry is alive and in full control of the suit again.

Kilgore finds Tim.  He shoots at him but the bullet is stopped. The Flash saves Tim…again and injects Kilgore with Cisco and Caitlin’s binary inoculant.

Gypsy is all dressed up for her date with Cisco.  He has set up a dinner at the lab.  They make fun of each other’s holidays…Shaquille O’Neal Day?  Really?

Barry visits Kilgore in jail. They put him under  three layers of signal dampening walls.  Barry asks how he got his powers.  Kilgore is not from Central City and was not in town the night of Wells’ particle accelerator explosion.  Kilgore says it was awesome and he wasn’t the only one who was affected. He wishes them luck saying they will have their hands full soon. Barry says they will figure out how he got his powers and they will find who all were affected. Warden Wolfe (Richard Brooks) looks in on Kilgore and smiles…menacingly.

The Mechanic (Kim Engelbrecht) visits The Thinker (Neil Sandilands).  He’s playing the piano and says he’s played 600 songs.  She shows him a video of Kilgore.  The Thinker wants to find the others…looks like there are 12.

Thoughts…

Barry was a little too extra for me.  I’m happy he’s back, don’t get me wrong.  Like Iris, he was just too eager to take on so much.  I like the upbeat, lighter Barry Allen, but…it’s like he’s trying too hard to be happy…

Looks like he’s also getting on Wally’s nerves as well.  Can you blame him?  Now that The Flash is back and better than ever, Wally is sidelined.  He fought so hard for a place on the team and now he’s kind of being forgotten again.  Do they really need two speedsters?

How cute was Gypsy and Cisco in their first fight as a couple?  Clearly this episode was about communication.  It’s not always good to blurt out what’s on your mind… but it’s not good to keep your feelings bottled up either. Basically, the women need to know when to open up and the guys need to know when to listen.  We’ll see how long that lasts. Ha!

So, we are expecting 12 villains to show up in Central City.  The Thinker is interested in them all.  Clearly it will be a true test for the new and improved Flash.  Maybe he should let Wally handle some of them.

And! There were so many nerdtastic references! I freaking love when Cisco and Caitlin get together!

Noetta Harjo
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