The Flash – Mixed Signals

By: Stacy Miller

The episode begins with a realtor (Jovanna Burke) showing a guy named Kurt Weaver (Ryan McDonell) the most lavish apartment in Central City. When Weaver rides down on the elevator, it goes high wire seeming to have a mind of its own.  We see a man watch the scene from a distant and flash (no pun intended) a strange light in his eyes.

Barry (Grant Gustin) is dancing and lip-singing while making breakfast.  Iris (Candice Patton) comments that Barry is up early and asks what he is doing.  Barry tells her that he is catching up on all the shows he missed while he was in stuck in The Speed Force. “When you’ve been gone six months, the world is a minefield of spoilers,” Barry says.  But, fortunately, he has a super speed up version of his favorite shows.  Television watching will have to watch when Barry gets called into work by Joe.  Iris tells Barry that she’ll be busy working on wedding plans as she’s behind.  But Barry tells her that he already took care of all the details.

At the crime scene, Barry thanks Captain Singh (Patrick Sabongui) for granting him a six-month sabbatical and then he, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Singh take a look at the elevator that dropped the victim Kurt Weaver a hundred stories according to the forensic evidence, which indicates that Weaver (who was worth billions) was shaken around before dying from the impact of the elevator drop.  Cisco (Carlos Valdes) arrives at the crime scene since he is their “weird technical expert” according to Joe. Cisco plugs in his equipment and indeed finds something weird. “It’s encrypted code.  This wasn’t a glitch, it was a hacker,” Cisco tells Joe, Barry and Captain Singh.

Back at Star Labs, Cisco uses his computer technology to help encrypt the hacker’s encrypted code.  But while they wait, he tells Iris, Barry and Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) that he has a little surprise.  He directs them to Barry’s Flash suit. It seems that Cisco has provided it with an upgrade. “I’ve built a self-repairing armor, nano liquid circuitry, full spectrum scanning and a whole bunch of other big words. Chief among them, your very own custom made hood,” Cisco says, explaining that Barry’s new suit basically has its own brain and Cisco also wrote Barry an instruction manual.  Iris admits to Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) that it’s going to take some getting used to the new dynamic around Star Labs.  Caitlin tells Iris that when she (Caitlin) and Ronnie (Robbie Amell) went from working together to dating and things changed so they went to couples therapy.  Iris reminds that it’s different for them (she and Barry) because they’ve known each other all their lives. “We’re Barry and Iris.”  Their conversation is interrupted by a breach.  As she is feeling Killer Frost emerging, Caitlin repeats to herself “Please don’t change, please don’t change.” She’s able to control becoming Killer Frost.  Then with guns in hand, Iris and Caitlin go to the where the breach is coming from.  They are joined by Wally.  But Cisco rushes in warning, “Hold your fire.” Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) jumps from the breach.  He reminds Gypsy that she needs to give a little warning before coming as Team Flash is ready to kill anything that comes through. After Iris, Wally and Caitlin leave the room, Cisco tells Gypsy that he’ll be a little delayed for their date as he’s having trouble cracking an encryption code for Central City PD. And by a little delayed Cisco means an hour or two. Gypsy is a very understanding girlfriend and adds that Cisco’s lucky he’s cute.

Meanwhile, a man is driving down the freeway listening to his car radio when the station keeps changing to heavy metal music.  He catches a glimpse of the guy who was present at the scenes of the elevator victim. Suddenly, the car speeds to 120mph.  At Star Labs, Iris is alerted to the fast-moving car that will endanger other drivers if it continues to go so fast.  Barry’s got this; telling Wally that he doesn’t need Kid Flash’s help.  Barry tells Iris in the com link that the driver appears to be trapped in the vehicle so he’ll need to divert his direction.  Iris gives Barry a location of where to turn the car, but Barry decides to make the car go down another street.  Unfortunately, construction on the previously deserted street started three months ago.  Realizing his mistake, Barry is fortunately able to super speed and dismantle the vehicle with a wrench he grabbed from a mechanic.

Back at Star Labs Barry is glad he saved the driver, Tim Kwon (Donald Heng), but sorry he can say the same for the dream machine. Cisco says that the same code found at the elevator crime was also at the scene of Kwon’s accident. So, it looks like they are dealing with the same computer hacker, but Cisco has still been unable to crack the code.  Caitlin realizes that the code is a computer virus. She takes Cisco’s place at the Star Labs computer and begins working on cracking the code. “It looks like an organic virus,” Caitlin tells the group. “With a digital subbase. Our killer isn’t just attacking computers, he’s controlling them,” Cisco adds. Team Flash realize that their hacker isn’t just a hacker, he’s also a Metahuman. The names of the victims Kurt Weaver and Tim Kwon sound familiar to Cisco from the tech magazines he started collecting in high school. Wally finds it amusing that these are the kinds of magazines that Cisco collected in high school. Iris suggests that Cisco start digging then pulls Barry aside.  She tells him that Caitlin mentioned couples therapy and thinks it would be beneficial.  It’s a good thing that Barry is opened to the suggestion, because Iris made an appointment for them in thirty minutes.

At the office of Dr. Sharon Finkel (Donna Pescow), the therapist, learns that both Barry’s parents are dead as well as Eddie (Rick Cosnett), the man Iris was to marry. Dr. Finkel comments that Iris and Barry have dealt with a lot of loss in their lives. Then, she asks why they felt going to couples therapy was a good idea. Iris says that it is important for them to make sure that one of them is not reckless and crashes a car going 120mph into a wall as someone could get hurt. Metaphorically, Barry adds.

Back at Star Labs, Cisco hits pay dirt when going through his old tech magazines as he finds an article about the 2014 Quasar Awards. There’s a photograph of Kurt Weaver, Tim Kwon, Sheila Agnani (Aliza Vellani) and another guy they can’t identify.

Meanwhile, the guy Team Flash can’t identify is Ramsey Deacon (Dominic Burgess), otherwise known as Kilgore, their Meta. Deacon bumps into Joe outside the Bomb Armory Room at Central City PD.  While Joe is questioning Tim Kwon, a grenade launcher on wheels approaches West’s office. Joe sends a 911 text to Barry, who shows the message to Iris as he announces that he has to go. Dr. Finkel writes that Barry left in her notes. Barry arrives just in time to catch the pieces of the exploded grenade and tosses them in the trash basket. “Everybody okay?” Barry asks.  “Must have been a dud,” Joe answers for Kwon’s benefit as he knows that The Flash saved their lives.

Team Flash realize that Ramsey Deacon is going after his old partners because Kwon and Weaver created an app called Kilgore in their garage and sold it to a tech company.  Sheila Agnani may be the next target on their list so they’ll have to protect her. Iris tells Barry that she told Dr. Finkel that Barry had a work emergency and that was why he had to leave, but as Dr. Finkel had a cancellation in a half hour Iris rescheduled their appointment.

When Cisco tells Gypsy he has to cancel their date, she says she understands and leaves. But Caitlin tells a dense Cisco that when a girl says she understands, what it really means is that she doesn’t understand. Iris reminds Barry that he isn’t only The Flash. Once she put on his ring and agreed to marry him, they both became The Flash as they are partners. At the couples therapy, Iris reveals her feelings of anger for Barry leaving her alone (by willing going into The Speed Force).

Tim Kwon comes to Sheila Agnani’s house to warn her that Ramsey killed Kurt and is coming for them next. It’s too late as Ramsey Deacon enters and reminds that they stole his Kilgore idea and now they will pay. He uses his Meta ability to control Sheila’s computerized insulin to put her in insulin shock. Fortunately, Joe and Wally planted listening devices in Sheila’s apartment and Wally is able to save her life with a shot of glucose.  But Ramsey Deacon has taken Tim Kwon.

Gypsy tells Cisco that the reason she wanted to go on a date with him today is because it’s One One One Day, a day on her Earth where two souls become one yet Cisco ruined it by cancelling. Gypsy has given Cisco an idea on how to stop Ramsey Deacon.  Meanwhile, Deacon has Tim Kwon live stream a confession that he (Kwon) and Sheila stole and sold the Kilgore idea. Ramsey Deacon plans to pull Tim Kwon apart, but The Flash’s arrival saves Tim. But as Barry’s new suit is full of technology, Ramsey Deacon is able to turn it against him.  He even breaks off Allen’s communication with Cisco so Barry has to use a payphone to speak with Iris, Cisco and Caitlin. When Barry’s suit self-destruct system is initiated, Iris suggests Barry throwing a lightning bolt at himself to short circuit the suit. Although this move could speed up the self-destruct protocol or cause him to have a heart attack, Barry trusts Iris. “Run Barry, run,” Iris urges.  He does so and is able to stop the effects of the suit in time to save Tim Kwon’s life by catching the bullet when Ramsey Deacon gets tired of technology and pulls out a gun and shoots Kwon. And Wally speeds by and injects Ramsey Deacon with the power reversing antidote Cisco and Caitlin created.

Ramsey Deacon is locked up in the Metahuman wing of Iron Heights in a cell that dampens technology.  He tells Joe and Barry that he didn’t get his Meta powers from Wells’ particle accelerator but from something that happened in Silicon Valley. And he isn’t the only one so Central City better beware.

As the episode ends, The Thinker (Neil Sandilands) orders his assistant to find the others.