FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 4×01 “The Flash Reborn”

Directed by:       Glen
Winter

*blows dust of keyboard*

Okay!

We’re back at it! The Flash season four, let’s get it started.

After recapping last season, we get an Iris West monologue where
she catches us up on what’s happened in the six months since Barry’s mother
came and said “You’ve played with your friends long enough, time to go home.”

In short, it’s been a mixed bag with Team Flash Vibe
Kid Flash Work in Progress.  Yeah
they caught Peek-a-boo but it was clear that they’re having more trouble than
they should.  On the bright side, Iris
has clearly settled into her role as the team’s leader in Barry’s absence but
Iris is about to learn what we learned with Barry.  Team no-Flash is built on three things:
Coffee, Quips and Insubordination! But we’ll get to that later, first up she
has dinner with Joe and Cecile.  Cecile
is in the process of moving in and her big mission is to get some space for her
stuff but that’s going to be hard considering it’s Joe’s house.

Joe explains that Singh is pressing for a new forensics team
since Julian went back home and Barry “went on sabbatical” and she ends up
agreeing with Singh that Barry should be replace.  When he presses Iris explains that she’s
barely holding herself together but she promised Barry she would, Joe offers
the idea of having a funeral to put the memory of Barry to rest but while Iris
is trying to move on she balks at going that far then heads home. 

But before she can do much brooding she’s jarred into the action
by the appearance of a Samurai with a jetpack! 
A samurai with a jetpack!   

Wally and Cisco arrive on the scene and we
learn that what Wally’s been doing in the off-season when he busts out the Japanese
to ask the samurai why he’s here.  But it’s
okay Cisco, on the bright side our samurai speaks English.  Unfortunately, he’s unimpressed by Wally’s linguistics
and calls out the Flash and just so it’s clear he’s not messing around he uses
his swords to put out an energy blast.

Back at STAR Labs, the team tries to figure out what they can do
because the guy called out the Flash so that means they need the Flash who’s
not exactly around.  Also, even if he
came back there’s a chance the Speed Force would come apart and wipe out the
city.  Welp! This is quite the pickle.

But Cisco has a plan he’s been working on since Barry left and
now seems like as good a time as any to bring our boy home.  Iris is pretty pissed that Cisco hid the plan
from them and comes up with a lot of questions like, what if the Speed Force takes
Wally in Barry’s place or if Barry is even still alive?

Iris, being the strong leader she is, says no and that’s that.
Right?

I hate to break it to her but Cecile provided coffee earlier,
the quips have been flying since the samurai showed up that means it’s time for
the third pillar of Team Flash: Insubordination.

What better place to start some insubordination than a dive
bar?  Especially if Caitlin’s behind the
bar!  She’s even got a new wardrobe,
tight jeans and a tank top the classic “I’m bad but too bad” look for girls on
the CW.  Cisco needs her help bringing
Barry back and she’s happy to help.

When Iris arrives at the Lab the next morning she finds it
rather devoid of life so she tracks the van to the testing grounds outside of
town from season one.  Cisco and Caitlin
have whipped up some tech to use with the Speed Force Bazooka from last season
that they can use to bring Barry back. 
There’s a big light show but nothing seems to happen, beyond pissing
Iris off.

There, at least, somewhere else in Central City a big old whole
opens up from the Speed Force and out pops a speedster… Now I know what we all
must be thinking after three seasons but since the producers promised this year’s
villain wouldn’t be another speedster it must be Barry.  He races way out of town and is found by some
farmers.

Also since he’s been gone for six months TV rules dictate he
must have a beard AND since he came from a higher plain of existence and this
is a scifi TV show, Stargate SG-1 rules dictate he must be naked.

The cops pick him up three hundred miles away and got him back
to Central City PD, Cecile found out and called the gang in but there’s a big
problem.  See we’re following the rules,
we’ve had the Oliver Queen come back with a beard rule:

The Daniel Jackson naked rule, now it’s time for the Starbuck
rule…

Not that Starbuck,
this one!

According to the Starbuck rule, when a character comes back from
a higher plain of existence they have all sorts of weird knowledge that they
aren’t able to impart.  Usually they come
off a little crazy, but Barry’s decided to go full insanity here.  He’s writing weird symbols on the wall, he’s
saying things that don’t make any sense he only seems to kind of recognize
them.  Fortunately, like Doctor McCoy,
Caitlin always carries a needle full of night-night juice.

So they take him back to STAR Labs to start treating Barry and
go over the possibilities.  Caitlin
theorizes that Barry’s either shaken up after his experience and he’ll recover
or since there is no linear time in the Speed Force he’s been gone too long and
he’s crazy forever.  Cisco also thinks
there’s a language behind the symbols Barry’s writing and he’ll need time to
decipher them.

So while he starts a decryption program they try to wake Barry
up, it seems to work but Barry’s still out of it.  Iris tries to talk to him alone but while it’s
clear that she’s important to him even if he can’t express it, he’s not really
understanding what’s happening around him but when she touches him, he loses
control of his powers and nearly wrecks the lab before Caitlin can shut him
down with Captain Cold’s cold gun.

So what better time than now for the samurai to show back
up? 

So now it’s time for the first session of Good News/ Bad News!
for Season Four!

Good News! Wally tries to trick him by wearing Barry’s suit. Bad
News! The samurai sees through it and stabs Wally in the leg for the
trouble. 

Good News!
Wally will recover! Bad News! Not in time.

Good News!
Cisco’s translation project had a hit! 
Bad News! The translation was “This house is bitchin’” Well all this
really means is Good News!/Bad News! Is still the worst game ever.

So, everyone’s
a little shaken up and it’s time to start digging out of the emotional
hole.  Cisco and Caitlin try to talk each
other out of their bad place while Joe gives Barry a shave and talks to Iris
about the importance of having faith. 
But before he and Iris can finish their talk Cisco calls him away to
deal with the Samurai.  Which is
unfortunate for Joe because Iris goes full Lois Lane! 

She offers
herself up as a hostage because she knows Barry will save her.

Joe goes
back to the Lab and tells the gang what happened before he tells Barry.  Barry doesn’t seem to understand until he
says the magic words; “Iris is gonna die!” 

So like I
said, we’re following the rules and here’s the rule for the full Lois
Lane.  Lois puts herself in harm’s way,
Superman drops everything to save her. 
 

Barry suddenly finds focus and races out of the lab to save her.  The samurai takes her to a wind farm outside
of town and we get a pretty cool chase through the turbines before Barry takes
the samurai out and we learn he was some sort of remote controlled robot.

But what’s
really important is Barry is back! 

How about one
more round of Good News!/Bad News! Good News! Barry’s in better health than
ever, he’s faster than ever and he’s feeling reborn!

Bad News! He
has no idea what’s been going on or what he’s been writing.

But Good
News! The whole team is back together, including Caitlin.  She even quits her job at the bar!

Unfortunately,
Bad News!  She uses her Killer Frost
powers and it seems her powers aren’t under control, she just has a Jekyll and
Hyde thing going on now.

God this
game is as cruel as it is addictive.

Barry and
Iris go home and Barry establishes that he feels like his time in the Speed
Force has helped him deal with all the pain of the last few seasons and he’s
going to help her too.

Meanwhile,
across town the controller of the samurai robot has built another one and when
she talks to her boss we get our villain reveal.  Meet, The Thinker!

As Cisco
says this week, we’re back!  And with a
pretty solid episode to boot.  You could
almost call this the pilot for Flash 2.0. 
Everything from the Title to the plot seem tells us this will be a new
beginning which is welcome since last season felt like they were spinning their
wheels a bit.

Barry’s
closer to his comic counterpart than ever before and that means that everyone
else has to adjust their dynamic with them. 
I like where everyone is now, so hopefully they’ll do a better job of
keeping everyone feeling relevant because it seemed that one or more characters
were always getting lost in the shuffle.

Sure Barry’s
return was a bit paint by numbers but you know what? There’s really only so
many ways you can bring a character back from the dead and it sets up a good
mystery going forward.  Did Barry come
back with specific knowledge that he must unlock or is this a more general
knowledge or what is to come?  Also,
while the things he was saying might seem like gibberish, it’s most likely that
they’re things that are simply out of context and it won’t be until Barry says
something in context that they’ll figure that out.

My guess is
Joe and Cecile will move into a new house together and someone will say: “This
house is bitchin’” and they’ll revisit Barry’s writings then.

All said and
done, this is a good start and gives us plenty to work with.  Maybe even a few memes for the fun of it.

Three Things We
Learned This Week: