FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 7×10- “Family Matter Part 1”

The Flash (7×10)- “Family Matters Part 1″

Written by: Lauren Barnett & Emily Palizzi

Directed by: Philip Chipera

Back at it and Nora and Deon are still posturing but Nora decides to change tactics. She refers to Deon and little brother and appeals to the connection between them from the moment the forces were born and since this is the CW their shared Daddy Issues from Barry rejecting them in an attempt to win him over however we don’t if she’s successful since she’s interrupted by the title card.

Then it’s over to STAR Labs where Barry and Iris are covering the same topic from a different angle with Alexa and it seems to be going about as well since she’s unconvinced. But that’s not important what is important is Barry’s going to train Alexa to control her powers.

Later Cisco finds Kamilla and it turns out she’s got a lead on a job in Miami, which causes Cisco to look like a guy that walked into class having forgot about the midterm. Guess Kamilla’s taking this “time to get the heck out of Dodge” idea more seriously than you, buddy!

Then it’s over to some mansion where a guy is practicing putting in his living room so we can guess he’s either this week’s villain or someone that screwed over this week’s villain. Psych arrives and puts the whammy on him so it’s the latter. On the bright side, Psych unmasks before he puts the whammy on him and the guy gives us Psych’s real name; Bashir. The next morning Barry, Iris and Joe are investigating the scene and we learn a couple more things. Four very rich people were all attacked by Psych that day and they were all connected by some college society they all were in.

Joe leaves to go back to the Police Station where he finds out that Kramer’s returned to Central City. It seems she’s not going to let a little set back like Constitutional Rights and principled governance stop her crusade to force Metas to give up their powers.

Ooo, so timely.

She’s got a brand new mandate from the Governor and Joe notices she’s requested a sniper rifle and ammunition. Something tells me that isn’t for Call of Duty Warzone Joe. Kramer’s decided if she can’t game the legal system into destroying civil rights she’ll track down the source of the City’s Meta problem and she’s going to start with a strange pattern of Meta-criminals like the Rainbow Raider from Season One disappearing from police custody. Or Patty Spivot…

And Julian Albert being unexpectedly being reassigned.

It’s funny all these people worked with Joe too but when she asks for comment Joe’s done playing ball so she wants to talk to Barry now. (This is going well don’t you think?)

Back at STAR Labs, it’s time to start Alexa’s training. She doesn’t seem to be too excited to turn into a giant legally distinct version of She-Hulk (who would be?) So that’s going well too.

Across town, Iris and team Journalism track down one of Psych’s remaining college buddies and try to ask her about him but since she’s their next to last lead on Psych’s plan he shows up to attack the woman. She seems very unimpressed with all of them so Psych puts the whammy on her before Barry arrives to try and stop him but Psych now has energy tentacles that he takes Barry down with.

Things are going from bad to worse as Caitlin checks Barry out in the medical lab because Barry’s ace in the hole, Alexa, is not into his plan of her using her powers to help fight Psych, to say nothing of his ultimate plan of her helping him defeat Nora. Barry manages to convince her to try again but I’m guessing Caitlin’s not on board either.

Over at the Newspaper, Iris has dug up Bashir’s history. Unfortunately, he’s not the dart-throwing-genetically-augmented Chief Physician of a Deep Space Outpost:

But rather the orphaned son of pair of tax evading hotel owners that died fleeing the law and left Bashir holding the bag. Meanwhile, Kamilla has managed to track down Bashir’s last frenemy as he’s trying to get the hell out of town before he joins his friends in the coma ward.

Over at the Police Station, Joe is checking into Kramer’s weapons acquisitions and finds she’s stocking up not just on guns but on cure-carrying bullets and this is getting a little cluttered so it’s time for a little bit of “Good News/Bad News” or in this case “BAD NEWS/GOOD NEWS”

BAD NEWS! Kramer’s been authorized by the governor to militarize the CCPD against the Meta threat.

GOOD NEWS! Joe’s going to fight her on this.

Over at STAR Labs it’s GOOD NEWS! Alexa’s agreed to try to transform and their attempt worked but…

BAD NEWS! She does transform but loses control and escapes containment injuring Cisco in the process however…

GOOD NEWS! Cisco’s going to recover and while it seems the game of GN/BN is actually going our way I’m a big old cheater so…

BAD NEWS! Caitlin and Alexa blame Barry for what happens and both read him the riot act. Caitlin even points out that Thawne was a more patient mentor than Barry’s being right now.

If GN/BN doesn’t beat us, I’ll just have to help it.

Over at Cecile’s office, Joe tries to get her help taking on Kramer but after the ass kicking she took in Frost’s trial she’s a little gun shy so she convinces Joe to rethink his plan.

Over at STAR Labs, Kamilla and Cisco are talking when she gets word that a gallery in Miami wants to interview her Cisco explains that he doesn’t know how to move on from Central City and STAR Labs. Am I the only one that finds it weird that Cisco’s talking about a job where he routinely comes up with new technology and makes Universe shattering scientific discoveries like he’s stuck on the night crew at Wendy’s?

Anyway…

Caitlin finds Alexa and tries to give her a pep talk and it’s just in time because the gang has tracked down Psych’s last friend and even better, so has Psych. Barry heads off to stop him from attacking his friends and Alexa offers to help and Iris has found out some things about Psych’s past to help talk him down. Barry tries to stop Psych but he whips out the tentacles and what’s the old joke?

But luckily for Barry’s virtue Alexa successfully controls her transformation into Fuerza and intimidates Psych into listening. Iris learned that Bashir’s friends (minus Naomi) were trying to find him to help him get back on his feet. Alexa reaches out to him as well and eventually Bashir agrees to give Team Flash a chance.

Things are a little rocky, what with the team arming up for Psych’s arrival and Psych answering posturing with posturing but after the rest of the team leave Barry and Iris with Bashir and Alexa they start to talk things over.

That even Kramer comes to talk with Joe in his office and he reveals that he can’t continue to work with Kramer if she’s going to ramp things up against meta-criminals so he’s tendered his resignation from the police force.

The next morning, Barry, Iris, Alexa and Bashir are recapping what they know just in time for Deon and Nora to show up. Deon stops time long enough for Nora to use her powers to attack everyone but Barry and leave and that’s how this week ends.

Kind of a tough nut to crack this week, a lot of things happened plot wise, things ramped up and characters are set up for new things I’m excited to see and at the same time it wasn’t a very good episode. The episode was kind of silly and low effort and the effects during the Fuerza vs Psych fight were just plain bad.

So what am I supposed to do here?

Well, we’ll talk about the good stuff first. Joe and Kramer’s plot was a little heavy handed a little early in the episode but I like the idea of Joe leaving the Force to try and shake the rest of the police force up and get them off the path Kramer’s about to take them down and the violence that is guaranteed to follow.

I get the feeling that this Speed Force plot line is wrapping up really soon (remember I don’t look at any of the announcements or spoilers unless they manage to show up on the timeline) so I assume Kramer will be the antagonist on the back half of the season and I think they’ve done a pretty good job of setting her up as such.

But the Speed Force/Nora storyline feels like it’s dangerously close to coming apart down the stretch and it all starts with the opening scene. Nora’s motivations thus far were pretty clear, she wanted to eliminate the other Forces and their avatars. Now, I don’t know what her goal is because she seemed to flip the switch to killing Barry and Iris. Maybe I’m off base but this is the impression I was given.

As for the Cisco storyline, it’s pretty clear now that they’re going to put him on the shelf by getting him a job at ARGUS which is probably a good idea in case they want to do something with the character and can get Carlos on board to do it but we have to revisit the question I asked earlier.

“Am I the only one that finds it weird that Cisco’s talking about a job where he routinely comes up with new technology and makes Universe shattering scientific discoveries like he’s stuck on the night crew at Wendy’s?”

Carlos wants to leave so you want to write him off without killing him. Cool, good plan. The story they’re writing him off with is just a bit clunky.

Which was pretty much the story of the episode, there’s good stuff going on but the whole was less that sum of the parts. Which happens so I guess that’s how we’ll wrap things up.

Things We Learned:

Nora has enlisted Deon’s help in her fight with Barry and Iris.
Kramer is currently militarizing the CCPD which has force Joe to resign his position.
Cisco has been contacted by ARGUS, probably about his job.
Barry and Iris have brought Alexa and Bashir, the Strength and Sage force avatars into the fold.
Nora and Deon attack the Team and have done something to Iris, Bashir and Alexa.

Questions:

What is Joe’s next step?
What is the job ARGUS is offering Cisco?
What is Nora’s plan now?
Does Kramer actually have the backing of the governor or is something else going on?