FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 7×13- “Masquerade”

The Flash (7×13)- “Masquerade”

Written by:         Sam Chalsen & Christina M Walker

Directed by:       Rachel Talalay

We open in the West Home with Joe going over Kramer’s files while Cecile gets ready to go in for work. Job’s a little annoyed at all the blacked out stuff he’s finding (which I would assume would be pretty normal for any defense department files a retired cop could get his hands on) but Cecile has something interesting. One of her clients served with Kramer but apparently that isn’t in her file.

It’s a bit flimsy but it’s a place to start.

Joe leaves and Cecile immediately goes into some creepy psychic vision where she’s been locked away in a psych ward.  I’m sure it’s fine.

At STAR labs, Caitlin comes into Chester’s new office to find he’s repainted and redecorated. When she remarks on it Chester gets all worked up and offers to hit undo on all he’s done but Caitlin reassures him it’s fine. This leads to him showing of his stereo system which seems to be a work in progress so he has to heard down to the archives (I still refuse to use the term STARchives as it sounds too much like something Tony Stark would come up with) and finds that Barry and Iris are using his work space as a “play space.”

That seems like a bad idea kids, you’ll be sorry if you get too caught up in the heat of the moment and you accidently activate the Weather Wizard’s wand leveling half the building with a lightning strike. To say nothing about this being sexual harassment since Barry’s his boss.  So Chester, Barry and Iris turn the awkward up to about a thirteen before they all leave.

Barry leaves to talk to Cecile about a case she’s working on, but it seems suspicious. So when Barry starts asking question, Cecile puts the whammy on him and shock of shocks he wakes up in the same psych ward Cecile was in.  Okay, I was wrong about it being fine.

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin confirms that Barry’s in a coma. Chester tries to get “Cecile” to help pull Barry out of his coma but since she’s the one who put him in th- *Ahem!* I mean “she’s just an empath” all she can see is a golden mask. Oh they’re playing Assassin’s Creed II!

No apparently, not. Chester breaks out Cisco’s Villain trading cards and shows them the Psycho Pirate.  Apparently the danger isn’t Psycho Pirate but his mask. Which is about to go on display at the Central City Museum.  It seems like “the mask” has somehow attacked Barry and they need to get the mask to help him.

Meanwhile, Barry’s in the psych ward with Cecile and she’s been trapped there for weeks.  Better yet, Barry doesn’t have access to his powers there but since this isn’t the first time he’s been attacked by a psychic he has experience to draw on and realize they’re trapped in someone’s memory. The question is whose memory?  Good thing Cecile is a complete basket case right now. Gee, I wonder who has a memory of being in the Psych Ward, Cecile!

Back in the real world, Chester has brought in Sue… Probably because Selina Kyle’s busy doing things with Bruce Wayne that “Heroes don’t do.” 

Anyway…

Sue’s here so it’s time to plan a heist and they’ll need Cecile’s help. After Chester gives her a pep talk to get “Cecile” to help and it’s all coming together suspiciously fast for Sue.

Back in the psych ward, Cecile is in a panic and that’s probably because of the giant hell portal that leaves behind an evil crazy Cecile that puts the whammy on Barry.  Getting a whammy put on you while you’re already in a whammy coma can’t be good for you.

At the museum, Sue and “Cecile” get the mask suspiciously easy, so easily that Iris puts two and two together just in time for “Cecile” to put the mask on. Later on, the gang “has somehow” brought Sue back to STAR Labs and she’s understandably pissed and they soon realize Psycho Pirate-Cecile played Chester like a fiddle.

When Barry wakes up he decides this is a good time for some answers. Cecile reveals that when she was in law school she got an internship in the DA’s office. She dove headfirst into her work and her mother got sick. Her mother reassured her that everything was fine but she died while Cecile was working. After a while, Cecile had a nervous breakdown and spent some time in a mental hospital recovering.

Barry is able to help her because of his own experiences and much like his time in Grodd’s mind the stronger their connection what is real, the closer they are to getting out.

Iris finds Chester brooding in his lab and has to give him a pep talk which leads to Chester figuring out that Psycho Pirate-Cecile is going after The Thinker’s chair.  Next up is a two-front battle, three person battle with Cecile and Iris on one side and Psycho-Pirate Cecile on the other.  In the mindscape, Cecile learns that “the power was in her all along” while outside Chester stabs The Thinker’s chair with a sword and the battle is won.

Up in the control room it’s wrap up time. Sue offer a hotel suite party and Barry and Cecile have a moment. Before Chester tells them that “Heroes Don’t Do That” in his storage room, whether they’re trying for a baby or not. (And with that, this meme is put to bed. Forever. Who at DC thought that was a good idea to say out loud? Just tell the producers that’s one step too far and move on!)

Back at the West Home, Cecile fills in Joe on not only her psychic adventure but her experience with her mother’s death.  Which brings them back to Joe’s research into Kramer and it looks to Joe like she may have sold out her unit and is probably up to no good…

We have a problem.

We definitely have a problem. This isn’t a string of shaky episodes anymore. This is a noticeable decline in the writing and I don’t know of any kinder way to put it.  The episode’s biggest problem was the Chester plot, we have had at least three episodes where Chester goes through the same emotional arc of “I’m not good enough because I’m not Cisco” that is sucking up too much oxygen considering he overcomes it by the end of the episode each time.  This is a character I like so it would be really great if they didn’t make him one bad note of “I lack confidence.”

The Cecile plot teetered on the brink of being heavy handed a couple times but Gustin and Nicolet did their best to bail it out. Iris and Caitlin were just kind of there and Sue was Sue for all the good and bad that provides.  This was just a filler episode but it they need to dig out of this hole and in a hurry because I’d hate to see this show just fall apart in the final couple of seasons.

Things We Learned:

1. Someone has falsified Kramer’s military records to some degree.
2. Cecile spent time in a mental hospital after her mother’s death.
3. Psycho Pirate’s mask is now in the possession of ARGUS.

Questions:

1. What did Kramer cover up and is she a Traitor?
2. Did her time being possessed by Psycho Pirate have any lasting effects on Cecile or her powers?
3. How did Iris, Chester and Caitlin get Sue out of the Museum?