I mean, yeah, there’s a couple funny gags but it’s not enough and I felt myself drifting off much like Team Flash at the beginning of When Harry Met Harry… which brings me to my major gripe; The Council of Wells.

While I’m usually riding Tom Cavanagh’s dick for his range, they had the perfect chance to expand the lore of their established multiverse and they utterly squandered it on some comedy accents that were utterly awful. Not only that but two of the parallel Earths have significance in the wider DC lore.

The Nihilist-Wells is from Earth-12, a world which, in the comics, is inhabited by the extended cast of Batman Beyond. Lothario-Wells comes from the psychedelic Earth-47, which is like a 60’s Hannah-Barbera interpretation of DC and the most egregious of all… Mad-Wells, from a “post-apocalyptic landscape where man and machine are one”, Earth-22 which SHOULD be the world of Kingdom Come, the seminal Mark Waid/Alex Ross graphic novel. That said, Supergirl is from Earth-38, which is nothing like it’s comic counterpart but I actually know these ones so it bugs me something fierce.

Thank the maker, then, for Hartley Sawyer. Ralph’s journey to becoming a hero continues here as he starts going out on missions and learns a valuable lesson in humility. His stupid expressive face got me through most of this episode.

Your villain du jour is Mina Chayton, a reimagined Black Bison (played by Chelsea Kurtz) who has the ability to bring inanimate effigies to life, a rather cool, unique power considering the Black Bison of the comics is the biggest Native American stereotype outside of Apache Chief. Solid performance and casting so good job, production team!

We end up at DeVoe’s house thanks to the Council of Wells, all tooled up and ready to kick an ass when a humble looking man in a wheelchair greets them as Clifford DeVoe, automatically disqualifying him as a villain no doubt because no real villain would be handicapable, right? Barry should have learned his lesson after Season 1! Weird to see Neil Sandilands with hair given we’ve only seen him in Metron cosplay up to this point.

A solid enough premise for the episode but brought down by Cavanagh’s ropey performances and an ultimately forgettable villain (and maybe by my own lack of sleep) but next week we’ll see how Barry handles his new foe (spoilers: not very well!) in Therefore I am.

Because hurr-dee-hurr, Barry and Iris aren’t communicating! I spent well over half the episode eye-rolling at the predictable and, honestly, boring plot. This is the kind of shit I wanted to avoid by leaving Barry alone but here we are. “Comedic” soundtrack to legitimate personal conflict.

Seriously, this was the best moment of the episode because it actively addresses Barry’s cavalier attitude and how Iris is kind of left floating in limbo now that the titular character is back. Iris and the rest of Team Flash were handling everything grand and now Barry’s back and he’s fucking everything up. The resolution is weak sauce too and I’m on track to hate this season if the lead up to the wedding is mostly this.

It’s always nice to see Jessica Camacho as Gypsy but her inclusion felt a little tacked on in this episode which is a shame because having her be a more frequent recurring cast member would be great.

Kilg%re (yes, it’s spelled like that) is the villain du jour and oh boy does he have to come up with some contrived ways to kill folk but that initial elevator kill was pretty awesome. Dominic Burgess (an English actor who has worked on both Batman Begins and Doctor Who) does a fantastic job as the jilted Ramsey Deacon and is genuinely sinister. Given his presence in the next episode, he may be a recurring villain too.

Flash Fact: Warden Wolfe has appeared on The Flash before as a white guy! In the episode Tricksters, he was played by Anthony Harrison but has been replaced by the immensely talented Richard Brooks, everyone’s favourite eccentric bounty hunter in Firefly; Jubal Early. Given Wolfe’s meta status in the comics, we may see him figure into The Thinker’s long-term game.

Shout-out to the continuity nod to Arrow!

Mixed Signals is kind of a lacklustre episode that really left me wanting and continued to remind me that bringing Barry back was a huge narrative mistake. Maybe the return of Harrison Wells will be a good omen in Luck Be A Lady.

Welcome back to Flash Facts, everyone! I’ve missed this and you guys and watching my favourite CW-verse Team but do you know what I haven’t missed?

Barry Allen as god saviour of all. I’ll be straight with you that I was not looking forward to the first few episodes of Season 4 because I knew that they would bring Barry back immediately because it’s not like we have another Flash on the show that’s been steadily developing or anything…

I will admit that bringing him back as an insane amnesiac (avec sick-ass beard) was a neat idea and I wish they’d at least kept him out of the suit for a few episodes if they were intent on bringing him back immediately after his sacrifice. The bizarre language Barry is writing in doesn’t conform with any written language established in DC Comics though it does bear a pacing resemblance to Interlac, the language of the 30th Century. His speech is a whole different beast as, amongst his ramblings, there seems to be a few snippets of dialogue from upcoming events. Again, if this manic state had continued, we could have used Barry as a bespoke early warning system while his mind readjusts to non-Speed Force reality.

Wally and Cisco get it bad this episode and that sucks! Despite clearly being active for 6 months inbetween seasons, we have to watch them act like bumble kings despite them being mostly capable in the previous season. I mean seriously, these guys get jobbed out by Peek-a-Boo and the super obscure Samuroid and THAT’S the impetus to bring Barry back? Boo-urns! You could have at least made it a gathering of The Rogues. I did dig that Wally just knows Japanese, nice little character tid-bit.

As bad as Wally and Cisco got it, Iris got it worse because she was damn good this episode. Candice Patton does a fantastic job playing Iris as a strong leader and voice of reason. Despite Barry’s loss, she seems to be the only one willing to live by his wishes and move forward, actively getting Wally and Cisco to train while acting as their “guy in the chair”. Having her continue her growth without Barry for a while would have been really interesting to see.

Caitlin has gone full Bruce Banner in the 6 months the Team haven’t seen her, now switching between Caitlin and Frost based on emotion. Interesting wrinkle, more interested in that dive bar she was working at and why the manager looks so distinctly unique. Questions for later in the season, probably!

In the final moments of the show, we find out who sent the Samuroid to literally welcome Barry home and it’s the Season Villain du jour, DeVoe aka the Thinkers – looking an awful lot like Metron of the New Gods in his floating chair and futuristic lair. I have to wonder at the design choice here because while Thinker is known for being one of the Flash’s smarter villains, he’s never really stolen Metron’s look before. Maybe it’ll be explained further in the season but for now, just a curious thing to note.

So that was The Flash Reborn, a bit of a tepid return to the series with a rather obvious plot line. It was disappointing but hey, it could have been worse! We could have had a 4th Speedster as the big bad! *shudder* Anyway, thanks for reading, let me know what you guys thought in the comments and we’ll be back next week to see if the show continues to send Mixed Signals.

Oh boy, I don’t know how much of All The Madame’s Men subtext was conceived as a response to the current socio-political climate but it’s hard not to draw comparisons. We even have our own Bill O’Reilly (topical!) in the form of Sunil Bakshi! Simon Kassianides makes his first appearance in the show since his real-world death in The Dirty Half Dozen two seasons ago! If nothing else, this arc is great for bringing back long dead characters who have amazing screen presence.

Speaking of; Trip continues to be awesome and supportive and why did they kill him off again? Same with Brett Dalton, who is killing it as a kind and compassionate Grant Ward and despite how inherently wrong that feels, he makes me root for him. If only there was some kind of magical McGuffey that could make all these digital avatars of dead cool guys into flesh and blood…

Wait a minute! Project: Looking Glass! From what I can gleam from the explanation in the episode, the machine is designed to make machines human but I imagine it’s more along the lines of implanting archived memories and personalities into flesh and blood bodies. In a clever bit of  narrative sleight of hand, we discover that while Fitz has been finalising the design in the Framework, the Superior is constructing the actual one in the real world.

All of which could mean we’ll see not only Mace return but also Good-Ward and Trip! Hell, even Radcliffe and Agnes! Or even Hope, Mack’s fictional daughter! The possibilities are endless.

The episode opened with a cool gunfight, culminating in Madame Hydra getting quaked out of a window! That momentum carries us through the episode as the body cam footage May had is used to undermine the HYDRA regime and ends with Coulson declaring himself an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This entire arc has been really interesting and very entertaining but all goof things must come to an end so join us next week when Madame Hydra’s plan goes into action, the team scramble to stop her and we say Farewell, Cruel World!

Welcome back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Exposed, agents! It’s been a long time. Too long, for my tastes. So what’s happened the new status quo for our team?

In short; shit’s fucked. The (yet unseen) new Director seems like a bureaucratic douche-nozzle; separating the team, initiating a colour-coded security hierarchy and wrapping SHIELD in a mountain of red-tape. Not that Daisy is fairing any better as a fugitive but soon the two camps are on a collision course due a new, flame-headed player.

I’m glad to see the gang again but even less so that they’re not working together as a tight-knit unit. Mack and Coulson are field agents while Fitz and May lead their own departments while Simmons has become part of the Director’s inner circle in a sly effort to maintain control.

Fitz has maintained his friendship with inventor Holden Radcliffe, who decides now is the best time to unveil his first Life Model Decoy, AIDA. Mallory Jansen does a pretty good job of making a benign robot be utterly sinister. Or maybe I’m projecting because she’s going to go rogue, right? She has to. It’s like Chekov’s Sexbot or something.

During the course of the episode, a deal between the Aryan Brotherhood and the Korean mob goes south (who’da thunk?) and something is unleashed. Well… Someone. Not named in the episode, this spectral being known as Lucy seems to have the ability to warp people’s perceptions and drive them mad. Is she powered, Inhuman or maybe even a g-g-g-ghost!? Given the supernatural leaning this season, it’s safe to say this is one of the mystic Marvel characters but I have no idea who that could be off the top of my head.

But, of course, this is all an appetiser for the main course. Flame-broiled and spicy hot, the latino Robbie Reyes (played by Gabriel Luna) makes on hell of an impression in his first appearance. I really dug the car-flipping call back to the comics in the cold open and Luna’s performance is… interesting. I know Reyes’ deal but I’m wondering how much of that is being played with here or if his bipolar performance is just bad acting. I hope it’s the former. We also get a peak at another important plot point for Reyes; namely his brother, Gabe.

The skull CGI is much more impressive than I thought it would be and actually looks like a decent mix between Reyes’ silver noggin and the bone skulls of previous Riders. It also emotes! That’s pretty cool.

SHIELD’s return is an explosive, fuel-injected, enjoyable ride and sets up tons of new plot lines for the rest of the season. Next time we’ll be getting even more as we finally get to Meet the New Boss.