#Ugh if I had 30 minutes I would write 600 words

[celeluwhenfics]

Officially confirming that having deadlines and adulting issues and an upcoming language exam is the #1 way to stir up writing inspo.

I couldn't write a line this weekend, but ideas and solutions to plot problems are fluttering all over the place.

[kaedekisaragi]

Kaede Kisaragi Watches The Flash S4E02 - Mixed Signals

They took three seasons to let me be cheerful, powerful and confident? OH NOES!

We open up on the cheapest reused set they could afford, as they repurpose Felicity and Oliver's apartment as a Central City penthouse. Boy, was that hard to ignore. The guy who just refused to buy the apartment finds his elevator going down too fast. It stops at the 79th floor. Then it falls. The word "Kilgore" appears in the screen of the elevator. The elevator plays ping pong with the poor guy as some lady and her doggie just wait confused for the elevator... Then the elevator opens and she screams at the mangled corpse... A hooded guy leaving.

...Barry, on his drawers and socks, singing with a spatula. He's a dork, and we love it XD Also, such a show off, fixing coffee, buying grains, all while waiting for a flipped pancake to finish flipping. And then we see that he made all that breakfast while sitting down very early in the morning, by himself, watching 6 months worth of TV sped up to 1000 times. Oh, jon snow died. Oh, he's alive! He's even had time to finish preparing their wedding. Even the seven tier chocolate cake. Well damn, someone's in a rush.

Barry arrives in crime scene, and notices how the guy was put on the world's biggest salad shaker. Cisco arrives, giddy with his new badge of CCPD Tech Consultant. A plastic badge, but hey. Cisco connects to the elevator (shortly after losing lunch briefly) and finds the elevator was hacked. At the labs, Cisco reveals that the new flash suit has self-repairing armor, nano-liquid circuitry, full spectrum scanning and a whole other bunch of big words. Among the new stuff, a yellow pair of lenses that drop down for a custom HUD with maps, schematics, delivery menus... And he has a thick bible manual for him to work through. Barry decides to invite Iris for Thai, and said he even... cancelled their planned evening training at the labs... Huh. Someone's in an awful rush. Caitlin tells Iris she can relate to working together and dating causing a disconnect. Iris scoffs at the notion she will need couples therapy.

A sudden breach opens in the lab, and Caitlin nearly loses it there... She and Iris go to the breach, being joined by Wally, only... for cisco to rush in and stop them from vaporizing Gypsy. No, actually, stopping her from vaporizing them, because she totally would XD They had a date planned, and he begs her an hour to finish working on the encrypted code.

Elsewhere, a guy in his car watches "kilgore" take control over his car and send him off, assuming complete control on the car. Barry doesn't even let Wally come along, using his new HUD to rush to the car's side. Iris tells him to send the guy left, but Barry sends right, not knowing the street is still being built. So what Flash does? HE STEALS A MECHANIC TOOL BOX AND DISASSEMBLES THE CAR WHILE IT'S STILL RUNNING, LEAVING THE POOR GUY TO CRASH ON THE BARRIER WITH ONLY HIS CARSEAT AND STEERING WHEEL!

Cisco goes over the car's materials for an... auto-topsy. Ugh. Same code of the elevator. So the hacker has a hit list. Caitlin realizes it is not a computer virus, but a biological virus with digital structure... A metahuman. Cisco recognizes the two victim names from some old tech magazines in high school, so he goes digging. Iris pulls Barry aside to talk. She decided to give it a go, the couples therapy. And she has set them up for an appointment in 30 mins. Wait what?!?

Barry's befuddlement over the newspaper reading "Mayor queen is the green arrow"? Funny~ Here comes the therapist, kind older lady, Sharon Finkel. Who is quick to start writing the minute Barry mentions his mom is dead. Oh yeah, so predictable. But the poor lady is clearly overwhelmed with just how many bloody people died in these shows around them XD And Iris is quick to fire off all guns as she thinks Barry doesn't listen to her. Which, really, he isn't, not right now anyway.

Cisco drooling over the motherboard-of-the-month (that is not an euphemism), Gypsy is upset at being stood up, but they found the two guys... And another woman... and the meta, but they don't know him yet. WHO JOE JUST BUMPED SHOULDERS WITH AT CCPD! RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BOMB SQUAD ARMORY! THE BOMB SQUAD ROBOT IS ONLINE! WITH A GRENADE! ON JOE'S DOOR WITH THE OTHER VICTIM! While Iris says she wants Barry to listen to her concerns, but they get joe's distress signal, so Barry leaves... Which the therapist totally writes down, yes :P

The grenade explodes, but Barry grabs all shrapnel in an instant and leaves with them. The meta's name is Ramsey Deacon, and Joe IDs him. Wally and Joe go protect the last possible victim, Sheila Agnani, while Cisco tries to decrypt the code... and Iris fishes Barry for a redo of the session. On the same day. That's one dedicated therapist. Gypsy comes in, and Cisco, having just figured out how to deal with the virus, cancels their date. She says she gets it. Caitlin REALLY emphasizes to Cisco how fucked he is right now with Gypsy. Girls don't just 'get it' when they say they 'get it'... But hey, fell in love for a leather goddess.

The therapist emphasizes how they need to tell each other what they mean to say. Barry apologizes for the morning. Iris says it's not just that. Barry tries to tell her how he doesn't think this is a big deal, how they're the gold standard... So Iris finally blows up about how she felt when he left her 6 months ago.

Wally and Joe put listening devices in the last victim's house, and she is chillaxing playing xbox and the other victim comes in, telling her how Deacon is after them. Deacon comes in, confirming it, having meddled with the listening device so it will put out nothing to Joe and Wally. She scoffs at Deacon, saying she had to steal his idea of Kilgore because he was a coward who wouldn't do nothing with it. So he shows her how he now has power... By accessing her insulin pump with his power, pumping her full of insulin. Deacon and the victim leaves, and Kid Flash saves the girl with an injection of glucose.

The team... is in proverbial pieces. Barry and Iris feet apart from each other in awkward. Cisco in the doghouse. Joe cluelessly asks "has everybody lost their minds?". Cisco repeats verbatim Caitlin's words, in panic, how he's too worried about Gypsy. He opens a rift to go talk to her, and out she comes. Turns out, she can't have it tomorrow. It had to be today. Because today is one-one-one day, an earth-19 holiday which you celebrate with the one you love, and she goes on an angry sappy tirade of how she wants to do this sort of thing with him. He tries to say he'll make it up to her, but... one-one-one gives him another idea, and he kisses her and goes off. Gypsy's having a bad day, y'all. Barry, meanwhile, listens as Iris says she had to lie to everyone they knew about Barry's being gone. Barry admits he only put a brave face six months ago, but really he was terrified. Because if she asked him to stay, he might have said yes. She emphasizes that, after the ring came to her finger, it wasn't about him being Flash anymore. It was about them being Flash.

Deacon forces his victim to admit his crimes on livestream. Caitlin and Cisco unveil their antivirus made of a 0 and 1 signal inverter... Ahhh, see, I did study computer science. 0 becomes 1, vice versa. Deacon finishes his transmission and sets the victim to be given a SAW death. But our speedster duo arrives in time. And now I notice, Barry's new outfit has the mask be separate from the chest, which is more like a jacket that you zip up. Neat. But Deacon likes the outfit too... and takes control of it and... uses it to blast Kid Flash with a repulsor ray? Seriously Cisco, why are you giving Flash the Iron Man treatment? Barry proceeds to be given the 'stop hitting yourself' punishment by Deacon.

Barry, unable to control himself, flees. He... calls collect to the labs. And he can't get out of the suit because Cisco put a lock on it so badguys couldn't reveal his identity. And then he suddenly goes Inspector Gadget floatation device. I did not knew this episode would be so goofy. I love it XD

And then... CISCO, WHY THE FRAKK DID YOU PUT A SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE IN A COSTUME?!? XD Iris, taking the reigns, suggests that Barry tosses a speed lightning at himself to shortcircuit the costume... Which might also kill or blow him up.

Iris "Then run Barry... Run."

BARRY TOSSES LIGHTING... AND HITS HIMSELF! FUCKING HELL, THAT WAS AWESOME! Barry's knocked out... Deacon, giddy about his power, is actually tired, so he just shoots the victim... But Flash grabbed the bullet, and injected the antivirus. Deacon falls screaming on the ground.

Gypsy, looking stunning in black dress, meets Cisco at the speed lab for their Earth-1 one-one-one day... While making fun of each other's holidays. I mean, why don't WE celebrate St. Shaquille O'neal day? Cisco swears to always make up to her for any time he has to cancel a date.

Barry and Joe question Deacon, who's being imprisoned far from any technology. How WILL he survive without Kindle? But they got a question: he was not within reach of the particle accelerator wave. So WHO gave him powers? He only says... he wasn't the only one. Barry and Iris are confident that, once he gets rid of all the gadgets in the costume, he'll be good to go. For they are the Flash. Joe thinks he lost some character development XD

But... Warden Wolfe, from Iron Heights, who they just talked to, seems to look at Deacon with something in his mind.

Stinger. Thinker's assistant comes in to listen to him playing schubert's unfinished symphony... which the Thinker finished. After getting familiar with all 600 of his works. He had an early morning. She calls Deacon 'subject one' and says he's right where Thinker wanted him. Now, they need to find the others. All 11.

Thank GOD that Barry's not keeping all those tech gadgets. It really sounded like it'd be a jump the shark moment. And it is also glorious to see Caitlin and Cisco back to being best buddies. Her wingwoman attitude towards Cisco and Gypsy was funny, as was the therapy scene. We do seem to kill a lot of cast members in 3 seasons don't we? XD Having Iris be the one to say the 'run barry run' line solidifies her new position as team leader, I think, but I hardly expect this to be the last time they'll clash over difference of opinion. Wally, despite doing few things in the episode, did show again his quick thinking. Last time, it was japanese and wearing flash suit. Today, glucose injection. Kid Flash is showing he's not just a slower Flash :) The thinker, in turn, did get some ellaboration on his steps towards his plan, whatever it is. We expect at least 11 more metas, but how they got powers remains a mystery. Is it related to how the Thinker got his super intellect? And why does he need that chair? And who is his scientist assistant?

Also, Gypsy in a dress, I mean, damn, I never saw her without her work clothes. Looks fine, girl!