REVIEW: THE FLASH - SEASON 6, EP. 5: "Kiss Kiss Breach Breach"
Last episode, the Fastest Man Alive dealt with Ramsey Rosso's gruesome transformation from doctor looking to cure the HLH disease, to Bloodwork---a monster who feeds off other humans in order to survive. A macabre installment close to Halloween, to be sure. But THIS week...the focus is all about our favorite gadget-guy, Cisco Ramon. While he's no longer Vibe, he's still capable of getting into trouble.
This week, our intrepid hero takes a back seat to his right hand man. Cisco got a night to shine, and prove his worth as a post-superhero, and show the team that he is capable of leading them when (and IF), Barry Allen is lost to the universe forever. We also see Joe and Nash finally come face to face, as well as Frost taking it upon herself to hunt Bloodwork down.
We open up our tale with Cisco in his lab, talking about not having faith in the truth. We see him being surrounded by what appears to be police, looking to arrest him for something. We cut back to 12 hours earlier, where Barry and Iris--amidst all the issues with Bloodwork and the upcomning CRISIS, decided they need a getaway day. So, they're going off on some tropical hideaway for a brief respit, leaving Cisco in charge. Barry asks Cisco if he's got everything under control, and Cisco introduces his B.A.R.I. Program, which ties into the decisions Barry has made in the past. Barry's intrigued by it, but Cisco assures him things will be okay, and the Allens take off. Cisco sets Ralph and Frost off to stake out Ramsey's apartment and lab, looking for his next move, since he's been laying low temporarily.
We see Nash in the tunnel, picking away at the wall, looking for the Monitor's hideout. Joe shows up, having tailed him to the location. He inquires as to what Nash is up to, and Nash tells him that he wouldn't understand. Joe assures him to give him a chance, but Nash isn't in the mood to spill his guts, so he sets off an explosion, causing a cave-in in the tunnel, trapping both himself and Joe.
Cisco and Camilla are at his pad, when they get ready to call it a night. There's some slight awkwardness between the two, but Cisco is all set up with his white noise machine, and everything else in case there's an emergency at STAR Labs. As he lays down to crash for the night, but his sleep is short lived, as he wakes up, goes to the bathroom, grabs a pair of scissors, and begins to cut his hair. He ends up snapping out of it, waking up. Camilla says that he's been sleepwalking. He's a tad freaked out, but feels it's just stress, so he goes to bed again, only to have Breacher pop into his room. Josh (as is Breacher's name it appears), is sullen and quiet. When Cisco asks what's up, he reveals that Cynthia--Gypsy--is dead.
Josh recounts Gypsy tracking a breacher named Echo, who's been on her hit list for a long while. She and Echo landed on Earth 1, and he got the jump on her, and killed her...disintegrated. Cisco is shocked that she's gone, and wonders why she came to Central City. Josh gave Cisco clearance to investigate her death with the Breacher Collectors, and find out how Gypsy died. Cisco informs him that he has no more super powers, but has been sleepwalking. Josh talks about something called Breacher Psychosis which may include illness, sleepwalking, and other symptoms. Camilla offers to help Cisco find Gypsy's killer, and bring him to justice.
Joe and Nash are in the tunnel, and Joe argues with him about what he just did, and the fact that he tries to get ahold of someone by cell, but all communication is cut off. Nash tries a plan to break them out of the cave in, but only makes matters worse. He and Joe now have 42 minutes of oxygen left.
We see Frost meet up with her old buddy Ripshack, trying to figure out where Bloodwork might be. She's a little rough with him, but it turns out he doesn't know much, just that Ramsey killed a few of his friends. Ralph shows up to offer his help, but Frost feels it's HER fight, and that she needs to do this, because no one believed her when they said Ramsey was bad, and she didn't trust him. Ralph says that she needs to learn to trust her friends, and not to go to face Ramsey alone....Frost says she won't BE alone.
Cisco and Camilla arrive at the crime scene, where they're met by the Earth 19 Collectors, and their new leader, a guy named Zack. He informs them that he was next in line after Gypsy died, and that they're free to look at the crime scene. The spot where Gypsy died is upsetting to Cisco, but Camilla is there to assure him that they can do this. Zack informs them they're locking down the crime scene, and needs them to leave. Cisco gets a funny feeling about Zack, but puts it away for later.
Joe and Nash talk more, as Nash is trying to find a way to escape, thus wasting oxygen. Nash asks him why he isn't worried about anything, and Joe says that he's a cop...if he doesn't check in, SOMEONE will look for him. He has faith in the people that work under him, as well as his friends. He realizes that Nash believes in nothing. Joe has faith in people.
Cisco and Breacher put their heads together to figure out how Gypsy met her end at the hands of Echo. They set up a machine that will use his powers, and allow Cisco to recount the events. While they're reliving her demise, Camilla is monitoring, and seeing a gun in the drawer...the same gun that did in Gypsy. When Echo removes his hood, we discover that he's Cisco. The feed is cut, and that's enough for Breacher to want to kill Cisco. Cisco swears he's innocent, but Camilla reminds him of his sleepwalking very early in the morning, and Breacher tells him to get his affairs in order, because he's under arrest, and the Earth 19 Collectors will be arresting him. Cisco thinks he may have had a psychic vibe.
Nash is still trying to find a way out, and wasting energy, while Joe tells him that someone WILL show up...he just believes. But he didn't used to. Joe recounts the time after his wife, Iris and Wally's mother, had left. He felt lost and despondent. But thanks to his neighbors and friends, they reached out to him, and gave him faith to keep moving forward. He also talks about having faith in the face of losing Barry. Just then, Ralph manages to find the men in the tunnel and rescue them. Ralph said he called the station to give Joe and update on Bloodwork, but he wasn't there, and no one had heard from him, but found out where his last location was.
Frost goes to meet Bloodwork as Caitlin Snow. Caitlin tries to appeal to Ramsey to stop what he's doing and let her help him. Ramsey says he used to be jealous of Caitlin when she worked as his mother's assistant. He tells her that since she's lost people, he can help HER, and that if she joins HIM, she'll never lose anyone again. Caitlin says it doesn't work that way, and Ramsey starts choking her out. He takes off saying the next time their paths cross, it won't be pretty.
Cisco says to Camilla he's going to turn himself in. Camilla says that he depended on his B.A.R.I. program to tell him what to do, so that he didn't HAVE to make a tough call. He says he can't do what Barry does. She tells him that he doubts himself, and that she has faith in him. She says the doubts are nothing but noise in his head, and that's when it hits him. He goes off with an apparent plan to catch Echo.
We get back to the present time where he was about to be arrested. He puts out a message on a machine, and the Collectors go to cuff him, only to realize he's a hologram. he traps the team and Breacher in the lab, saying to check out his message. He's off to confront Echo. He manages to find Echo, just as the villain is about to take off, leaving Cisco at the hands of the Collectors. He IS Cisco's doppleganger, and fancies himself a "Multiverse Hacker", and for the right price, and give anyone a new identity. He reveals how he set up Cisco to take the fall for his crime, and that there's nothing he can do to stop him. Cisco pulls the gun he used on Gypsy on Echo. Echo wonders if Cisco has the guts to use it. They start to fight, and it goes back and forth, but Echo gets the upper hand. Echo points the gun at Cisco, planning on killing him as he did Gypsy, but the gun instead shoots a shield around Echo, preventing him to escape. Cisco informs him that he's smarter than him, and delayed Echo just long enough for the Collectors to come and take Echo away.
We see Breacher thank Cisco for bringing Echo to justice, and said that the reason Gypsy brought Echo to Earth 1, is because she had faith in Cisco to capture him, should she fail. He also invites both Cisco and Camilla to her memorial service, and they both agree. It's here that Cisco finally reveals his feelings to Camilla, and she reciprocates. Breacher feels a tad awkward, and takes off. Cisco and Camilla kiss, as the Allens return from their little getaway. He asked what went on, and Cisco fills him in. They offer to go to the service for Gypsy after hearing about what happened, but Cisco says him and Camilla got it. They also see that Chunk is almost back to normal....for him.
Joe presses Nash again about why he was in the tunnels. Nash still refuses to answer, but Joe tells him the team can help. Nash reluctantly agrees, and tells the team to meet him in the tunnels at 9 am the next day. When Ralph inquires why, Nash says he knows how to save Barry Allen.
We had a running theme in this entire episode---and that was FAITH. Faith in someone else, faith in your friends, faith in your family, faith in yourself. The personal faith is the one Cisco dealt with the entire episode. Since Barry put the weight of leadership on him once he's gone, Cisco has felt stressed that he could never live up to The Flash...because he's NOT The Flash. Hence, the whole episode is Cisco having to make choices that would effect his life, and how he could resolve a difficult matter without anyone's real help (aside from Camilla). And when he feels unable to live up to the task, it's Camilla that brings him through, with her love and faith in HIM. It's a faith that Barry himself has in Cisco, and eventually gets Cisco to do what's right, and capture Echo. It was great to see a Cisco solo adventure, where he had to step up, and he succeeded. I must also say that Camille is really settling in with Team Flash, and is proving to be a valuable asset. Their love for each other will be the thing that will help Cisco in the rough time coming up once Barry is gone.
The other person who had complete faith in people is Joe. No matter how bad things get, Joe believes and has faith in PEOPLE. That includes those under his command, and his family and friends. Nash is someone who doesn't have much faith in anything...a very hard science kind of guy, that doesn't want to put faith in anyone. He's a tough nut to crack, but curious as to how and what he knows about the Monitor.
Ramsey is another that has no faith in people, unlike Ralph or Caitlin. Caitlin tried desperately to appeal to Ramsey's good nature, but his quest (and fear) to avoid death at all costs, has him only believing in his own immortality. He is truly gone in the eyes of Caitlin, and cannot be saved. Look for Killer Frost to take exception, and want another go around with him, to finally take him down once and for all.
This was a good episode for character development. While we let Barry and Iris have some alone time, and be with each other as much as possible, this allowed us to focus on one member of the team dealing with his own self worth. It also allows for further development and fleshing out of who and what Cisco Ramon is. He may not be Vibe anymore, but he is no less a hero. We also get a little more of Joe's life before Barry came to live with him, and Killer Frost...wanting to end the threat of Ramsey....whom she seems to consider an arch enemy of sorts now.
I laughed at the early scenes where Ralph and Cisco were dropping A-Team references...especially Cisco wanting to be like B.A. Baracus, and Ralph feeling a lot like Hannibal Smith...even going to far as to quote Hannibal's usual line, "I love it when a plan comes together".
Danny Trejo is ALWAYS a delight on screen---and while we got glimpses of how tough Breacher can be, this was different. This was the grieving father, looking to her daughter's ex boyfriend to help him solve the case of her death. While discovering that it was actually Cisco's doppleganger that was Echo, Breacher lost faith in Cisco, but apologized for it at the end of the episode. It was interesting to see Trejo project the feelings of a grieving father. It IS sad that we lost Gypsy, however. I really wasn't expecting THAT to happen until possibly CRISIS. Now, that's not to say SHE doesn't have a doppleganger running around, but not sure she would have the powers of the original. Whether or not there is a NEW Gypsy remains to be seen. But for now...we bid Cynthia goodbye.
One last thought before we end this edition: anyone notice the TITLES of the episodes of this season so far are either comic book or movie related? Check this out:
1. "Into The Void" - based off a story from THE FLASH
2. "A Flash of the Lightning" was the name of the story from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8...Barry Allen's death.
3. "Dead Man Running" - another title borrowed from the comics. Also a movie that came out a few years ago, and similar to the movie Dead Man Walking
4. "There Will Be Blood" - which was also the name of a major motion picture from a few years back
5. "Kiss Kiss Breach Breach" - which is loosely based on the Robert Downey Jr/Val Kilmer movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
That's it for this week's show. Please subscribe, drop a comment, and pass along the good word about this blog.
Until next week....keep on running!
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