They could have gotten away with this, and that moment would have meant much more, if everyone had a few weeks to process Barry’s return and his new attitude.Īnd that’s the other thing, we need to talk about Barry’s attitude. I get that the whole “couples therapy” thing had been teased early on, and I gotta say, I got my biggest laugh out of the Doctor telling a superhero that “there’s no right or wrong.” But again, did this really do Iris as a character any favors? Iris had a long road over the last two seasons, and it was so good to see her grow out of “the girlfriend” or “the one who everybody lies to” but to have her pushing Barry, who has been out of the Speed Force a whole week, into therapy in order for her to do the whole “you left me” thing feels like a huge regression, especially since she’s been the one running the operation the last few months. If some of these other issues had been dealt with, or if this was a quick break after two or three episodes of reset, things would have unfolded a little more naturally. But after rushing Barry’s return and sweeping most of the potential consequences under the rug one week, going full Legends of Tomorrow (which I love, so there’s nothing inherently wrong with that) might not have been the best move. As weird as it sounds when we’re talking about a cast that has earned so much goodwill over the last three years, but considering how much they rushed Barry’s return to normal last week, it didn’t feel like they had exactly earned an episode this light yet.ĭon’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating a return to the dark, melodramatic elements of last season, nor do I think they need to dive right into another endlessly serialized storyline this early into season four. But I feel like this isn’t the kind of thing you need to do two episodes in. I don’t want to be the one pissing in the punch bowl, and to be sure, I did get quite a few laughs out of the episode. But was it me, or did “Mixed Signals” just feel really forced? And I get that the showrunners want to send a message loud and clear about this season’s new, lighter tone to help kind of wash away any lingering negativity from how intense season three was (disclosure: I didn’t have a problem with it).

I know that “Mixed Signals” was supposed to serve as the true reset after the understandable weirdness of getting Barry out of the Speed Force in the season premiere.

The flash season 3 episode 21 online