Title: The Flash: “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach” Review
Release Date: November 5th, 2019
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
I’m not sure Team Flash can survive a future post-Barry. The team, excluding Ralph, almost died this week in their own storylines. To be fair, I doubt Barry would have drastically helped matters if he were there. I just thought it was funny enough to mention.
As a Flash-less episode, “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach” was alright. Although it was entertaining throughout, I just thought it was bogged down with some inconsistencies and poor character choices.
The majority of this comes from Frost and Cisco’s storylines. Breacher (Danny Trejo) returns to tell Cisco that Gypsy has been murdered by some unknown hacker named Echo. I’m sure many of you figured out the big twist of the episode right there. Later in the episode, Cisco and Breacher are able to see Gypsy’s death (Because of science or superpowers, I guess?). There, they finally figure out that somebody who looks like Cisco killed her. So Breacher, a guy who knows that there are infinite universes with infinite versions of people, immediately accuses Cisco of killing his daughter. Yes, he did say that all the other versions of Cisco are just “pencil-pushers” but that didn’t make any sense. We’ve already met a few evil versions of Cisco over the past 6 seasons of the show and again, infinite universes.
Despite the dumb logic, I did really enjoy the character arc Cisco went through here. This was all about learning to deal with problems himself. The B.A.R.I. was a fun concept and I liked how over-reliant Cisco was on B.A.R.I. early in the episode. It made the pep-talk from Kamilla and the eventual showdown with Echo a lot more exciting. Speaking of Kamilla, this episode went a long way to establish her as a likable character and that was pretty cool to do.
Frost’s storyline this week wasn’t as redeeming. I thought we were past the lone wolf dynamic with her but it seems that the show will continue this going into the crossover. Yeah, I know Frost mentioned something like she didn’t want other people to die because of Ramsey. It’s just that we’ve seen this overprotective, “I have to do this myself” motivation so many times in these Arrowverse shows. It’s a bit exhausting.
Frost’s arc this season kinda feels similar to how The Flash treated Ralph in season 4. He would develop as a character only to regress back the following week. It’s not nearly as bad as Ralph’s jarring season 4 arc though.
We did get some more from Ramsey/Bloodwork this week too. The character continues to be one of the more compelling villains The Flash has had for quite some time. That’s because Ramsey’s initial intentions were so noble and understandable. He’s fallen into insanity and thinks he’s figured out the key to immortality, however sick that immortality may be. We’ve seen the character go through all of this, and as a result, it gives the viewer more of a connection to the villain. The Thinker and Cicada felt like more of a “tell, not show” approach to storytelling. With Ramsey, it’s the complete opposite. We’re seeing it all unfold now. We don’t have to wait for a flashback episode or for the team to explain the villain’s backstory.
The Joe and Nash scenes were fantastic. Anytime you get Tom Cavanagh and Jesse L. Martin in the same scene, you can pretty much tell it’ll be engaging. Nash, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite versions of Wells, is more of what I think people wanted Sherloque Wells to be. Overconfident, badass, hilarious, and he doesn’t speak in a ridiculous accent. The mystery of why Nash is seeking out The Monitor and that cliffhanger is giving the show another interesting story to piggyback off of outside the Bloodwork stuff. If I had to guess, Nash is going to end up playing the role of Pariah in Crisis. That way, we don’t have 3-4 characters for Tom Cavanagh to play in this crossover.
In past seasons, The Flash had a tendency to “dumb down” Team Flash so the bad guy would escape or a hallway talk would fix things later on. I’m noticing a huge change in this dynamic with season 6. Team Flash is littered with genius scientists, detectives, and investigators. Oh, and a few of them have crazy OP superpowers too. Season 6 is treating these characters as smart individuals and all of the drama that is coming out of the episodes feel earned as a result. It’s all either character growth, storyline development, or another welcomed building block for how important Crisis on Infinite Earths will be for the Arrowverse. I’m not sure if The Flash can continue this post-Crisis though. Hopefully, it will.
Verdict: “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach” was a solid episode for The Flash but it was probably the weakest of the season so far. Although we had some great moments from Cisco, Joe, Nash, and Ramsey, the episode was brought down due to some head-scratching logic in Cisco’s story and Frost’s reluctance on working as a team to take down Ramsey. Again, the episode was still really good, especially considering the two main leads were gone for the majority of the run-time, it just didn’t hit the same heights as previous episodes of season 6.
The Flash: “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach”
Some great moments from Nash, Cisco, Joe, and Ramsey
Bloodwork continues to thrive as the main big bad
The B.A.R.I. was a fun concept
Cisco’s entire arc this episode
Danny Trejo
I just don’t know where the show is going with Frost
Some iffy logic in the Cisco storyline
The whole “Faith” theme was hammered home a little too much this week
