"Liberation"
This season's Mirror Master/Fake Iris story arc finally came to a climactic point of interest. Just as I was ready to throw in the towel with this particular storyline, Cecile comes in and practically saves the day when her powers get to shine as the ultimate lie detector and "feelings" radar. Once she picks up on Barry (who finally put 2 and 2 together himself to my relief) telling the truth about something being off about Iris, everything catapulted towards our big eventual confrontation. Now, if you would've told me seasons ago that a future episode of The Flash would showcase Iris sporting T-1000 blades for arms while fighting Barry Allen who doesn't have enough speed to fend her off, I'd say you're utterly insane. Shockingly enough, what started off as a ridiculous looking battle on the surface with fake Iris swinging around her CGI(?) limbs at Barry transitioned into one of the show's more conceptually awesome fights in recent years.
The idea of mirrors being completely under Eva's control made this scene highly engaging as "I can make pancakes better than your wife-Iris" (yes I'm finding different names for her) utilized the various mirrors in the room to portal her blades through attacking Barry from different angles at once. It's like a perfectly structured stage setting for a video game boss battle where all of the environmental elements and player's current power status perfectly lines up for a great challenge. With Barry lacking the freedom to fully utilize his speed and healing, his physical vulnerability becomes a huge target for Ev-Iris (pronounced E-virus) to brilliantly exploit. Just the imagery of mirror-Iris cutting Barry through different mirrors and surrounding/falling shards of glass was honestly pretty badass and one of those action scenes that deserves a small round of applause. This is a great example of a director/writer fully utilizing the story's space to deliver standout moments. Let's try to have more of this way of thinking for future episodes please?
What's also pretty brilliant is the fact that Eva exploiting Barry's physical state perfectly mirrors (pun intended) Eva herself being confronted by Iris in the mirror dimension who fights her off psychologically exploiting her emotions. Iris being a wife herself sees that Eva's feelings for Carver aren't as clear cut as she made it out to be which gives her the edge needed to distract her link to the mir-Iris. The whole "We are the Flash" husband-wife team between Barry and Iris that was set up in Season 4 finally paid off in this episode in a natural and satisfying enough manner. In addition to the ending scene showing the two speaking out to each other about their goals to find one another across dimensions, I feel Season 6 did a solid enough job at emphasizing their special bond on the show (give or take a few nitpicks).
With Eva being freed now and Iris apparently not being tied down as tightly to her chair as she should've been, it would appear that things can finally get the ball rolling with this Mirror Master villain arc. As much as I haven't really been invested in this particular story, I am starting to find Eva on her own to be a little bit more interesting now considering she doesn't come across as evil but instead desperate. She's a frequently distraught, emotionally fractured, yet highly determined person who seemingly isn't trying to kill anyone during whatever mysterious master plan she has up her sleeves. There's a brief moment during her one-on-one with Barry where she actually seems genuinely sorry and concerned for his well being right after harming him. She even acknowledges his slow healing and that she won't bother him since he's not a threat to her now. Much like what the "Temptation of Barry Allen Pt. 1" episode did for Bloodwork finally showing off his value as a worthy enough major villain, this episode does the same for Eva spotlighting her powers and interesting character traits.
A villain type like this can be deeply compelling if handled carefully which I feel the show has done a "not too bad" job on thus far. My only hope is that her whole "liberation" agenda isn't as awful and convoluted as Devoe's enlightenment plan or some of the other season villain missions. Let's be honest, the Flash's track record for building up villains for a long period time then bringing forth a fulfilling conclusion that ties everything together nicely isn't so great. Maybe this Mirror Master/Blackhole situation will be the thing that spins the show back into high gear to the point where I don't have to constantly cling onto the idea of Thawne returning for excitement. Speaking of Thawne, I do hope that we get a follow up on the whole artificial speed force creation and how it connects to Eobard's teachings to Nora.
...Oh, and as for Caitlin's Frost issue...I got nothing.
Bonus Thoughts
1. Bloodwork's Coming Back...Yay?
Bloodwork gets a gloried cameo in this episode being utilized by Eva's creations for his unique life blood while teasing a supposed "long game" return. To be honest, I can't say that I'm remotely excited for a Bloodwork sequel. I can sort of see the potential for them doing something much grander scale with his character's powers, but what I'm picturing in my head only benefits spectacle entertainment and not so much story. In other words, they can possibly do an even crazier and cooler version of the giant monstrous form that we saw him in, but beyond that, there's nothing that would get me legitimately hyped in terms of a hero-villain conflict.
2. The Flash's Death Imagery Trademark
Mirror Iris gets an interestingly rushed in character arc of her wanting to be her own person to which Barry abruptly find some sense of heart within her to highlight. As Eva catches this and destroys her at her own dismay, Barry witnesses the fake Iris disintegrating in a cosmic fashion which has now been a visual and conceptual trademark on the show. Almost every season of The Flash seems to show someone of great significance fading away through some cosmic power (usually the speed force).
3. Arrowverse Namedrops
Aside from Bloodwork returning and obviously ARGUS being shown, we also got some Arrowverse name drops when Barry tries to figure out who the fake Iris by writing out an entire layout of possibilities. Barry's analysis includes mentions of Martian Manhunter (with a written Hank Henshaw Easter egg on his board), Breacher (with a Plastoids reference), and Every man who is apparently alive post-Crisis. On a side note, what if Thawne uses Hannibal Bates as his new host in a future episode? This could be an interesting twist considering that Thawne used him during Season 1 as a distraction for Team Flash. I just find it interesting that the writers would take the time to insert the idea of him being brought back to life in this new post-Crisis world.
4. Barry Is Not An Idiot
As briefly stated earlier in the review, I was so relieved that Barry did indeed pick up on something being completely off about Iris. Yes, they took their lovely time to get to this point, but it's nice to see that it didn't drag on any further making our protagonist look incompetent as both a husband and a detective (forensics background). I honestly smiled a little inside once I saw Barry showcasing his "Cisco board" of a full on Iris analysis with possibilities as to who or what she may actually be. This is the Barry Allen that I wish we'd get more of throughout the series. Better late than ever I suppose. By the way, those pancakes must've been pretty damn delicious.
Episode Rating: 8/10
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