In the newest episode of the Flash we got a spotlight on Caitlin Snow that was directed by Danielle Panabaker herself and she did well, especially for her first try. While the saga of the Snow family was a big part of the episode, most fans went in wanting to know what was going to happen after Barry took Nora back to her own time and left her there without talking to anyone on the team. That gets brought up right away, first with an argument between Barry and Iris and then him having to tell the rest of the team after Iris goes off angry.
The argument was very interesting in that both sides had valid points and both sides were coming from a place of emotion. Barry couldn’t trust Nora because her dealing with Thawne but that is fueled by his hatred of Thawne for the death of his mother. Iris is right that a decision like this should be made as a family or a team but her anger is really coming from the fact that she finally got Nora to stop hating her and is ignoring the threat the Thawne has presented in the past… including the death of Eddie Thawne, someone Iris loved. It feels like the writers may have conveniently forgotten about Eddie for the sake of the story.
Tom Cavanagh continues to play both Thawne and Sherloque with great depth. I wasn’t sure why they would make such a cartoony version of Wells for this season, but now it’s obvious as the character has become more serious he’s very different from Thawne where the Earth-2 Wells had similar traits and would not play well this season. The big surprise of the episode was Thawne showing Nora how to access the Negative Speed Force that he uses. She fails, but when Iris (with the help of Ralph) goes to the future to retrieve her, it triggers Nora’s anger at being abandoned by Barry and then she taps into the Negative Speed Force, and it has obviously affected her in a very bad way. Which we’ll see more of next week.
The other story involves the return of Icicle, Caitlin’s father Thomas, and her mother Carla. Icicle brakes into Tannhauser Labs and steals a cryo-device. Later he returns and kidnaps Caitlin and Carla with plans to give Carla an ice personality and to bring Killer Frost out permanently. Though the mother and daughter usually fight, they find common ground for a bit and Caitlin tricks Icicle into setting her free as he uses the device on Carla. Killer Frost interrupts him and gives chase when he runs while Flash arrives to save Carla. Icicle and Frost fight with Icicle getting the upper hand, but when he goes to kill Caitlin, Thomas pushes through and takes over his body. They go back and we see everyone is safe… until Cicada II pops up to steal the device and Thomas sacrifices himself to save Caitlin / Frost.
The episode ends with Barry and Iris talking it out and Iris admitting that it seems like Thawne generally cares about Nora. Caitlin and Carla have gotten closer, but we see that Carla has now become a meta thanks to Icicle. We find out the Cicada II has kidnapped her younger self and seems to have plans for the device. And Nora returns with the red eye glow that Thawne usually has.
Other things to note in the episode is the continuation of the character shell-game they’ve been doing this season where one of them is off doing something else. This week it was Cisco who was off talking to Breacher about ways to track Cicada. Carlos Valdes has not been in the last few episodes and the rumors of him leaving the series continue. Plus the plot for next week says “Cisco makes a bold decision”, so don’t be surprised if it’s a farewell episode.
The argument was very interesting in that both sides had valid points and both sides were coming from a place of emotion. Barry couldn’t trust Nora because her dealing with Thawne but that is fueled by his hatred of Thawne for the death of his mother. Iris is right that a decision like this should be made as a family or a team but her anger is really coming from the fact that she finally got Nora to stop hating her and is ignoring the threat the Thawne has presented in the past… including the death of Eddie Thawne, someone Iris loved. It feels like the writers may have conveniently forgotten about Eddie for the sake of the story.
Tom Cavanagh continues to play both Thawne and Sherloque with great depth. I wasn’t sure why they would make such a cartoony version of Wells for this season, but now it’s obvious as the character has become more serious he’s very different from Thawne where the Earth-2 Wells had similar traits and would not play well this season. The big surprise of the episode was Thawne showing Nora how to access the Negative Speed Force that he uses. She fails, but when Iris (with the help of Ralph) goes to the future to retrieve her, it triggers Nora’s anger at being abandoned by Barry and then she taps into the Negative Speed Force, and it has obviously affected her in a very bad way. Which we’ll see more of next week.
The other story involves the return of Icicle, Caitlin’s father Thomas, and her mother Carla. Icicle brakes into Tannhauser Labs and steals a cryo-device. Later he returns and kidnaps Caitlin and Carla with plans to give Carla an ice personality and to bring Killer Frost out permanently. Though the mother and daughter usually fight, they find common ground for a bit and Caitlin tricks Icicle into setting her free as he uses the device on Carla. Killer Frost interrupts him and gives chase when he runs while Flash arrives to save Carla. Icicle and Frost fight with Icicle getting the upper hand, but when he goes to kill Caitlin, Thomas pushes through and takes over his body. They go back and we see everyone is safe… until Cicada II pops up to steal the device and Thomas sacrifices himself to save Caitlin / Frost.
The episode ends with Barry and Iris talking it out and Iris admitting that it seems like Thawne generally cares about Nora. Caitlin and Carla have gotten closer, but we see that Carla has now become a meta thanks to Icicle. We find out the Cicada II has kidnapped her younger self and seems to have plans for the device. And Nora returns with the red eye glow that Thawne usually has.
Other things to note in the episode is the continuation of the character shell-game they’ve been doing this season where one of them is off doing something else. This week it was Cisco who was off talking to Breacher about ways to track Cicada. Carlos Valdes has not been in the last few episodes and the rumors of him leaving the series continue. Plus the plot for next week says “Cisco makes a bold decision”, so don’t be surprised if it’s a farewell episode.