As it turned out, my previous belief that Flashpoint was the reason for Snart’s reappearance was proven to be completely false; he is still (for the moment) as dead as a doornail. On the one hand, it is nice to see that Barry’s meddling wasn’t an automatic reset button and things that happened before still have consequences. But on the other hand, this meant there was tragically very little Captain Cold, as his presence was confined to flashbacks and parlor tricks. Snart was one of the few memorable villains THE FLASH had, and it’s a shame we never really got to see his character full come into his own on this series like he did in Legends of Tomorrow. The titular new Rogues, Mirror Master and the Top, had some visually entertaining powers that made for some cool action scenes, but neither character had much of a personality, which made them poor substitutes for the original Rogues in that regard.
This episode also gave us Jesse’s first superhero outing, which ended up being more or less the standard “rookie hero” storyline that’s been done to death. Still, the excitement of seeing Jesse suit up for the first time was enough to balance out the tiring cliches, since the show has been building towards her becoming Jesse Quick for so long. Hopefully next time we see her in action she’ll have better material to work with; she’s certainly earned it.
Her father, meanwhile, cognizant of the fact that he will be leaving soon, convinces the others to find his replacement by looking for another version of him using Cisco’s dimension hopping powers. While from a meta perspective it makes sense that the show would want some form of Harrison Wells to be present in the main cast, since he’s been an integral part of the series so far, there wasn’t really a great reason given in the show itself for why the characters would take the drastic step of recruiting a Wells from another dimension.
On the whole, their experiences with Wells have been pretty mixed, and it’s bit of a stretch to believe they’d take in the doppelgänger they’ve never met of a man who’s betrayed them over and over again, even they’re in a good place with Earth-2 Harry Wells at the moment. Nevertheless, the subplot was pretty amusing on the whole, and it was fun to watch Tom Cavanagh play several offbeat and kooky versions of the same character. He does a wonderful job of making each Wells distinct, while still keeping the core of the character’s personality.
Barry and Iris’s blossoming relationship also hit a snag this episode when the two struggled with how to be an adult couple when Barry just happens to be living with Iris’s father. Although characters seemed a bit over the top at times (I’m not really sure why Iris felt so strongly about engaging in PDA when her dad was around), it fit with the comical tone of the episode; Jesse L Martin’s reactions upon being faced with the possibility of Barry and Iris being physical were pure gold. It was also nice to seem them deal with how Barry’s notorious self-sabotaging streak would manifest itself in a real relationship and address difference between with someone and fantasizing about them.
In many ways though, it was the ending that stole the show, as we see Caitlin’s powers seem to be quickly spiralling out of control. The fact that she’s still chosen not to confide in anyone seems to suggest that she will go against Team Flash, at least temporarily, when she inevitably goes full Frost. And if her powers continue to progress at the rate they have, I’d say it won’t be long until we see that — I wouldn’t be surprised if the midseason finale ended up some cliffhanger related to Killer Frost. Either way, there seems to be quite the emotional storm brewing, which makes these goofy episodes all the sweeter.
Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer -- Click to read Kaitlin's posts
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