The Flash – Infantino Street

By: Stacy Miller

It’s countdown to destruction time for Team Flash as there’s not much time left to figure out a way to stop Savitar from killing Iris (Candice Patton). So, as the episode opens, the title card displays 24 hours before the death of Iris West and we see various members of the team working on a solution to their Savitar problem. At their loft while Barry (Grant Gustin) is running an errand, Iris records a video message on her cell phone for him in case Team Flash fails to save her life.

At STAR Labs, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) tells the team that The Dominators crystal that they need to power the speed force weapon to trap Savitar is at A.R.G.U.S. So, Barry asks Arrow’s Lyla Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson) whether they can borrow it. Lyla is understanding of Barry’s plight, but declines his request stating that technology that dangerous must be kept under wraps.  But Barry has no intention of letting the woman he loves die when they have the means in which to save her. And even though he is a good person, a hero and stealing is wrong, Barry tells Team Flash that they will break into A.R.G.U.S. and take the crystal. The only problem is that the A.R.G.U.S. facility has a meta human dampener that ensures Barry and Wally’s speed abilities won’t work. What is Barry Allen going to do? Well, I’ll tell you. He decides to recruit the one person he knows that has the skills and no ethics when it comes to breaking and entering. Yep, you guessed it! It’s off to time travel (Yes, Barry Allen’s go-to is always time travelling even though it never works out well for him) to get criminal mastermind Captain Cold a/k/a Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller). And I couldn’t have been happier. Wentworth Miller makes any appearance as Snart, which is a real treat. The way he delivers his lines to snarky Snart perfection is a joy to watch. Thankfully, Barry is able to convince Captain Cold to help him.

Meanwhile, Savitar is with Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) fixing his damaged suit. The Ice Queen questions him about whether he’ll be able to go through with killing Iris when the time comes. He assures that he’ll be able to do the job. He then remembers that The Flash went back in time and got Leonard Snart to help steal The Dominators crystal.  Savitar definitely has the advantage over Team Flash as everything they are planning he already knows so there isn’t an element of surprise. I love seeing Grant Gustin and Danielle Panabaker playing anti versions of the good characters we’re used to seeing. It’s always interesting when the actors who play heroes get to try their hands at villainy.

Barry asks Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) to take Iris to a safe place and to not tell him where it is so Savitar can’t find out where she is hiding. They decide to go to Earth 2.  In the scenes with Joe and Iris, we get the lighter moment in the episode and get to see a father and daughter who get to tell and show how much they love each other.  Joe even sings a song to Iris that he used to sing to her when she was little. I love the chemistry between Jesse L. Martin and Candice Patton. They are really convincing as father and daughter. But all the fun they are having doesn’t stop Iris from remembering the reality of her situation. She asks her father that if she dies to give Barry back the engagement ring.

Team Flash is surprised when Barry arrives at STAR Labs with Leonard Snart. Barry explains that he needed Snart’s help in order to get the crystal. Captain Cold goes over the plan with the team, but tells them that you always take into account variables that a plan can and will go wrong.

At A.R.G.U.S., Lyla Michaels enters with Leonart Snart who she says she has captured. Director Michaels is put through all the security protocols to confirm her identity, including the hand and eye scans. Viewers know that this isn’t the real Lyla Michaels, but Cisco’s way of masking Barry’s form through technology. But, unfortunately, Ramon’s technology can’t help when an agent asks Lyla a code word. HR (Tom Cavanagh) and Dr. Tracy Brand (Anne Dudek) try to offer code word options.  The A.R.G.U.S. agents grow suspicious when Lyla appears unable to give it. So, it’s fight time in order to gain access.  But once Barry and Snart get to the room where the crystal is located, they find that it is being guarded by King Shark. I hope the people who work at A.R.G.U.S. get paid a lot of money as I can’t imagine working in a building where a scary overgrown shark man is in a room in the same building. But back to the problem at hand, how will Barry and Leonard get the crystal with King Shark standing guard? Barry considers using Captain Cold’s gun in order to freeze the Meta.  But Leonard has another idea; if they lower the temperature in the room it will cause King Shark to fall asleep and allow them to steal the crystal while he is in his slumber. Sounds like a pretty good plan, what could go wrong? Well, I’ll tell you what could go wrong and what did go wrong. When Barry and Snart entered the room, they set off the alarm. Barry is able to speed out of there pronto, but Captain Cold isn’t so lucky and Leonard gets trapped in the locked room with an angry King Shark. Is he about to become fish bait? This is where we are reminded that with all he has gone through and what he is continuing to go through, Barry is a hero. He could have easily left Snart to suffer a deadly fate, but Barry saves him, pulling Leonard through the door. King Shark tries to grab Snart by the leg, but gets his arm chopped off. But King Shark is able to regenerate the limb. Barry and Snart are caught by Lyla and her men while they are leaving.  Thankfully, Ms. Michaels doesn’t arrest them for the theft. She knows what she would do if John were in danger so she lets them leave with the weapon. If Lyla had done this when Barry originally asked her for it, she could have saved The Flash a lot of time.  But, of course, he wouldn’t have needed to time travel to Siberia to fetch Snart and the episode would have been sans Wentworth Miller so I’m good with it. Mission accomplished. The Flash time travels back to where he picked up Captain Cold to bring Snart back. Leonard gives Barry some advice in dealing with Savitar. He says, “Your goodness is your strength,” and tells Barry that he should rely on that instead of trying to beat Savitar at his own game. Before they depart for good Snart adds, “That’s why we get along, you see the good in me and I see the bad in you.”

HR makes the mistake of telling Savitar, who he thought was The Flash, Iris is on Earth 2. Wally tries to stop him from getting to his sister, but Savitar breaks his leg. Joe looks at the damaged Barry Allen, who is now Savitar, and tries to remind him that he was once his son. But this tactic doesn’t work on the stone cold Savitar.  Not wanting Savitar to hurt her dad, Iris agrees to go off with him.

While Barry and Joe go to Infantino Street to stop Savitar from killing Iris, Cisco meets with Killer Frost for the confrontation that Cisco saw when he vibe early in the season. Killer Frost wants to kill Cisco so she can get rid of the good Caitlin Snow once and for all and become a god.

At Infantino Street, the battle begins with Savitar and The Flash realizes that The Philosopher’s Stone doesn’t work on him. Then, the moment Barry and viewers have been dreading happens – Savitar stabs Iris…killing her. As Barry is cradling her lifeless body, we get to hear the video message that Iris was recording for Barry at the beginning of the episode: She was reciting her wedding vows to him if they didn’t get to marry.

Is Iris really dead? Will Barry again time travel to the past as The Flash to bring her back? Next week it’s the season finale.