The Flash – Killer Frost

By: Stacy Miller

When last we saw The Flash (Grant Gustin) he was caught in Savitar’s deadly chokehold. The menacing Savitar tells Barry that he is more powerful than The Flash and proves it by clutching him like a rag doll and speeding off across the city with him. Barry is helpless.

Meanwhile at STAR Labs, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is monitoring Barry’s movements. Realizing that their friend is in danger, he and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) use their abilities to rescue Barry. Caitlin’s Killer Frost powers temporary freeze Savitar where he stands, but the villain shows speed overrides cold and escapes. He has more terrorizing to do!

Joe (Jesse L. Martin) is frantic because his son Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) is trapped in the strange cocoon. At Central City Police Department, he interrogates the Meta Human they captured to get the whereabouts of Doctor Alchemy so he can find a way to free his son. The worried father intends to beat answers out of their suspect. But Caitlin arrives and tells him that Wally is now awake. Relieved, Joe rushes off to STAR Labs to see his son. But it turns out that Caitlin was lying, she needed to get the suspect alone so she could question him about Doctor Alchemy’s location as she wants him to take away her Killer Frost powers. Caitlin uses her Killer Frost powers on the man. His screams for help alert the police in the precinct who try to get through the door. Caitlin escapes, but kidnaps Julian (Tom Felton) in the process. It seems that Killer Frost has totally taken over. And as what usually happens with most Meta Humans we’ve seen, the dark side of Caitlin Snow is now in control. She uses her icy touch on Julian, warning that she’ll do worse unless he helps her find Doctor Alchemy.

By now, Team Flash learn that Caitlin is no longer the mild-mannered doctor they know and love. Detective Tom Patterson (Greg Grunberg) is determined to apprehend her. Barry tries to talk Caitlin down, not wanting her to do something that she will regret. But Killer Frost is in charge and Caitlin doesn’t care if she kills Julian as long as she finds Doctor Alchemy. For the sake of this recap, I will be referring to Caitlin as Killer Frost from this point on. Killer Frost taunts Barry that even though he always tries to be “the good guy” and do everything right, he has a history of failures. Knowing that Cisco can hear everything, she asks whether he knows that Barry is the reason his brother Dante (Nicholas Gonzalez) is dead. If Barry hadn’t created the Flashpoint timeline, Dante would never had died in that car accident. Killer Frost not only uses her cold touch but also her icy words to hurt! When Detective Patterson and a team of cops starts firing at the door, The Flash saves Killer Frost from serious injury. But does she say thank you? Yeah, because villains are always so grateful when you save their lives. Ah, no. Killer Frost takes an icicle and wounds The Flash warning that a worse fate awaits him if he tries to follow her as she escapes.

Back at STAR Labs, Cisco confronts Barry about what Killer Frost said asking if he responsible for Dante’s death? Barry tries to explain, but it’s obvious to Cisco that Barry’s only thought when he created Flashpoint was to save his own family and he didn’t care about the consequences. Angry, Cisco tells Barry to stay there while he and Joe go and track Killer Frost down. She’ll probably be searching for other Doctor Alchemy followers to get the information she needs.

HR (Tom Cavanagh) and Joe talk about the situation. HR is confident that Barry will prove the victor, telling Joe that “Barry’s real superpower isn’t speed. It’s hope.”

At the home of the Doctor Alchemy follower, Killer Frost tells the man how she always wanted to be a doctor and began practice the Hippocratic Oath at a young age. She always intended to help others and do no harm. But that has all changed. Killer Frost will be helping herself and will be doing him a lot of harm unless he tells her where Doctor Alchemy is. He tells her that Doctor Alchemy serves Savitar and that from the vision that Savitar showed them of the future, Caitlin Snow will be glorious. Before she (and viewers) can learn more, Cisco shows up. He and Killer Frost battle. The Flash arrives to stop this killer fight, but an injured speedster is pretty much little help. Cisco uses his Vibe ability to immobilize Killer Frost.

Back at STAR Labs, Killer Frost is put in the pipeline. That doesn’t stop her cruel taunts which are aimed at Barry. He begins to doubt himself and his role as The Flash. It is Iris (Candice Patton) who’s continued love and support offers him encouragement. “This is why I couldn’t do this without you,” Barry tells her. I think all superheroes need an Iris West in their lives!

Meanwhile, there is a power surge at STARS Labs, courtesy of Joe who has decided to free Wally from the cocoon. And no, it wasn’t HR’s idea. Wally can’t seem to stop vibrating and then takes off, using the powers of a speedster. Unfortunately, the only person who can help him is Dr. Caitlin Snow. So, Barry returns to the pipeline and tells Killer Frost what happened. The Ice Queen couldn’t care less about Wally West. Barry lets Killer Frost out of the pipeline, but tells her that in order to leave STAR Labs she’ll have to kill him first. In the end, the warm heart of Caitlin Snow melts the icy one of Killer Frost. Caitlin is back! Dr. Snow explains to Team Flash that once he was released from the cocoon, Wally’s body wasn’t completely back to normal and now his body and mind are operating at different speed levels. She makes a serum to even the process. They locate Wally and give him the serum. Wally is back to normal. Phew! Well, now he is a speedster but both his body and mind are working at the same frequency and he’s happy with his new ability.

Joe tells Barry that Julian is awake. Barry goes to the hospital and pleads with him not to turn Caitlin into the police. Julian agrees but only if Barry agrees to his terms, which is for Barry to quit Central City CSI. Julian says that emotion for friends has no place in CSI work. Iris and Joe learn that Barry quit his job to save Caitlin and although sorry that he gave up a job he loved that he was good at, they admire him for his actions.

The episode ends with Savitar coming to Julian. It is revealed that Julian is Doctor Alchemy.