Duck Fox

The Flash is proving to be quite the dizzying series. Last week I complained about the lack of real progress in the main character arcs as well as a lack of interesting, complex and challenging villains. This week, I can scarcely believe I’m watching the same show as the week before. And it’s primarily thanks to the ever amazing Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards from… Oh come on, you know) as Barry’s temporary sidechick and Wentworth Miller as the cool badass Captain Cold, who actually pushes Barry to do some really cool things by being truly heinous: killing someone while he and Barry do battle. 

The episode starts as idyllic as usual, with Barry playing a trio of games against his labmates in STAR Labs. Then they hear a robbery is ongoing, and Barry races off to find an armored truck being attacked. He manages to stop the robbery, but not before a guard gets shot. He gets the guard to the hospital and has a chat with Joe about the robber. After a fast flip through of a suspect book, Barry singles out Leonard Snart. Funny name, but not so funny guy—he’s a notoriously skilled thief who meticulously plans out his “jobs” so he can get away clean. And his latest job involves using a stolen “cryogun” to rob a museum full of diamonds. 

From here, episode becomes a fast paced, high stakes thrill ride full of the superhero action I had been waiting for. Make no mistake, this isn’t to the detriment of the characters. How could it be when Felicity shows up? Felicity, Eddie, Barry and Iris have a particularly amusing and illuminating scene at a local restaurant when Felicity and Barry somehow get invited on what’s really a date for Eddie and Iris. The flirtations between Barry and Felicity start with their killing it at game night and getting each other’s nerdy jokes, and end with Barry planting one on her! 

The Flash Streak has a much worse date night. He runs out to stop the museum heist, only to face the wrath of Captain Cold. And in a pivotal scene, he fails to prevent the death of an innocent bystander during the battle. I admit, actually having Barry fail is perhaps the most engrossing thing about this hour. And to add insult to injury, turns out the cryogun was developed by Cisco. The same goofball that’s such a huge fan of Barry was trying to figure out a way to kill him, should it ever come to it, before they met. It’s all very Batman. And yes, I did just compare Cisco to Batman. Weird… Point is, Barry is double demoralized by the fact that his own friend came up with the device that ended someone’s life. 

He gets his mojo back, though, by having a nice chat with Felicity as she’s leaving via train. Train that is promptly attacked by Captain Cold. In the climax, the show really shines by having Barry rescue every single passenger on the train in a stunning sequence. The way the red blur traverses the tumbling, shifting mass of train cars as they crumple towards a stop after the crash is truly some of the best work the show has done. It’s the equivalent of Arrow’s best hand to hand combat scenes, and I am really thrilled this series has the budget to do stuff like this. After rescuing everyone, Barry faces down Cold directly and it’s not looking good until Cisco arrives to save the day! Once again, I’m impressed with the depth that has been added to Cisco’s character over the past few weeks. He’s really become interesting in his own right. He bluffs Captain Cold into backing down, leaving the inevitable return on the table. The episode ends with reconciliations all around, and Captain Cold encountering old buddy Dominic Purcell Heat Wave. Now this looks like it’ll be good!