Tha Flash is back with Episode 3 of Season 2, “Family of Rogues”, in which Team Flash faces off against Captain Cold– with a twist!
Things start off with a little extra fun this episode, including Barry forcing Iris to jump out a window to avoid a shootout even though he could have run up the building, grabbed her, and brought her back down in the amount of time it took to convince her to jump. For real, Barry?!
Back at STAR Labs, Jay Garrick and the gang are trying to figure out the best way to rebuild a wormhole, which will have no consequences whatsoever, we’re sure! Barry tries to breach it with his super speed with no luck, so Jay asks Caitlin and her petite surgeon’s hands for some help that he doesn’t really need. We see through you, Garrick!
But before things can get too chill, we zone in on Joe West meeting with Francine, his estranged wife. Joe actually tries to pay her off and it’s clear that this woman has some deep, dark secrets. Is one of those secrets Wally West? Or will he come from Earth-2?
The real meat of the episode stems from some casual coffee at Jitters. First, Barry and Patty have an adorkable, fumbly meeting thanks to the nice of their new drink.
Caitlin is super worried about Professor Stein, guaranteeing a major issue for him to come. Jokes abound. And then Lisa Snart shows up with a problem addressed to Cisco: Her brother has been kidnapped and she needs his help. Not only does nobody try to detain the known criminal, Cisco and the gang agree to help because he’s all caught up in her feminine wiles.
*grumble grumble* Look, we want Cisco to find a love interest! Can it just not be Lisa Snart? It’s not not our jam.
Barry tracks down Captain Cold, who swears he’s working with his evil father on his own free will. Then when daddy-o comes around, he smothers Barry with the cold gun that killed people and severely injured Barry immediately with a short blast before… but apparently doesn’t do that anymore!
It turns out Lewis Smart aka Colonel Cold put an exploding bomb in his employees’ skin, because that’s totes normal when you want to control someone, right? Patty Spivot is really happy about examining the dead body. Science is fascinating but that. is. weird. But from the examination, Team Flash gathers that Lisa also has a bomb in her skin and that’s why Snart is working with his good ol’ dad.
In the basement with a wormhole, Jay Garrick reveals that he stopped purifying the radiation-filled water supply on Earth-2 to be a superhero because the work was more immediately satisfying. Work that could saved thousands of lives forever stopped so he can save a few lives here and there. GOOD JOB, GUY! But more importantly: There’s a Big Belly Burger on Earth-2!
And then.. The big West family reveal.
Francine was a serious drug addict who endangered Iris as a child and fled from rehab, never to be seen again. Even though she was young, Iris was old enough to dial 911, so she probably had the function to retain some memories. Unless it was so traumatic she blocked it out? Either way, Joe lied and told Iris that Francine was dead to keep her from feeling abandoned and… WHAT IS THIS WATER ON MY FACE?!
Back with THE family of rogues, Barry infiltrates Snart’s plan as their new tech guy.
He’s a terrible actor and even has the go into Flash mode once to save some guards– apparently, if your back is turned, you won’t notice The Flash’s lightning!– but he gets Snart into the Draycon vault. And gets shot. Don’t worry, as a cop’s kid, he knows the importance of kevlar!
There’s more Lisa/Cisco as he lovingly extracts the bomb from her skin (*gag*) but once it’s done, freaking Captain Cold kills his own father! …Not that the guy didn’t have it coming.
Leonard Snart goes to Iron Heights prison without question, but hints at his eventual escape and hints even more heavily at possibly becoming the hero someday, which is what he’ll obviously do on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
Meanwhile, what is this Patty/Barry action? Do we… like it? WE KNOW, WE KNOW. We don’t want Parry to be endgame, but maybe it’s kinda cute. Maybe.
As things wrap up, Jay Garrick has rebuilt the wormhole with superior Earth-2 technological skills, but the team convinces him to stay until he can get his powers back and come up with a plan to beat Zoom.
Martin Stein begins to seriously tweak (thanks for the prediction, Caitlin!) and as the team leaves to help him it happens:
HARRISON WELLS STEPS THROUGH THE COMPLETELY UNGUARDED OPEN PORTAL
Dammit guys! Didn’t anyone consider security for this thing?! Also, since when is Harrison Wells the Terminator? Look at that pose!
Until next time!