I saw all those promotional images of this week’s episode and I was excited because Leonard Snart was back!
Oh, how I have been deceived.
Sure, Snart was there. But was he really? I’ve quite grown to like the character of Snart and when I found out he was no longer a part of the Legends, I was thoroughly disappointed. I know, I know – Wenthworth Miller is needed elsewhere, but it just stings a little bit.
The episode revolves around a couple of different things. One of them being two new metahumans who have resurfaced three years after the particle accelerator explosion – Top and Mirror Master. Sam Scudder initially seeks revenge on Leonard Snart over a previous tussle, while not actually realizing he spent three years stuck inside a mirror. Meanwhile, Rosa Dillon has been stuck in prison and is eventually rescued by her lover and the two form a sort of Bonnie and Clyde relationship, where they rob banks and be bad and in love together. Cute.
I’d like to say I appreciated these villains, but then I’d be lying. The CW series has never done justice to The Rogues. The best thing we got out of that was Snart, but they took him away from us. But the Top and Mirror Master were just so bland. I wasn’t interested in their characters, I thought their motives lacked depth. Yeah, everyone’s out for revenge in Central City, but these two just don’t stand out to me at all.
On the other hand, Barry and Iris still struggle to lead a regular dating life. Barry feels awkward kissing Iris around Joe which ultimately upsets her. It made me feel awkward too, by the way. This particular episode actually struck me and made me feel super awkward about Barry and Iris. Barry feeling uneasy around Joe reminded me that Barry thinks of him as a father, and that Barry and Iris are practically siblings. And once you remember that Joe raised both of them together, and they both consider him a father, that cringy feeling just doesn’t fade away. Iris tells Barry to talk to Joe, but that obviously doesn’t do much and Barry still feels wrong being affectionate towards Iris when Joe’s in the room.
Speaking of relationships, Jesse and Wally give dating a shot too. Harry being Harry yells out “No touching!” as Jesse and Wally hold hands and the two speed off. Wally is worried about the two having deeper feelings as he knows Jesse eventually has to leave, so the two agree on just being “friends” after a quick kiss. I really really really like the relationship between Jesse and Wally (be it friendly or romantic). It’s just so pure and innocent, and new to ‘The Flash’ – and I really do hope the two work out, what with all the failed relationships we’ve seen so far.
The team tries to convince Harry not to go back to Earth-2, as they (along with all of us) feel like Team Flash is incomplete without him. Harry decides that they could just pick another Harrison Wells from the multiverse, but tries to hide the fact that he’d be upset with how “replaceable” he could be. Harry, Cisco and Caitlin go through a screening process of a few different Harrison’s, and come across an English Wells, a mime version, and a hipster Wells with a top hat. Cisco and Caitlin ultimately decide that the last Wells seems to be a perfect fit, but Harry doesn’t as his “gut” doesn’t think he’s the right one. I love seeing Harry angsty and jealous. It just makes me love him even more.
While we’re on the topic of Harry, I didn’t think Tom Cavanaugh could be any better. But every episode he just proves to be a vital part of this series, and I truly believe that if he wasn’t apart of the series, it could be forgettable for so many people. Four for you, Tom Cavanaugh.
Jesse assumes the mantle Jesse Quick as she goes into her first battle with Barry. The two attempt to stop Top and Mirror Master after they’ve robbed a bank, but the latter two have the upper hand when Team Flash is caught off-guard by their powers. Top has the ability to induce extreme vertigo, while Mirror Master can travel through mirrors. Barry tells Jesse to stay behind while he runs after the two, but Jesse runs along, thinking she’d be able to help him. Top ends up taking Jesse down, and Barry gets stuck in a mirror. Jesse ends up blaming herself and storms off once back at STAR Labs, only to be followed by Wally to reassures her that she’s still learning and that it’s okay to fail sometimes.
Harry, Cisco and Caitlin put their brains together to come up with a way to get Barry out of the mirror, realizing that Barry could phase out if the temperature of the mirror was reduced to absolute zero. They don’t manage to get the temperature low enough on time, and while everyone except Caitlin rushes to look at the new metahuman alert, Caitlin uses her powers to freeze the mirror, making sure no one catches her in the act. The fact that Caitlin seems to be hiding her powers (even though most of her friends are openly meta humans) raises the fact that she too could’ve been visited by Dr. Alchemy and gotten her powers from him. Does that mean we get to see Killer Frost vs The Flash again? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Once Barry’s out, he figures out a way to stop Mirror Master, and Jesse and him race into action yet again. Using a hologram of Captain Cold, they lure Mirror Master away and Barry traps him in mirrors. How the tables have turned.
Jesse shines as she basically dropkicks Top and proves herself to be a worthy superhero. Violet Beane incredibly shines in this episode as well. I appreciate the character development for Jesse and how she’s becoming more of an important character, considering that the first time we saw her was when she was crying under the captivity of Zoom. I think everyone has had a significant character development on this series, which says a lot about the writers and producers – some CW shows still fail to impress me with certain characters but I won’t drop names.
Once the two speedsters return back to STAR Labs, Jesse and Harry go back home after meeting Harrison Wells from Earth-17. While saying goodbye to Cisco, Harry informs him that the two of them weren’t the reason Barry was able to escape his mirror prison.
The new Harrison Wells, or HR, appears to have a better sense of humour than the past two incarnations we’ve seen. If that means that there’s going to be a lot more comedy from Tom Cavanaugh, you can definitely count me in.
The episode ends with Caitlin taking a hot shower, but it ends up freezing into ice midway and a chuck of her hair turns white. I’m also happy that the series is finally making Caitlin more important and giving her more screen time. She was the one character that I’ve loved since the very beginning and my feelings towards her always stayed the same throughout, even when we saw her Earth-2 counterpart.
If anything has been proved from this episode, it’s that the third season of ‘The Flash’ is surely going to be a rollercoaster and we’re in for a treat.
