Barry and Team Flash are faced with the problem of closing the multitude of breaches around Central City, while Captain Cold and his villainous family return to torment The Flash.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The episode starts off with Barry heroically rescuing Iris from two armed attackers. These attackers were running a real estate scam that Iris uncovered to a front page worthy story, thus further establishing Iris’ continued strength and independence from last season.
It continues with Garrick, Barry and the rest of the team discovering the breach in their proverbial basement. Of course, they can’t simply go through it, even after Barry takes a running start at it. They realize they need to stabilize the wormhole in order to make it through to Earth 2, which becomes Jay’s story for the episode.
Meanwhile, Joe has to deal with the return of his wife(ex-wife?). Apparently, she has decided to return because Iris recently lost Eddie and she has decided Iris needs her mother. Because, you know, being missing for 20 years is pretty forgettable once your fiancé dies. Joe tries to pay her off which she refuses because that would certainly be a boring end to this sub-plot.
The ongoing ‘chemistry’ between Barry and Patty continues to grow even as the Snarts make their return, as you could have probably guessed from the title of the episode. Apparently, Captain Cold has been kidnapped and his sister, Lisa/ Golden Glider, needs the Flashes help getting him back. But, of course, when Barry finds Cold, he’s not in peril at all and just working with dear old dad, Lewis Snart.
To be fair, they do have to set up ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ pretty quickly, so of course the Snarts showed back up, right?
So, obviously the return of Iris’ mother and Snarts father are not coincidence as they become the thematic core of the episode. While Joe has to deal with the decision of telling Iris about the lies he’s been telling about the death of her mother, Snart is forced to pair with father where he may or may not realize he’s not the villain his father is.
With no surprise to anyone at all, Jay and Caitlin’s relationship continues to bloom, even as Jay continues to explain in minute detail what he used to be researching before becoming the Flash. It seems obvious now, especially after the introduction of alternate Dr. Wells last week, that Jay and Caitlin will continue to grow closer until the inevitable appearance of an alternate Ronnie. This puts this particular sub-plot in the awkward stage of going through the motions though it’ll be interesting to see how far the writers decide to take this particular storyline.
Once the team discovers that Leonard is working with his father because Lewis had injected Lisa with a bomb, Barry goes undercover to keep Lewis and Leonard busy while Cisco works on removing the bomb. This results in Captain Cold killing his father after Cisco, of course, removes the bomb successfully. Snart ends up back in Iron Heights with Barry telling him he still sees the good in him.
We wrap up with Jay Garrick stabilizing the wormhole but deciding to stay to help the team with an effective Flash stop Zoom. Then, Professor Stein catches fire, but with a blue flame before passing out. And, last but not least, Tom Cavanagh reappeared again as a Dr. Wells stepped through the stable portal in the episodes stinger.
This episode definitely pulled on the heartstrings with some pretty serious emotional scenes to showcase the abandoned family theme that tied the episode together. As usual, Jesse Martin delivered a moving performance and was really the emotional crux of the episode. On the flipside, the show continued to try to humanize Leonard Snart to turn him into a more heroic character for his inevitable split from the show.
The Snart family storyline was ultimately undercut by a scene chewing performance from Michael Ironside. The other big guest star, Vanessa Williams, is barely recognizable but wholly convincing as the returning mother of Iris. Hopefully, with her list of appearances set to be longer than Ironside’s, she can bring more to the show than some over the top villainy.
What’s more, the classic end of episode cliffhanger brought two burning (not sorry at all) questions. What will happen to Professor Stein now that his Fireside powers have rekindled (still not sorry)? But, most importantly, what purpose does this alternate Dr. Wells have for coming through the wormhole?!