'The Flash' Recap: 'Killer Frost'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

When we leave behind unfinished business, and do our best to run from it, the past will always come back to haunt us. Call it fate, call it karma, but one way or another, the universe forces us to deal with what we have done and that's a harsh, harsh lesson that Barry Allen was forced to learn on The Flash last night. 

Because after weeks of feel good stories, and Barry cementing himself as a beacon of hope for his friends, family and Central City for that matter...the walls came crashing down around him and it all started with Catilin's first steps toward becoming 'Killer Frost'. Of course her intentions were noble in this episode, she simply wanted to be free of her powers so that she wouldn't become an evil monster. But the best laid plans sometimes don't go our way and the more she pushed to find Alchemy, the more she pushed herself into darker and darker places. After all, she kidnapped Julian without giving it a second thought and she wounded Barry as a means of self preservation and her mental collapse was only the beginning to Barry's bad night. 

Because in the process of trying to free herself of her powers...she shattered the team's unity by leaving everyone on edge and at one point revealed to Cisco that his brother was alive and well in the other timeline before Barry toyed with the nature of time and space. This giant and sudden fracture in the team more or less led everyone to essentially do their own thing and it prompted Joe to finally follow his gut and only his gut, especially when it came to Wally and the creepy Cocoon he was trapped within. He thought it was high time to get his boy out of that mess and with H.R.'s assistance he cut it open, unleashing a confused Wally upon the world, one that now had the speed force flowing through his veins.  

But the centerpiece of the night, was what we learned about Alchemy and Savitar and before we get too deep into that, I need to issue a correction. Because in last week's recap I incorrectly assumed that these two villains were one in the same, but they are not. For that I apologize and it is important I get that fact straight since both villains played quite the important role in the story last night, since Savitar established himself as one powerful deity for Barry to face off against seeing as to how he can more or less move from one point to another instantaneously with his incredible speed. But more importantly, we came to learn the true identity of his servant Alchemy and it turns out that after all this time, it's someone that's been at odds with Barry and Meta Humans on a regular basis...Julian. That revelation of course will raise all kinds of questions about whether or not Julian is a meta, and if his position at C.C.P.D. and his request to have Barry resign is all in the name of advancing the agenda of Savitar.

On the plus side however, this episode does end on a happy note and a mature one at that. Mainly because of the fact that Barry owns up to his mistakes, and once again is willing to sacrifice to save others. He essentially offers up his own life to break through Caitlin's evil wall and he does his best to patch things up with Cisco, he helps Wally begin to adjust to life as a speedster and he does indeed resign from the Central City Police Department in order to keep Caitlin's secret safe. But either way, Barry has a long road ahead when it comes to repairing some of the damage he has caused but it looks like he is finally ready to face whatever comes his way with grace and class because as H.R. put it, the young man is truly a beacon of hope and he does inspire others. But he will need to work quickly to put the team back together because Savitar and his lackey are wasting no time in assembling an army and whatever it is they are up to is going make Barry's life hell until he can figure out how to defeat the God of Speed. Until next time.

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