In ‘The Flash’ recap, Caitlin faces off with Killer Frost, Wally gets his wish and Alchemy’s true identity is finally revealed…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Something special always seems to happen whenever Kevin Smith arrives to direct an episode of ‘The Flash’.
In season two, Smith made his first appearance on the show to direct the episode ‘The Runaway Dinosaur’ and it was the strongest and most emotionally charged hour quite possibly in the history of the series.
On Tuesday night, Smith returned to ‘The Flash’ to direct ‘Killer Frost’ and he once again captured the best elements of what makes this arguably the top superhero series on television.
Following a brief battle with Savitar — the god of speed — who revealed himself as the real mastermind behind what’s been happening in Central City ever since Barry created the ‘Flashpoint’ timeline — the episode shifted into a Caitlin-centric hour where she tried to deal with her new meta-powers and eventual transformation into ‘Killer Frost’.
Add onto that, Wally West finally realizing his dream to become Kid Flash as well as the final moments where Dr. Alchemy’s identity was revealed — Smith got all the best parts of ‘The Flash’ season three rolled into one outstanding episode.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘The Flash’ titled ‘Killer Frost’…
Cold Blooded
As The Flash is held captive by Savitar, Joe is trying to fight off Alchemy’s acolytes to lend some assistance except for one problem — he can’t even see the “God of Speed” but instead only witnesses Barry lifted into the air by some kind of invisible force.
Savitar tells Barry that he’s going to show him something and the two of them race off into Central City. Savitar is faster than any speedster we’ve ever seen before — his movement is so quick it’s almost like he’s teleporting from place to place with a streak of white lightning following wherever he goes.
After kicking the crap out of Barry, it appears that Savitar is going to finish him off but Cisco convinces Caitlin to use her icy powers to slow him down. Cisco opens a portal to the roof where Savitar is holding Barry and when the arrive, Caitlin freezes the creature. It only holds Savitar for a moment before he breaks free and disappears, but at least Barry is safe.
Back at STAR Labs, the team only has more questions now that Savitar has been revealed as the real power broker with Dr. Alchemy as his loyal servant. They are going to have to do a lot more digging into this guy, but they’ve also got other problems to deal with — most notable Wally being locked in some kind of cocoon after touching the power stone belonging to Alchemy.
The biggest obstacle this episode, however, is Caitlin beginning to transform into Killer Frost with every icicle that drips from her fingers. Caitlin’s mother warned her that the more she used her powers, the less she’d have control over them as she fully evolved as a metahuman. So Caitlin decides to get help from the only person she knows who has the ability to give or take powers — Dr. Alchemy.
After Joe comes up short in his attempt to question one of Alchemy’s acolytes captured at the warehouse where they did battle with his master and Savitar, Caitlin arrives at the police station to do her own interrogation. She tells Joe that Wally has been freed of the cocoon — except he’s not at all — but that gets rid of him so Caitlin can talk to Alchemy’s minion.
Unfortunately, Alchemy’s foot soldier doesn’t tell her much and on her way out of the station, she’s discovered by Julian, who she ultimately kidnaps to keep him quiet. That forces the entire police force to arm up to hunt down the person who abducted him, which means they are going after Caitlin with everything in their arsenal and that’s bad news for Barry and the gang.
The Hunt for Caitlin
Caitlin didn’t just kidnap Julian with no purpose — she uses the CSI scientist to create an algorithm to help track down anybody in Central City who may have been searching for Dr. Alchemy or the word Savitar. Julian turns up two results, which leads Caitlin to believe one or both of them could be more of his acolytes and they must have the answer to find him. Caitlin wants to get rid of these powers and she’s convinced Alchemy is the only man for the job.
Thanks to some quick thinking from H.R. (his job is finally paying off), he recommends that Cisco search for Caitlin using the same software that tracked down Captain Cold once upon a time. It works like a charm and Barry races off to stop Caitlin from doing whatever she’s doing.
When he arrives, Barry knocks Julian out cold — for precautionary measures so he doesn’t hear anything too secretive — and then tries to convince Caitlin to suppress Killer Frost and come back to them. Instead, Caitlin lashes out and tries to hurt Barry with every personal attack she can manage — including the revelation that his journey back in time not only didn’t save his mother but he managed to get Cisco’s brother killed.
That news hits Cisco like a ton of bricks because in the original timeline, his brother Dante was alive and well. Meanwhile, Caitlin finally gets the upper hand on Barry by stabbing him in the leg so she can make her getaway.
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco doesn’t want much to do with Barry after learning how his actions affected his own family but he agrees to a cease fire for now so they can help Caitlin. After hacking into Julian’s computer, he finds the addresses of the two men who might be Alchemy’s acolytes and they team up to stake out the houses until Caitlin arrives. Cisco takes one house, Joe and H.R. take another and Barry is ordered to stay behind because he’s already done enough damage.
When Caitlin finally arrives at one of the houses, she questions the acolyte about Alchemy’s power and whether or not he could return her to human form. He explains that Alchemy can take away powers as much as give them but there’s no chance he’ll do that for Caitlin because they’ve seen the future and Killer Frost plays a major role in Savitar’s return and eventual rule over the Earth.
Caitlin is shocked by the news and she’s even more surprised leaving the house to find Cisco there waiting for her. The two engage in a fight before Barry finally shows up and tries to stop her. Caitlin gets the better of him again, this time laying a cold kiss on his lips that freezes him but that distraction gives Cisco the opening to zap her unconscious.
They return Caitlin to STAR Labs and lock her up, but inside the cell she’s just as vindictive and angry as before. Caitlin is going for the jugular against everyone she loves while trying to find a way to escape the holding cell.
With Caitlin locked up and Cisco barely talking to him, Barry has art to heart with Iris as he regrets just about every decision he made since stopping Zoom and deciding to travel back through time to save his mother. That one moment impacted almost everyone’s lives around him and Barry feels responsible for Dante’s death and Caitlin’s current peril. Iris reminds Barry that everyone makes mistake, even the all powerful Flash and he only did what he thought was right. She also tells him that there’s no way to predict the future — maybe Caitlin always had these powers but they never manifested until now. Maybe Dante was going to die in a car crash regardless of ‘Flashpoint’.
As Barry starts to come around to her way of thinking, he then reminds Iris that this is exactly why he needs her on the team.
The Race Against Time
With everyone in turmoil, Joe makes a decision about Wally — he’s going to cut him out of that cocoon because there’s no telling what’s happening to him inside. When he finally breaks through, the cocoon explodes but Wally is left standing — and vibrating. A moment later, Wally speeds out of the room, which means he finally has powers but perhaps he can’t control them.
Because Wally never fully matured in the cocoon like the other metahumans, he wasn’t developed all the way and his mind and body are just out of sync. It’s going to require a biochemist to create a concoction to save him and that just happens to be Caitlin’s specialty.
So Barry goes to see her and rather than get into another fight, he lets Caitlin out of the cell and dares her to kill him because he know she won’t do it. Sure enough, Killer Frost fades and Caitlin re-emerges and gives Barry a hug for always believing in her.
With Caitlin back on the team, she produces a chemical that will put Wally together again and after Barry and Joe track him down, they administer the drug. Sure enough, Wally is perfectly fine except one small difference — he’s now a speedster with all the same abilities as Barry.
Kid Flash is reborn again.
Alchemy Revealed
With everything (mostly) back to normal, Caitlin has one major concern left — she kidnapped Julian and he knows exactly who she is. Barry agrees to try and convince him that turning her in isn’t the best idea. When Barry visits Julian in the hospital, he explains that not every situation is black and white and Caitlin is truly a good person who doesn’t deserve to go to jail for this.
Julian agrees to “forget” who kidnapped him under one condition — Barry has to quit the Central City P.D. According to Julian, Barry just doesn’t have the moral compass that’s required to be an agent of law enforcement. He colors outside the lines too often and doesn’t known the difference between right and wrong.
With no other choice but to save Caitlin, Barry agrees to give up his career to appease Julian. Neither Joe nor Iris are happy about his decision but he’s resigned to save Caitlin from any more trouble. As Barry reveals, he’d give up anything and everything to protect the people he loves and that means Joe, Iris, Wally, Caitlin and Cisco take priority over anything else — even his own career.
Later that night, Julian hears a voice in his head that forces him out of bed and at first he tries to run away before being pulled towards a drawer in his own home. The voice belongs to Savitar and he’s commanding his acolyte to help him make his long awaited return — more on that in a second — and when Juliain opens the drawer, he’s told to put on the mask one more time — become Alchemy again!
Julian Albert is Dr. Alchemy.
As for Savitar’s return — my guess is he’s locked between two worlds, either the speed force and Earth or perhaps the two alternate timelines between Flashpoint and the current world and only Alchemy can affect his escape from purgatory. That would explain why Barry could see him as a fellow speedster, but nobody else could catch a glimpse of him at all.
‘The Flash’ returns next Tuesday night at 8pm ET as the mega crossover event kicks off on the CW with Supergirl, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow as well!
