“The Flash a thief? That’s my kind of mission,” says Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) after being recruited by Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) to help him steal the power source he needs to defeat Savitar from ARGUS in season three episode 22 of The CW’s The Flash.
The episode begins at 12:03am, exactly 24 hours before Iris (Candice Patton) will die at the hands of Savitar. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is working at S.T.A.R. Labs scanning Central City with satellites in the hopes of finding a power source to power up the Speed Force Bazooka with no luck. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) are at home comforting each other while Barry and Iris are lying awake in bed. Barry tells Iris the entire team is on it and will find a way to make their plan work. She asks him to get her some caviar and he speeds off. While he’s gone, Iris records a message for Barry.
The next morning, Barry receives a call from Cisco telling him he thinks he’s found the solution to their problem. While scanning the city the satellites picked up on an energy source in ARGUS that looks like it will do the job. Barry and Cisco then meet with Lyla Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson) who’s in charge of ARGUS (and a good friend of theirs) to explain what they discovered and ask if they can borrow the power source. Lyla admits to possessing the power source, telling them it’s a piece of the Dominators tech. However, they can’t have it because it’s too dangerous a weapon if it falls into the wrong hands. Barry pleads with Lyla, explaining if she doesn’t let them use it Iris will die tonight. Lyla still refuses saying they will have to find another way. (Damn…and I thought Killer Frost was cold!)
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry tells Team Flash that their only option is to break into ARGUS and steal the Dominators energy source. Cisco points out that ARGUS has a built-in metahuman dampener so Barry and Wally won’t be able to use their powers. It also is better protected than Fort Knox and none of them are master thieves. This gives Barry an idea and he time travels to 1892 Siberia to get Leonard Snart to help him.
Snart is surprised to see Barry and asks why he wants his help. Barry tells him it’s to save Iris. “True love? That’s your pitch?” asks Snart. After Barry tells him why he needs his particular skill set to pull off an impossible heist, Snart, loving the idea of The Flash becoming a thief, is in as long as they do it “his” way.
They head back to S.T.A.R. Labs where H.R. (Tom Cavanagh) is proposing a ridiculous idea to Team Flash on how to enter ARGUS. Not surprising, Team Flash is not happy to see Snart (aka Captain Cold) but Barry tells them he’s going to help them break into ARGUS. Cisco points out that Snart is dead and the team realize Barry time-traveled again to bring Snart to them. Barry is adamant this is their only option, telling Iris who’s upset he time-traveled again that he’ll do anything to save her and will put Snart back right where he found him when he’s done. Hence, he’s not altering the timeline.
Meanwhile in Savitar’s lair, evil Barry is repairing his suit while Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) admires his suit, telling him it’s “pretty badass and very god-like.” “We’re a team, right? Barry and Caitlin at it again,” says Frost looking fondly at Barry. His reaction is not what she was hoping for as he slowly looks up from working on his suit and says coldly, “You’re not Caitlin and I’m not Barry.”
This bothers Frost and she starts asking him if he’s really going to go through with killing Iris, pointing out that he remembers everything Barry remembers and has those memories of Barry growing up with Iris and falling in love with her. Frost wants to be sure he can kill Iris. (Frost sounds just a bit jealous.) Evil Barry walks up close to Frost and says, “What I remember is being created as a disposable life, something to be thrown away when Barry Allen was done with me. He didn’t care about me. Why should I care about his love?” Frost looks down and away from Savitar and he takes a better look at her and asks, “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” Frost looks afraid and nods her head no. “Good, because you know what you need to do and when the time comes I expect you to be ready,” says evil Barry. Frost nods her head yes in agreement. Just then Evil Barry gets a new memory of Barry teaming up with Snart to get the alien power source. Frost asks him what he’s seeing and he explains the new memory, laughing. Frost asks if she should stop them and he replies there’s no reason to because “no speed gun can stop a god.”
Snart teaches Barry about committing a heist, discussing the four basic rules. First, make the plan. Second, execute the plan. Third, expect the plan to go off the rails. And four, forget the plan. Barry instructs Joe and Wally to take Iris somewhere safe and not to let him know where it is so Savitar won’t find her. He promises Iris that this isn’t goodbye and Iris tells Barry not to lose himself while trying to save her. While Barry and Snart leave to steal the alien power source, Joe and Wally take Iris to Earth-2 to stay with Harry (Tom Cavanagh).
Barry uses H.R.’s device to duplicate Lyla’s appearance and voice and enters ARGUS as if he’s Lyla bringing Snart in as a prisoner. Barry passes the ID and retina scan but fails the word association test. He has no choice but to knock out the guards while Snart watches, mildly impressed. They work their way down to the bowels of ARGUS and after passing a few reinforced prisons holding Grodd and Cheetah, Barry sees the alien power device in a room that has the new Montgomery 3000 lock on the heavy, nuclear blast-resistant door. Over the headset, Cisco isn’t sure he can break into it when Snart says, “37 seconds,” and shows Barry he just picked the lock. As the two burglars start to open the door Snart hesitates, reminding Barry what comes after “executing the plan.” Just then King Shark attacks the door from inside, trying to get at them. “Plan goes off the rails,” replies Barry.
Over on Earth-2, Joe and Iris share their memories of better times, even admitting when they tricked each other over the years – but only in harmless, fun ways. After laughing and dancing with Joe, Iris asks her father to give Barry his ring back just in case he fails. Joe sadly agrees to do it. (Way to ruin the upbeat mood.)
Back at ARGUS, Barry tells Snart to give him his cold gun and he’ll take care of King Shark. Snart gives him the gun but just as Barry is about to go in and freeze Shark, Snart starts talking about “Shark Week” and how great white sharks need warm water. He continues his shark speech, saying if they make the room cold enough it should put their half-man half-shark to sleep but it’s up to Barry. Barry decides to follow Snart’s lead and they use the cold device in the gun to make the room frosty.
Barry and Snart head into the room and now Snart reminds him of the movie, Jaws, and how it would have been better to never see the shark. Barry gets the power device but it sets off an alarm and the big door begins to quickly close. Barry runs and slides out but Snart was further away from the door and gets locked inside with Killer Shark starting to wake up. Snart points out that in two minutes the guards will be there and that “sometimes you have to make a tough call, Barry,” suggesting he leave him behind. Barry doesn’t hesitate and tells Cisco he has to hack in and open the door fast. Cisco manages to open it just enough that Snart should be able to crawl out, with Snart assuring Cisco that if he saves him he’ll put in a good word with his sister.
Barry starts to pull Snart out as King Shark grabs one of Snart’s legs and tries to pull him back in. Snart yells for Barry and Barry pulls again, clearing Snart of the door. Barry tells Cisco to close it which he does on King Shark’s hand, severing it from his body. (Whew, it looked as if Snart was going to end up like Quint in Jaws.) Barry and Snart are about to leaven when they’re caught by Lyla. Lyla reveals she was watching the whole thing on security footage and when she saw Barry wouldn’t leave Snart behind and risked his own freedom and Iris’s life, he revived her faith in him as a hero. Lyla lets him take the alien power crystal but makes him promise to return it.
Barry takes Snart back to Siberia and as they part ways, Barry asks him if he thought he was going to leave him behind with King Shark. Snart admits he wasn’t sure and that Barry has it in him to be bad after everything he’s gone through. “I see the bad in you the way you see the good in me. That’s why we get along,” says Snart to the Speedster. As Barry turns to leave, Snart offers him advice. Snart says to stop trying to beat Savitar at his own game and that his goodness is his strength.
The Flash speeds into the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs, telling the team they have the alien crystal and asking where Iris is. An elated H.R. says she’s safe with Joe on Earth-2. That’s when Flash turns and faces the team, revealing it’s Savitar in an old Flash suit. He smiles an evil smile at H.R. and speeds off. Cisco calls Barry telling him that Savitar knows where Iris is and warns Harry on Earth-2.
Harry grabs his gun and Joe tells Iris to get behind him. Savitar shows up and Wally takes him on speedster against speedster, but the metal suit is too strong and Savitar wins the fight by breaking Wally’s leg. Joe and Harry fire their guns at the suit but they don’t seem to have much effect. Evil Barry speeds up behind Iris, and Joe and Iris back away while Evil Barry warns Harry if he tries to point his gun at him, he will kill him. Joe, shocked seeing Evil Barry being so malevolent and scarred, asks him not to do this and apologizes for anything he ever did or said that hurt him. Joe reminds Savitar that he was once his son but Savitar just smirks. Joe calls him Barry which makes him angry and he yells, “That’s not my name!” Afraid he might kill Joe and Harry, Iris says she will willingly go with him. Savitar tells Joe that Iris has accepted her fate and he should do the same, as he speeds off with her. Barry arrives but seconds too late.
It’s now 53 minutes until Iris dies. Barry and Team Flash are back at the cortex and Barry asks if the bazooka will work. H.R., Cisco, and Tracy (Anne Dudek) say it will. Barry wants them to make a plan but not tell him so Savitar won’t know what they’re going to do. Cisco is packing up his Vibe tools and tries to make H.R. feel better since he’s extremely upset with himself for being fooled by Savitar and putting Iris in danger. Cisco confesses it could have happened to any of them.
As Cisco leaves, he tells H. R. he’s dependable and for him to hold down the fort. H.R. agrees and looks down at the blade Barry cut off Savitar in an earlier fight. As Cisco is making his way out, he vibes a vision of Killer Frost in the forest calling to him. Barry comes across Cisco asking what he saw and Cisco finally reveals to Barry that ever since Caitlin got her powers, he’s been having visions of them fighting to the death in the woods. Cisco reveals he’s been trying to avoid it and hoping Caitlin wouldn’t go down such a dark path. Barry tells Cisco this is his chance to save Caitlin before she does something she’ll always regret or that will cause her to be lost to them forever. Cisco starts to say that Barry needs him against Savitar, but Barry tells him that Caitlin is away from Savitar now and this is his chance to rescue her. “You go save Caitlin and I’ll save Iris,” says the Scarlet Speedster.
Barry arrives on Infantino Street where Savitar will kill Iris. Joe’s up on the roof of the building putting him behind where Savitar will be. Barry overhears the news footage he saw months earlier and waits for Savitar to show up with Iris.
Meanwhile in the woods, Cisco calls out to Killer Frost who says she’s surprised he showed up. Cisco tells her he doesn’t want to fight her and Frost reveals she needs to kill Caitlin to become a god, and to do that she has to kill him. The two fight (an extremely short fight compared to the other two they’ve had this season) and Frost knocks Cisco off his feet and quickly closes in as he struggles to move back.
Back at Infantino Street, Savitar arrives with Iris and declares this is when he will finally become a god. Barry unveils the Speed Force Bazooka and fires at him, making Savitar speed around avoiding the energy force before finally getting hit with it. At first, it seems to be working, but then Savitar stands up tall and the force from the bazooka disappears. Savitar tells a shocked Barry that the Philosopher’s Stone, which is made of calcified Speed Force energy, protects him and that Barry was the one who gave it back to him. Savitar picks up Iris while Barry pleads for him not to do this and yells at Joe who has frozen in shock. “You lose, Barry,” snarls Savitar. Barry tries to stop him, but Savitar stabs Iris with his metal blade, dropping her lifeless body and speeding off. Barry holds Iris in his arms as the video message Iris left for Barry is played showing her reciting her marriage vows to Barry.
The Flash Season 3 Episode 22 Review:
Jam-packed, suspenseful, and at times rushed, episode 22 titled “Infantino Street” basically tries to cram two episodes into one and comes up weaker than most of the show’s episodes because of it. The plotline to convince Snart to help steal the alien power source and the heist itself is plenty for an episode. The final showdowns between Savitar and The Flash and Cisco and Killer Frost should have been in another episode so those scenes could get both the emotion and the full action sequences they deserve.
The biggest highlight in the episode was without a doubt the return of Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart/Captain Cold. Miller knows exactly how to play this anti-villain and has made the role his own. Also, the chemistry between Miller and Grant as uneasy allies makes every scene between the two crackles with energy. Here’s hoping Snart becomes a regular guest star on the show in season four.
Another highlight in the episode is the scene between Evil Barry and Killer Frost in his lair. It’s obvious Frost is drawn to Evil Barry and seems to be hoping for a closer relationship between the two of them. Something similar to what Caitlin had with Barry but even more. Gustin and Panabaker have amazing chemistry on the show and to see them play these dark and evil versions of their characters interacting is both thrilling and disturbing.
With the loss of Iris and Killer Frost looking as though she’s about to kill Caitlin’s best friend, Cisco, here’s hoping all is not what it seems for Team Flash and that our heroes will still find a way to save the day.
GRADE: B
More on The Flash:
– The Flash Season 3 Episode 21 Cause and Effect Recap
– The Flash Season 3 Episode 20 I Know Who You Are Recap
– The Flash Season 3 Episode 19 The Once and Future Flash Recap
– The Flash Season 3 Episode 18 Abra Kadabra Recap
