At S.T.A.R. Labs, the whole gang, including Professor Stein and Jay Garrick, debate the breach in the basement (patent pending). When Jay wonders if they can use it to travel to Earth 2 like Zoom used it for the reverse trip, Barry runs at it at super-speed … and bounces right off. The theory is that the portals are like doors, but with a shifting hallway in-between. They need to stabilize the breach with something; Jay calls it a Speed Cannon. Sounds cool.
Joe and Mama West (her name is Francine, by the way) meet at a bar. He actually tries paying her to leave town, but she refuses, saying that even though Joe did a great job raising their daughter, Iris needs her mom after losing the love of her life. An unconvinced Joe gives her 48 hours to leave town.
The scene shifts to Jitters, where Barry bumps into Patty Spivot before he and his friends are approached by Lisa Snart. She needs their help, and the Flash too. Caitlin is skeptical, while Cisco looks smitten again.
Lisa insists that her brother has been kidnapped and that she saw it happen. They can track his cold gun, but when the Flash arrives at the scene of a theft in progress, Snart tells him no help is necessary. We soon see why: Leonard’s dad is there, obviously in charge of their caper. Captain Cold freezes Flash in place, much to his surprise. He’s in trouble but Cisco activates the new therma-threading in his costume to free him.
Yep, that was definitely Leonard’s dad, Lewis. Lisa insists that if Lenny is working with him, something is very wrong. As proof, she shows Team Flash a scar, insinuating that it’s from abuse at her father’s hands. Cisco goes to talk to Lisa alone, and her stories are pretty convincing. Again, she asks for help, convinced that Captain Cold is in trouble.
Joe drops in on Iris at work, intending to tell her about her mom. His timing is bad, though, since Linda Park (remember her?) approaches with news that Iris’ dangerous story has made the front page. As you might expect, Joe says they will talk later.
In civilian clothes since Snart knows his identity anyway, Barry meets with the erstwhile villain. While Barry trusts Snart to stick to their deal and not kill anyone because of his code, his suspicion is that Lewis has no code. When Barry promises that he’ll take both Snarts down even if Cold plays his identity trump card, Leonard just sneers and leaves Barry with the check.
It’s time for this week’s pep talk. It’s Joe who needs it due to guilt about lying to Iris about her mom dying when she was young, and it’s Barry who gives it. He’s adamant that Iris will forgive her dad if Joe just tells her the truth and gives her a chance. Lewis lays out the next job for the Cold Crew (a name I just made up), with Leonard expressing reservations about his dad planning on killing guards if all doesn’t go to plan. We soon find out how serious Lewis plays when the tech guy in the crew gives Leonard some lip, after which, Lewis sets off a bombinside his head. Yes, it’s fatal.
Patty Spivot gets to the crime scene first, correctly deducing that the poor nameless crook’s head has been blown up from the inside. She thinks metahuman, but Barry says not so fast, finding evidence of explosives. He and Joe wonder what Captain Cold cares about enough to make him work his dad. Nothing … except his sister.
Sure enough Cisco and Caitlin discover that Lewis has injected his own daughter with a bomb. She takes that news surprisingly well.
Joe finally gets Iris alone for “The Talk.” Explaining that Francine was a drug addict whose demons left Iris in physical danger as a young child, Joe tries his best to justify lying to his daughter for so many years. Tears are shed, but Barry was right, and Iris says she understands.
The S.T.A.R. Labs team needs time to defuse the bomb, so Barry comes up with a plan to buy them time: he’s going undercover to infiltrate Lewis’ crew. How hard could it be? Fortunately, Snart plays along once Barry tells him help is on the way for Lisa, and Barry is able to talk fast enough and technically enough to convince Lewis he’s the goods. But the job starts now.
After some ID trouble on their way into the building they’re robbing, Barry manages to sweet talk his way past the skeptical guards. On the 27th floor, Lewis wants to gun down two roving guards, though Barry is able to use his super-speed to clear them away. He even manages to get past the fancy security keypad by trying every possible combination at super-speed, but Lewis thanks him by shooting him. Sorry Barry. Of course he’s not dead he just caught the bullet faster than anyone could see.
Cisco has an idea for how to defuse the bomb by sucking it out of Lisa with a compressed air gun. Snart’s cold gun freezes the laser grid so he and his dad can walk right through it, and Lewis cracks the safe on the other side in less than two minutes.Looks like a nice haul of diamonds. The Flash tells Cisco he needs to get the bomb out now, though he buys a few more seconds by talking to the Snarts. Lewis orders his son to kill the Flash, but Cisco extracts the bomb and Captain Cold turns his cold gun on his dad. As Lewis dies, he mutters that he thought his son hated the Flash, but Leonard simply responds, “Not as much as I hate you.” Now that’s cold!
To Iron Heights Snart goes, this time for killing his father. Barry visits him there, saying that he finally knows that Cold’s weakness is his love for his sister. Snart mentions he can play the secret identity card, and when Barry claims there is good in him, Leonard wonders what being a hero pays. He also claims he won’t be behind bars for long, so Barry tells Joe maybe Cold should be moved to the metahuman wing. Joe also thanks Barry for his advice on telling Iris the truth.
Back at Jitters, Barry and Patty have a moment and a cute phone number exchange. Outside, Lisa thanks Cisco and calls him perhaps her first real friend. He’s not sure she’s telling the truth, but the kiss that follows has him all smiles.
Ta da! The Speed Cannon is complete, and Stein tests it by hurling something through the breach. It was Jay’s knowledge of some Earth 2 physics that did the trick, though now he knows he can return home. Both Caitlin and Barry lobby for him to stay, and he agrees, but only until they defeat Zoom.
After Jay leaves, Stein claims that he feels better. Alas, his eyes roll back into his head, and he bursts into flame like Firestorm except with blue flames. What does it mean? They have to find out.
And of course, we have one final scene. The S.T.A.R. Labs breach is active, and someone steps through it. Oh wow, it’s Earth 2 Wells!
OMG Moment of the Week: Really, after that extended analogy comparing the breaches to doors, no one thought tolock the door? Team Flash kind of deserves it of the Earth 2 Wells is evil.
#SnowJay Alert Level: Condition Yellow. First Caitlin convinced Jay that even without his speed, he could still be useful for his physics knowledge. And when Jay acted like he was returning home, she did her nervous cute thing while trying to persuade him to stick around. Yeah, there’s something there.
Final Thought: Nice work moving away from the “Earth 2 Villain of the Week” formula and quickly giving us a look into the heart and mind of Captain Cold. The last bit in jail perhaps laid it on a bit thick for his eventual role on Legends of Tomorrow, but it was still nice to see him fleshed out even more. The Firestorm mystery looks like it’ll be followed up on quickly, and that’s a welcome development as well.