Killer Frost’s Origin Fell Flat in “The Icicle Cometh”
Though we believe season 5 handled Killer Frost’s origin story the best, the reveal and rebirth of her alter ego felt anti-climatic
The Flash returned to our screens this week with “The Icicle Cometh,” aka the episode in which we finally figured out how Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) was born. With the help of Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Barry (Grant Gustin), the three set their sights on to find Caitlin’s father (guest star Kyle Secor) for answers about his faked death and more. Turns out, he quarantined himself after experimenting with cryogenic therapies which slowed down the rapidness of his ALS disease.
Throughout the episode, Cisco grows hesitant of Dr. Thomas Snow’s motives and whereabouts, and we find out that he experimented on Caitlin as a child because she carried the ALS disease. Through these experiments, Killer Frost was born with all of her dual personality glory.
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Meanwhile at STAR Labs, Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) teamed up to uncover files that would lead the team to Cicada’s (Chris Klein) daughter, after Joe (Jesse L. Martin) revealed that he believes the masked villain may be a father. After witnessing Iris (Candice Patton) throw herself off a building to save Barry last week, Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) was still so excited about the incident that she wanted to join Iris to dig for the satellite’s core — the core in which Cicada’s dagger came from. Sherloque (Tom Cavanagh) joins the two, and something tells us he is still suspicious of Nora’s time travel motives.
Here to discuss alter egos, mother/daughter relationships and more is our The Flash roundtable!
Tatiana (@myrcellasear) – Entertainment journalism wannabe and an avid pursuer of comics.
Holly (@hollyanderson30) – Social Media Addict who runs two fan pages and loves everything CW, especially The Flash.
Alexis (@alexiswaverider)– Hope we are less screwed in 2018.
Cami (@tarcamwat)– Love sci-fiction, superheroes, strong female characters and sensitive male characters.
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1. Killer Frost is still within Caitlin! Were you surprised by this?
Holly (@hollyanderson30): As someone who runs 2 fan pages, I wasn’t really surprised since I saw the pictures but I was surprised at how she came back.
Cami (@tarcamwat): I was not surprised that she was still there. I was more surprised by how they explained it. Devoe using Brainstorm’s powers instead of Melting Point’s was a neat switcheroo.
Tatiana (@myrcellasear): Disappointed but not surprised, as they say. I figured she never went anywhere, so I guess I’m more surprised that they tried to come up with a meta-explanation for her disappearance through Devoe rather than just saying the power of love brought her out again and calling it a day.
Alexis: Not at all, the episode was very predictable in this regard. A lot of the Caitlin story this episode was anticlimactic.
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2. Iris and Nora team up! What do you think of the mother-daughter duo finally getting along?
Holly: I loved the team up, but it kept bringing to mind Oliver with his “Superspeed…I don’t have it!”
Cami: It was a welcome relief after 5 weeks of tension. It was really cute getting to see them work together and be delightfully awkward. Another call back to Run Iris Run is always great too! Loved their not quite worked out secret handshake! The fact that their mission was successful is icing on the cake. Looking forward to seeing more of this dynamic duo bonding.
Tatiana: I wish we had gotten to see more of it, but it was very sweet. Nora was finally able to unleash all the pent-up admiration she had for her mom and Iris was finally able to receive her daughter’s affections. I think they’re gonna be a lot of fun in future episodes.
Alexis: This was the highlight of what was otherwise a dull episode. Nora has been at odds with her mother for quite some time now, so it was overdue. We finally get to see these two women work together, have fun and the show can finally give the audience a positive mother-daughter relationship. It was great to watch Nora now be the one vying for Iris’s attention and doing the work to build the relationship. We’ve seen her be in awe of and hero worship her father for most of this season so it was nice to now see her do the same for mother thanks to her being the first-hand witness on how badass Iris is. I love that she volunteered to use her mother’s vortexing technique to find the core and I loved watching Iris teach them to her. Seeing Iris smile because her daughter finally wants to spend time with her warmed my heart. Can you believe they already have their own handshake, how schway is that?
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3. Cecile and Ralph proved to be the best team. Would you like to see more of the pair?
Holly: It was an unusual pairing, to say the least, but I got to say Dani Nicolet really brought it this episode, I loved it! I would love to see these two work together more.
Cami: Cecile has been so fabulous these past two weeks! Dani Nicolet’s range is really shining through. She can be a tough grandma and zany partner in crime. It’s too bad that all of this comes because Jesse L. Martin is out with a bad back. I hope when he returns they let the two of them have fun together. Ralph has greatly improved this season so the two of them together was awesome! They played off each other so well! I hope to see more of them as an odd couple.
Tatiana: This pairing was probably the surprise of the night. Ralph cheering Cecile on and her messing with him and his easily rattled nerves were adorable.
Alexis: Most definitely. Dani Nicolet has great comedic timing so I’m glad they’re using her in various ways. I am glad Cecile is being used outside of her gestational metahuman abilities.
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4. How did you feel about Caitlin, initially, being hesitant about Cisco’s findings?
Holly: I think after not having their father in their life for so long, a lot of people might want to believe it was their father but was surprised she didn’t trust Cisco’s judgment.
Cami: I thought Caitlin not listening to Cisco was very sketchy. Cisco is the only one who always has her back. Cisco was hurting himself last week to help her. I don’t understand why he wouldn’t believe her. He loves her so much. Listen to your best friend, Caitlin!
Tatiana: It makes sense because this is her father and she’s desperate to have him back in her life, but it was a little too obvious that she was wrong and her dad was a villain.
Alexis: We’ve been told how intelligent Caitlin is so to have her lose all objectivity to something that was so obvious, made her look stupid. But I’ll give her a pass this time because I want to believe that she desperately wanted her dad to be a good man.
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5. How do you think Cicada’s new injury will make him “stronger?”
Holly: I really hope not, but then, I am really hoping that Cicada will be defeated by midseason. Am I the only one who feels that there is a bigger enemy?
Cami: I think it’s his old glowing injury that makes him stronger. I think when he takes the powers of other metas it flows through that open wound.
Tatiana: I have no idea about that, and I’m interested in finding out. Does it mean he can channel more energy through his dagger or something?
Alexis: I have some theories but I’m not sure I can coherently express them at this moment.
6. Do you think Sherloque is still suspicious of Nora?
Holly: I think he is but is trying not to show it, I for one would love to know who she is working with and why!
Cami: Sherloque was a jackfruit this episode. He was all over the place. I imagine that he is still suspicious of Nora and that will develop in later episodes. Nora still has some secrets that she is not sharing.
Tatiana: Definitely. He’s much smarter than he’s given credit for, and he was testing Iris and Nora throughout the episode. I’m sure he’s still filing information away about Nora to return to at a later date.
Alexis: The show hasn’t hinted at it after episode two but I’m sure that will come up again. Even if it doesn’t, I am curious because there are some questions that are yet to be answered, such as who told Nora about her powers or the idea to time travel and for what purpose.
7. Cisco truly cares about Caitlin the most. How would you feel if the pair ever turned romantic?
Holly: I love the relationship between Cisco and Caitlin. You can really see the pure genuine love and affection between them, but that relationship was really meant to stay as best friends.
Cami: I think Carlos Valdes deserves a stronger acting partner as his romantic love interest.
Tatiana: I wanted Killervibe to happen back in season one, but it feels a little too late now. Nevertheless, as long as Caitlin reciprocates Cisco’s care the way she did last week, I would be happy to see them as a couple.
Alexis: We’ve seen Caitlin have a fair amount of love interest over the years but aside from Ronnie, none of them have come close to the potential of Cisco and Caitlin romance. In season two, I would’ve jumped at the idea but now I’m just indifferent.
The Nora and Iris subplot was the best part of the episode
As mentioned earlier, Nora wanted to join her mother to see what she does best: getting information out of people. The two had a very cute and awkward conversation about their roles, but in the end, the two cohesively worked together. It was refreshing to see Nora trying to get her mother’s attention, rather than Iris feeling insecure this time. Nora even revealed that Joe told her all about when Iris was a speedster in season 4, prompting Nora to ask Iris to teach her how to create a vortex. It was a nice parallel to Iris teaching Nora how to put out the fire a few episodes ago. Now that these two get along, we are hoping for more mother-daughter team-ups in the future!
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After discovering that her father is a male version of a Frost himself, he nearly kills the team of superheroes. However, Caitlin becomes reconnected with her alter ego and uses her powers to stop him. Though season five has provided better insight into Killer Frost’s origin, her “rebirth” at the end of the episode felt almost anti-climatic. There was no moment where we waited for “the other shoe to drop,” because, in this instant, there was no shoe. And after finally sticking to one story about her birth, we felt disappointed by its predictableness. Icicle manages to escape, so there’s no doubt we will be seeing him again.
Cecile and Ralph provided the comedic element to the gloomy episode, and we have to say that Cecile Horton remains the show’s MVP. After standing her ground last episode, to showcasing her comedic chops this week, we are delighted that Nicolet is a series regular and can’t wait to see more of her.
Next week, Team Flash celebrates Thanksgiving, but it comes with the ultimate price.
The Flash returns Tuesday, November 27th on The CW.
A little dark matter ain't hurt nobody.
NerdeekLife will be continuing our weekly roundtables when The Flash returns next week. Until then, check out our past coverage – catch up on roundtables, news, reviews, and more, all about The Scarlet Speedster!
