The Flash‘s 100th episode delivered in ways more than one, but still could’ve honed what makes the show so special. 

The Flash returned this week with a huge milestone — reaching a 100 episodes with “What’s Past is Prologue.” During this intense hour, Barry (Grant Gustin) and Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) traveled back in time to grab key components to create a dagger that was stronger than Cicada’s (Chris Klein), which dismantles metahumans powers. Through this jam-packed hour, fans were treated to scenes of iconic moments of the show, which included Savitar, Zoom (Teddy Sears) and even the Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh).

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Traveling through time is very tricky on its own, but it becomes very tricky when the past becomes altered, or you disrupt a conversation of your fellow self — this exactly what Barry and Nora did. The two came face to face with Barry’s former enemy, Zoom, and this almost caused Zoom to come with them on a trip through time. Their conversation with Reverse Flash (Earth 1’s Harrison Wells) was the best scene of the episode, as it reminded fans how much of an impact it had on Barry when he killed his mom.

After Barry and Nora retrieved what was needed to stop Cicada, the superpowered characters headed over to go face to face with the meta serial killer. But in true Flash fashion, Cicada was able to get away. However, during the fight, Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) was able to use her powers to stop him from killing Barry, which revealed she’s unaffected by Cicada’s dagger. Iris (Candice Patton) pointed out that Caitlin may be the key to stopping Cicada.

Before we discuss the highs and lows, our The Flash roundtable is here to share all of their feelings!

Tatiana (@myrcellasear) – Entertainment journalism wannabe and an avid pursuer of comics.

Vanessa (@westallenallure)  –  Rambling and Flash extraordinaire.

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. So much happened this week! What was your favorite moment of the episode?

Cami (@tarcamwat): Let me start out by saying that this episode was extremely disappointing on multiple levels. Too much Nora and too much Wells. Not enough Iris and Cisco. No Joe flashback. It’s the 100th episode and the focus should be on characters that built the house. I felt like episodes 7 & 8 could have been combined into one while the Cicada background story belonged in episode 6 as a parallel with Caitlin’s father. With that said, my favorite moment was when Nora called Barry an old man. It was cute and funny.

Holly (@hollyanderson30): That’s a tie between Barry and Nora’s moment in the time vault (so touching) and Nora going back in time to see Nora and Henry (miss them).

Alexis (@alexiswaverider): Nora getting to see how heroic her mother was by seeing her kill Savitar; witnessing Iris be there for her father Barry showing her exactly how deep their love runs and Nora running to the future to talk to Eobard were my favorite moments of the episode.

Vanessa (@westallenallure): I really liked this episode. It was very nostalgic even though it came short of some really poignant moments that could’ve replaced the ‘important’ ones we saw. My favorite moment, if I had to choose – was when Nora and Barry saw Barry’s parents. It was so heartbreaking to see Barry back in that space and see/feel how Nora understands him now in a way that she maybe didn’t before. That and Nora running so Barry can catch her really hit me in the heart given they’re not going to have that.

Tatiana (@myrcellasear): Probably the moment of Nora and Barry watching his parents and then racing together. Definitely filled my heart with family feels, just wish Iris could have been there.

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2. Nora is working with Thawne! Why do you think they are working together?

Cami: Thawne is obsessed with Barry and wants to punish him in any way that he can. He’s manipulating Nora in order to do it. Reverse Flash is also in prison. I’m sure he wants to get out. The information in the journal is the key to freeing himself no doubt.

Holly: I think that Thawne promised her a way to change time so she could get her father back, that is why she is working with him.

Alexis: Nora is looking to Thawne for information about her father, guidance with regards to her speedster abilities and perhaps a way to stop her father from vanishing. Thawne, on the other hand, has an entirely different agenda than Nora. His priority has always been getting back home so maybe he is training Nora to be fast enough to help him do that just like he did with her father Barry. I also wonder if Thawne also needs future Barry alive for something which is why he agreed to help her prevent Barry by dying and coaching her on which specific times and events to run back to and hence change. We also know Thawne only cares about himself, so I imagine he plans to dispose of Nora once she’s served her purpose or stops being useful to him.

Vanessa: I have no clue as to why they’re working together. I keep trying to pull from comics and kind of formulate a theory (something I love doing no matter how bizarre), and I come up short. I know the main theory is that Nora wanted to get information that Iris didn’t give her… but her not know who the Eobard is and how he operates? Seems fake.

Tatiana: I think Nora went to him for help in saving her father. Maybe she didn’t tell him what her purpose was, or maybe she believed he wanted Barry around to continue their enmity, but either way, Eobard used it as an opportunity to twist the truth and manipulate her.

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3. How do you think Killer Frost will assist in the demise of Cicada?

Cami: Killer Frost wasn’t created with dark matter so the dagger has no effect on her. She’ll be able to fight Cicada with her powers. This will give the rest of the team just enough time and space to defeat him.

Holly: I think Killer Frost is the only way they will defeat Cicada.

Alexis: It’s awfully convenient that they’ve rewritten her origins multiple times and retconned it so that now she’s not a meta. Either way, I think it’ll end in her sacrificing herself for the team/Central City.

Vanessa: Listen, I have no idea and it’d make no sense if she could. There’s no logical reason or outstanding reason if she were to be the “key.” Maybe she freezes him right before he summons his dagger? I don’t know, I really laughed at that.

Tatiana: Not sure there’s more to it than simply being able to keep attacking him when others can’t because she’s immune to his power, but I’m willing to be wrong later.

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4. Do you think Sherloque will figure out what Nora is hiding?

Cami: Sherloque will probably figure out the Nora situation because they don’t let Barry be smart or Iris investigate and solve things. I’m not bitter.

Holly: I may not like him much (as a character) but Sherloque seems determined and I can see him finding out what Nora is up to, maybe pairing up with Cisco or Ralph to figure it out.

Alexis: Absolutely.

Vanessa: I do, yes. Given they implanted the seed earlier that he doesn’t believe her – I figure he will. Even though I wish that it would be her parents.

Tatiana: Unfortunately, yes. I just wish it could be Nora’s parents, unless of course Sherloque is secretly Eobard and that’s why he’s so nosy (and bad at French accents).

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5. Killer Frost being the key may be foreshadowing to her death. What do you think?

Cami: I don’t think Killer Frost or Caitlin are dying.

Holly: I have never really thought of it, but I don’t think so.

Alexis: That was the impression I got as well. I think she’ll be sacrificing herself by the end of the season.

Vanessa: I think it’s very possible given the logistics of her being the key seems like a temporary fix at most – that would surely get her hurt if they don’t have a plan B. Also, we’re getting her fleshed out incredibly so this season and creating a lot of “emotional pull”… It seems to go either in that direction or that she’ll go full on evil.

Tatiana: It’s possible, although her being the key doesn’t make her death that much more likely in my eyes. I suppose she could have a last stand against him to protect her newfound friends and die in the process.

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6. What do you think Thawne meant by Barry having “at least one” in terms of children?

Cami: I believe that Nora will still have a twin eventually, but the timeline is kind of haywire right now. Why isn’t a time wraith coming after Nora?

Holly: I think that Barry used to have other kid(s) but something (RF) happened to them.

Alexis: I think this is one of those lines that has a double connotation. We know Barry’s mother Nora is dead, so he could be referencing that. We also know that Barry and Iris have twins in the comics, so it could be an Easter egg in reference to Nora West-Allen’s twin.

Vanessa: I personally think it’s that he lost the other one even though I had initially thought that the other half of the twins (because they’re doing the twins!), didn’t exist yet. I know people interpreted it differently so it could really mean different things.

Tatiana: I think there is a timeline where Barry and Iris have twins, the same one where his parents didn’t die, and that’s where Thawne comes from and what he remembers. Of course, I also think that the Twins will return to our timeline by the end of the season.

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7. How do you think Nora’s relationship with Thawne will affect her relationship with her parents? 

Cami: Nora makes a lot of really dumb decisions. She’s impulsive and naïve. That’s a dangerous combination. Nora’s judgment is off. She doesn’t seem to have a proper grasp when it comes to judging character.  She had a crush on Spin, she’s working with Reverse Flash, and is often angry with her parents. Luckily, her parents are Barry and Iris and they forgive everything. They’ll be fine.

Holly: Parents tend to see the best in their children especially when they know they won’t have long with them, but I can see it being really strained and probably why she goes back to the future.

Alexis: Their daughter is teaming up with the same man that murdered her paternal grandmother and set everything in motion, I imagine Barry and Iris will feel betrayed and that will provide some high-stake emotional scenes that will anchor the show if done right. I imagine that once Nora fully explains her intentions and her parents let out all the hurt, they’ll forgive her. The alliances will then shift, and they can use what intel Nora has gathered from working with Thawne to defeat him again.

Tatiana: I think that’s going to be such a devastating storyline. Reverse Flash took his mom away from him and he’s tried to take Barry away from Iris… he’s definitely the person both of them hate the most. To have their daughter work with him would be such a slap in the face. Not to mention, Iris doesn’t get to have a happy ending with Barry on top of that, her daughter who hates her is working with the man who made Barry disappear… that’s really really heavy. They have material to really make that story something extremely gut-wrenching and unforgettable.

Tatiana: I think Iris is about to ground her for a month and Barry is about to run to the future, beat Thawne up, and then try not to fall for the future version of his wife before he gets back home to the present one.

Though “What’s Past is Prologue” delivered nostalgia, it lacked what makes the show so special: the core characters. 

The episode really kept us on our toes, from Zoom’s confrontation with Barry and Nora to Nora watching Iris kill Savitar — which, by the way, didn’t know Savitar was an evil version of Barry — it’s safe to say they kept that out of the future Flash museum. However, through his nostalgic highs, there were some lows.

While we that the episode was strong, it lacked focus on the heart of the team — Iris West-Allen. Now, we aren’t just pulling that out of nowhere. We saw in season three how the team wouldn’t be a team anymore without her. We wouldn’t say the lack of Iris was a disservice, but it certainly would’ve helped the episode really hone the heart aspect. Nora watching a conversation between Barry and Iris (which took place in season two) was one of the highlights, as she witnessed just how much Iris is there for Barry.

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The episode had a few shocking revelations though, as it was revealed Nora was working with Eobard Thawne. The end of the episode shows Nora traveling to 2049 to meet with Thawne, who is in a jail cell. Earlier in the episode, as Nora witness Barry and Thawne’s despise for one another, Barry told her he killed his mom — which came as a shock to Nora. She revealed that information wasn’t in the Flash museum and this prompted Nora to pay Thawne for a visit. Why she’s working with him exactly? We don’t know for sure, but it’s safe to say Thawne manipulated her, similar to the way he did to Barry in season one.

On Sunday, The Flash returns to switch places in the highly anticipated Elseworlds crossover!

The Flash returns Sunday, December 9th on The CW.