The Snarts … talk about a dysfunctional family! While you might think that Barry Allen and his father are somewhat messed up, or even his potential relationship with his step-sister is a bit weird, the Snarts are definitely the poster children for a screwed up family.
Golden Glider (Captain Colds sister) tracks down Cisco at their local coffee shop and pleads with him for assistance. It seems that Leonard has taken up his evil ways with their father – a particularly nasty character – played by Michael Ironside in his normal intimidating way.
Lisa tells Cisco that their father used to beat her & Leonard when they were children & she can’t believe that Leonard would have gone willingly with him so she needs the Flash’s help to get her brother out of trouble. Cisco flexes his tech muscles to track Snart’s Cold Gun & when the Flash finds him, they eventually realize that Lisa’s story checks out. It seems that their father is even worse than she thinks as he’s planted a bomb in Lisa’s head and is using that as leverage to get Leonard to work with him.
While Cisco works on a plan to extract the explosive from Golden Glider, Barry decides to infiltrate the Snart crime family, posing as a security expert. After a tense interrogation by Papa Snart, Barry joins them on their latest caper to steal a cache of valuable gems. Barry uses his wit and some speed to ensure their success. Lewis betrays him at the last minute and shoots Barry. Unknown to Lewis, Barry uses his speed to catch the bullet but fakes his death.
After successfully breaching the security system, Leonard and his father argue over life choices. Cisco informs Barry that he has removed the bomb from Lisa and the Flash arrives to stop Lewis from escaping. When Leonard learns his sister is safe he puts and end to his father’s abuse once and for all with an ice blast to the chest.
On a more personal side, Joe struggles with the truth about his ex-wife and how he can tell Iris that her mother is really alive. After a talk with Barry he decides to proceed and the show hits an emotional high in a dramatic and touching scene as Joe confesses the truth. Iris shows her maturity and forgives her father for the deception, but is weary of meeting her mother after two decades.
The show ends with a quite delightful scene with Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten) picking up coffee at Jitters and inadvertently assuming that Barry was actually asking for her number. It’s entertaining to have another cast member unaware of Barry’s alter ego. I look forward to that reveal and hope they develop a relationship between these two awkward champions of justice.
Back at the collider, Jay has stabilized the wormhole, dubbed the Speed Cannon, and plans to leave Earth 1. Stein has a frightening relapse, bursting into blue flame and then collapsing. As the team works to stabilize him a visitor arrives through the newly stabilized dimensional door…