Title: The Flash: “Snow Pack” Review
Release Date: April 23rd, 2019
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
Look, I get it. The Flash is a show about family. I don’t need to be beaten to a pulp with a baseball bat that has the word “family” written on it. Members of The Flash writing staff, please understand that we are on the same page regarding the message you are conveying to the audience about family (Come to think of it, Vin Diesel would love this show).
Small mini-rant aside, “Snow Pack” was a pretty decent episode of The Flash. There were some highlights and low-points but, overall, I think the good outweighed the bad here. The intro scene was perfect. Perfectly written, perfectly directed, and perfectly acted. We all know what Grant Gustin can do in these serious emotional moments but Candice Patton killed it this episode. It does help that I was on Iris’ side of this argument.
Barry just took Nora back to 2049, didn’t tell anyone beforehand, and fully expected the entirety of Team Flash to just roll with it. Was it tough for Barry to do this? Of course. As he said in the intro scene, that may have been the last time he ever saw his daughter (Spoilers: It won’t be). But, let’s take a look at Iris’ point of view for a second. In the future, she suppresses Nora’s powers and has a very rocky relationship with her. This 2019 trip was Iris’ way to spend some time with Nora without any of this 2049 business and Barry took that away without even talking with her about it.
The drama this week was great. I know what you’re thinking. Good drama in a CW show? Yeah, I know the stigma around the network and often times, you see it pop up in the Arrowverse. It can definitely get annoying but this is the price you pay by having over 20 episodes a season. But, I was a fan of how the drama unfolded this week. Particularly with Iris, Barry, Nora, and Eobard.
The negative speed-force is a concept that I’m vaguely familiar with due to various YouTube channels. Although I never thought we would see the negative speed-force in The Flash, I’m excited to see this aspect of Eobard’s (and now Nora’s) powers explored in better depth. It was a smart move to have Iris catch on to Eobard’s genuine attachment to Nora too. As the audience, we’ve seen Eobard interact with Barry and Nora so we can spot these moments where Eobard Thawne actually shows care for another human being. Now Team Flash knows this too, making this already fragile situation all the more combustible.
I was a fan of most of the drama this week but man, there were a few moments that made it clear to me that The Flash can’t handle subtlety. Not every side-arc had to be about the same thing. Sherloque was trying to show that he cared about the team despite everyone on Team Flash saying that he wasn’t apart of their family. Also, this was an unnecessary side-plot if I have ever seen one. Sherloque just told everyone the truth. He didn’t murder anyone or something crazy like that. There was no need for the excessive “You’re not wanted here” attitude. Caitlin was essentially forced to hash things out with her mother. Thomas Snow got rid of Icicle and sacrificed his own life to save Caitlin. I did not need 3 stories to convey that Barry needs to fix this Nora problem. Sometimes, less is more.
This episode was called “Snow Pack” and revolved around Icicle kidnapping Caitlin and her mom so he can turn them both into an Ice family. Hold up, that’s not right. I got it. So he can turn them into a colder family. Wait, that still doesn’t work. Let’s just move on.
I could’ve done without the Icicle story, to be honest. The character didn’t leave that good of an impression in his debut episode and it didn’t help that the Nora/Barry/Iris/Eobard story was so much better in every way. Caitlin still needs a storyline that doesn’t involve getting Killer Frost back or falling in love with a secret bad guy but this family Ice villain dynamic isn’t working. Unfortunately, it looks like Caitlin’s mom is a meta now. Fantastic…
Cicada 2.0 really showed up out of nowhere, didn’t she? This villain has only been around for a couple of episodes now but she’s already surpassed the original Cicada in almost every villainous category. Unlike Orlin, Grace seems to actually be a major threat to Team Flash and I could buy that she finds some way to escape each week because of that. I don’t know why she wanted that device and that end-credits scene didn’t help at all. Maybe I missed something though. To be fair, I was probably still thinking about the 1,000th time someone said the word “family” so if this was explained, I’m chalking it up to being distracted and I’ll catch it on the rewatch.
How The Flash handles Nora’s character in these next few weeks is going to be very interesting. She could go full-villain and end up as the next Reverse Flash. She’s had so much pain already in her life and that negative speed-force seems like it is drawing off of it. Just like Eobard, Nora traveled to the past to meet The Flash. It’s entirely possible that Barry just pushed Nora over the edge and put her on the same path as his greatest nemesis. Or Barry could snap her out of it and Nora just has some cool new red lightning going forward. Anything’s possible here and I’m excited to see where Nora’s arc goes next.
Verdict: For anyone who somehow didn’t get the message, “Snow Pack” was an episode focused on “family”. There were a lot of highs and lows but the intense drama beat out those annoying moments in-between. Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Jessica Parker Kennedy, and Tom Cavanagh were on fire this week and severely helped save this episode from hitting that “Disappointing” rating.
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