THE FLASH 5.19 Review: “Snow Pack”

This post contains spoilers for The Flash.
Check out our last review here.

“Snow Pack” is the type of episode that has all of the makings of something great. It has a driven story, some family tension, and juicy conflict. Hell, it even shines the spotlight on my girl Caitlin! On paper, it looks perfect. But something about this week’s episode of The Flash missed the mark.

Icicle returns to steal Momma Snow’s chryo-atomizer, and eventually ends up kidnapping his wife and daughter. He wants them all to be an ice family together, so their human sides have to go. Caitlin Snow might be my favorite character on The Flash but, unfortunately, it’s her familial arc that comes up short this week. The Snow family drama feels so unearned, and running alongside the West-Allens’ biggest fight yet doesn’t do them any favors.

Barry and Iris have a screaming match over his decision to send their daughter back to the future without consulting him. The fact that I've never seen them this mad at each other coupled with both of them having perfectly valid reasons to be pissed makes the argument exceptional. Iris calls Barry out for being emotional (fair), and in response he notes that if it were anyone other that Nora she’d be in staunch agreement with him (also fair). Iris gets so mad that she doesn’t see a path forward for their marriage. Thankfully, she skips off to the future to find their daughter before that rash decision happens.

Listen up, y’all. I don’t have the foggiest idea what Eobard Thawne is planning, but I can tell you that it’s the best part of The Flash's fifth season. Even Cicada 2.0 doesn’t compare to whatever malice he’s got going on behind that glass wall of his cell. Matt Letscher’s depiction of the character is incredible, but it’s hard to hold a candle to Cavanagh’s presence. Then there’s the fact that after all he’s done, this monster might legitimately care about Nora? That’s delicious. Tell me more about that!

But “Snow Pack” doesn’t. Instead, we watch a showdown between Icicle and Killer Frost that ultimately results in Thomas Snow pushing down his evil alter ego to save his daughter. He’ll have to do it twice this week, as Cicada wants the chryo-atomizer as well. I’m sure we’ll find out the “why” soon, but for now it’s just a reason to officially kill off Thomas Snow. Father/daughter drama is the quickest way to tug at my heartstrings, and yet I felt nothing here. Had this story been attached to another episode, it might have stood a chance. There’s just too much going on this week for us to keep getting swept over into a family story where we only care about one of the members.

Despite losing their father and husband respectively, Caitlin and her mother seem pretty ok. Their lack of emotion over the loss of Thomas probably doesn’t help the “meh” factor of the story. Meanwhile, Barry and Iris have an important heart-to-heart. With the help of Thawne, Iris realizes that the only way they’re going to get through this is as a family. This leads to the above theory that Thawne does legitimately love this kid, which spawns endless questions about where this season is about to go.

Next week we’ll see what effects the Negative Speed Force had on Thawne’s Little Runner. Negative Nora will be joining up with the likes of Ragdoll, Weather Witch, and Brie Larven to terrorize Central City. Turns out Thawne was right. His creation wasn’t for her, and now we might just get the Flash having to work with the Reverse Flash to save his daughter from her own darkness. Forget Cicada, let’s spend the last few episodes of the season on this.

You know what to do if you had thoughts on this week’s episode of The Flash!