The Flash: Season 8, Episode 14: Funeral For A Friend

This week on The Flash, we get a filler episode, er, I mean what showrunner Eric Wallace describes as an "interlude," as the cast comes to grips with the untimely death of Frost.

Actually Funeral For A Friend might be better described as a character study than a filler episode. There's no plot to speak of, as the bulk of the script concerns the members of Team Flash dealing with their emotions and looking for ways to honor Frost's memory.

That's not to say it's bad— as fillers, er, I mean interludes go, it's actually pretty decent. It reminded me a bit of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Family— in which Captain Picard goes visits home in an effort to recover from his assimilation by the Borg. 

It's a good reminder that every episode doesn't have to feature the end of the world, as occasionally it's good to slow down and just let the audience visit with the characters.

Elsewhere, Chester and Allegra's relationship gets even more excruciating this week, I'm still completely uninterested in Iris' time sickness storyline and Joe continues to have nothing whatsoever to do on the show. 

And somehow, the writers are doing the impossible and making me actually like Chillblaine. Believe me, no one's more surprised than I am to hear me say that.

OK, that's all I got for an intro— on with the nitpicking!

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

We open on the various members of Team Flash trying to cope with Frost's death. 

STAR Labs gets a meta alert, and Chester says the Central City Savings & Loan has just been robbed. An exo-suited villain named Blockbuster exits the bank, as CCPD arrives on the scene. Two officers tell him to stand down, but he picks up their squad car and hurls it at them.

Barry suits up and zooms the cops out of the way before they're flattened. Allegra and Cecile (of all people!) then teleport in, joining Barry. Instead of simply zipping Blockbuster off to jail, Barry radios Chester and asks for intel on the villain's suit. ???

Before anyone can act, Blockbuster stomps his foot, which cracks the ground. This inexplicably causes a skyscraper a block away to crumble and threaten to collapse. Barry speeds off to stabilize the building, leaving Allegra & Cecile (!) to deal with Blockbuster.

Allegra fires a UV blast at Blockbuster, but she misses and explodes a car, which somehow knocks her out. Chester tells Cecile to use her powers to calm the villain, but she's overwhelmed by both her grief over Frost and the terror of the residents of the crumbling building (!!!). Blockbuster laughs at Team Flash's pitiful showing (as well he should!), and teleports away.

Back at STAR, Barry tells Iris that Team Flash needs to find a way to keep their grief from affecting their crimefighting. He calls a meeting to discuss the issue.

Just then Caitlin walks in, curious as to why she didn't get an invite. Barry says he figured she could use some time off to mourn, but she insists she's fine. They ask if they can help with the funeral arrangements, but she says her mother Carla's handling it. Barry says they'll see her at the funeral, and Caitlin hisses that she's not going and storms out.

Joe— who's there for some reason— says they all need to find their own ways to honor Frost in order to get over their grief, which handily sets up the rest of the episode.

Iris
Iris meets with Cecile at CCC Media and says she wants to write a special obit for Frost, but fears doing so would reveal she's a member of Team Flash. Plus she admits she really never got to know her very well. She ends up assigning the obit to her employee Aariz— who used to write them for fallen soldiers when he was in the army.

Later Iris meets with Carla at Jitters, and shows her the obit. Carla says it's well-written, but cold and impersonal. She says Frost wouldn't have cared about self-praise, but about her legacy. This sparks an idea in Iris.

Cut to CCC Media, where Iris uses her podcast to interview people whose lives were saved or changed by Frost.

Allegra & Chester
Back at STAR, Chester & Allegra try to think of a way to honor Frost. Chester suggests displaying her costume in a frozen glass case. Allegra ridicules that idea, and the two begin bickering like an old married couple. It's all about as entertaining as waiting while your tires are rotated.

Just then they get an alert about a disturbance at O'Shaughnessy's Pub. When the two arrive, they see a drunken Chillblaine drowning his sorrows as he tears up the place.

Chillblaine sees them and starts fixing drinks. For some reason Chester & Allegra continue their petty argument, prompting Chillblaine to scold them for acting like prats. He then promptly passes out, and they take him back to STAR Labs' Med Bay to sleep it off.

Allegra realizes that Chillblaine was right, and says Chester's idea was a good one. She then places Frost's old sky blue jacket in a display case to honor her.

Barry
Barry somehow gets ahold of Frost's bucket list, and decides to complete it as his way of honoring her memory. He goes white water rafting, builds a snowman atop Mt. Everest, learns ice sculpting and wins a hotdog eating contest (?).

He returns to STAR, where a bleary-eyed Chillblaine's just woken up. Barry tells him he thought finishing the bucket list would make him feel better, but it's still not enough. Chillblaine comments that Frost was born to protect Caitlin, and she never lost sight of that. Somehow this prompts Barry to say he knows the perfect way to honor Frost's memory.

Caitlin
Caitlin enters her apartment and starts removing everything that belonged to Frost. She finishes and sits on the couch, staring at the wall for hours. Barry arrives and tries to convince her to go to the funeral, saying she'll regret if forever if she stays home. She accuses him of being more concerned about playing hero than he is with her (?). She tells him to leave, but before he does, he asks her what Frost would want her to do— shut herself off from everyone or let them in?

This strikes a cord in Caitlin, who says if she sees Frost lying in a casket she'll realize she's gone for good. Barry pulls out his best banal greeting card aphorism, saying as long as Frost is in her heart she'll never truly be gone.

Cut to the funeral, where Team Flash is in attendance, along with members of CCPD and CCC Media. They eventually take their seats, and Caitlin nervously enters. She takes the podium and delivers a eulogy to Frost, mentioning her honesty and bravery, as well as her love for her family and friends.

Caitlin then walks over to the casket to say goodbye to Frost. She promises to keep her alive (hmm...) as the others gather round.

Later, Team Flash holds a wake at the West House. As they reminisce about Frost, they get an alert that Blockbuster's back. Barry says this time they're ready for him, and zooms off with Allegra, Chester and Cecile.

Caitlin ducks out of the room and makes a secret phone call to someone.

Sometime later, Caitlin carries a large duffle bag up to her apartment. Chillblaine's waiting for her, and asks why she called him. She lets him in, and he sees her apartment is stuffed to the rafters with high-tech lab equipment. He asks what the hell, and she shows him a hair sample she took from Frost's corpse, and says he's gonna help bring her back.

That night at CCC Media, Iris reads over Taylor's (remember her?) story on Blockbuster (the villain, not the defunct video store). Taylor says it's good to have Iris back at work, as Allegra was a poor substitute for her. She then says there are reports of the Flash working with other people, but no one knows who they are. She suggests they investigate their identities, and a stunned Iris says she'll think about it.

Taylor leaves, realizes she left her phone in Iris' office and returns for it. She's puzzled to see Iris is gone, even though there's no other way out of her office. As she walks out again, we see green temporal energy wafting up from Iris' chair.

Thoughts:
• I assume this week's title is a shoutout to the Elton John song of the same name.

• The episode opens with Team Flash mechanically going through the motions of their day as they mourn Frost. Among them is Chester, who mopes inside Jitters. While there he spots a Daily Specials board that features a "Killer Frost" drink.

Wow, how often do they update those specials? Cisco left Central City a year ago, and Kid Flash hasn't been on the show in... three seasons? Four?

And for a high-end Starbucks knockoff, those are some pretty cheap coffee drinks!

• Meanwhile Allegra's at CCC Media, with a thousand yard stare pasted on her face. Hey, she's doing her actual job for a change! Ever since Iris left her in charge back in Phantoms, she's spent every waking moment inside STAR Labs. It's about time she showed up for her real work!

• For several seasons now the opening titles have featured Caitlin and Frost sharing a zooming screen together.

Now that Frost is dead, I wondered how long it'd be before the producers updated the title sequence. Amazingly they changed it already! This week Frost has been completely removed, replaced by a montage of Caitlin faces.

• Team Flash gets an alert as a villain called Blockbuster robs the Central City Savings & Loan. Holy cow, there's so much to talk about here I don't even know where to begin!

Let's start with Blockbuster himself. Lately I've been praising the show for the way they've been accurately translating comic characters into live action. Despero looked like he stepped right off the printed page, and Deathstorm was perfectly realized as well. That all went out the window this week!

THIS is the version of Blockbuster I'm familiar with. Mark Desmond was a chemist who experimented on himself to augment his physical strength. He succeeded, but unfortunately his newfound power came at the cost of his intellect, turning him into a third-rate evil Hulk.

The CW didn't even try with this live action version of Blockbuster, as they gave us this— a guy who looks pretty much like anyone you'd see on a paintball course.

What the hell, guys? Did your costume/CGI budget run out for the month?

If they're not even going to attempt to make him look even remotely like the source material, then why use an existing character at all? Why not make up a new one and call him "Big Bang" or something instead?

Blockbuster then tosses a police car at a couple of CCPD officers in front of the Savings & Loan.

The part of the red-trimmed bank is played by the CBC Regional Broadcast Center in downtown Vancouver. If you look closely, you can see a spindly structure in the center of the screen, about a block away. That's the BC stadium, which is used for STAR Labs closeup exteriors! It looks like they painted it out in the actual episode.

• Barry zooms to the Savings & Loan to confront Blockbuster. A few seconds later Allegra and Cecile (!) teleport to the scene in a puff of blue smoke. 

Looks like Allegra's still using the special teleportation smoke bombs that Nash Wells brought from his unnamed Earth. She's been using these things for two or three seasons now, so either he left her a huge stash of them, or Cisco reverse-engineered and mass produced a warehouse full before he left.

I get why Allegra shows up, as she's now the second most powerful member of Team Flash after Barry. But why in the name of Zeus' Mighty Taint is Cecile there? She's just an empath (or a telepath, depending on the whims of the script). What's she gonna do, tell Blockbuster how he's feeling? She definitely doesn't belong on a field mission, as it's like bringing a limp noodle to a boxing match.

Maybe she plans to overwhelm Blockbuster with the power of her leather pants.

It's also odd that these two show up at a bank robbery without making any effort to hide their very public identities. Allegra works for a freakin' news outlet, for corn's sake! An organization whose sole function is to cover high profile events like bank robberies. How long's it gonna be before someone at CCC Media spots their boss firing UV blasts and fighting crime alongside the Flash?

Same goes for Cecile. She's a prominent attorney, who's face is likely plastered all over the news. Someone get these two gals some masks, stat!

Then the producers forget the premise of the show yet again, as Barry just stops and stares at Blockbuster. He then radios Chester and asks him to scan Blockbuster and find out what kind of tech he has in his suit. Wait, what? 

Who gives a flying f*ck what the guy's wearing? Have we forgotten Barry's Flashtime mode? He can literally move so fast that time seems to STOP for the rest of the world. He could have zoomed Blockbuster into a cell at Iron Heights while everyone else was blinking! There was no need for a ferkakte scan!

Ah, but we're still not done with this scene! Before Barry can react, Blockbuster stomps his foot so hard that he cracks the pavement. Somehow this affects a skyscraper a block away, shattering windows and causing catastrophic structural damage (?). None of that makes the least bit of sense, but let's move on or we'll be here all day.

By the way, the skyscraper that's compromised is located at 782 Hamilton Street, about a block from the CBC Broadcast Center.

As the building threatens to come down, Cecile helpfully announces she senses a ton of scared people inside it. Barry says he'll use his Speed Force Lightning to weld the structure's weakened girders back together.

No. NO!!!! That's not how Speed Force Lightning is supposed to work! It's a byproduct of Barry's speed— much like the contrail of a jet airplane or the smoke from a steam train. It's NOT a goddamned superpower in its own right! Yet every week he finds a new way to use it— as a weapon, as stepping disks to hop through the sky and now as a goddamned arc welder. Feh!

He's already the most ridiculously overpowered superhero there is, making it nearly impossible to write a scenario he can't easily handle. The last thing he needs is even MORE abilities!

Allegra then fires one of her patented UV blasts at Blockbuster— through her leather gloves! Sure, why not. I guess there's nothing saying she CAN'T do that, but it seems wrong and made me laugh.

Allegra somehow succeeds in knocking herself out, leaving Cecile to deal with Blockbuster by herself. Chester tells her to use her psychic powers to "calm" the villain, hoping that'll make him stand down.

Woah, woah, woah! Wait just a goddamned minute here! Up to now all Cecile's ever been able to do is sense someone's emotions, and depending on the writer and the episode, their thoughts as well. Suddenly this week they're acting like she's freaking Professor Xavier, able to use her psychic powers as a weapon to incapacitate metas.

This is a HUGE retcon and a giant load of horse sh*t, as it comes completely out of nowhere. You can't suddenly make a major change to a character like this, you have to set it up and lay some groundwork for it.

Of course in the end it doesn't matter, because the second she activates her powers, she's overwhelmed by her grief over Frost and the fear of the people inside the collapsing building. She then crumples like a cheap card table and folds up into the fetal position. Well done, Cecile! What a great addition to the team you are!

In fact she's so useless that even Blockbuster quips, "Pathetic! Worst heroes ever!" You said, it brother! Preach!

Blockbuster then teleports away, and Team Flash isn't able to track him for reasons. Hmm... Just last week, Barry entered the Time Vault and asked Gideon to scan the city for any trace of Deathstorm. So why doesn't he do that this week as well? Did the writers forget about that option already?

Lastly, once he vanishes, Blockbuster never appears again for the rest of the episode. There's a brief mention of him late in the third act, as Team Flash finally captures him— completely offscreen. 

It makes me wonder why they bothered to include him in this episode at all. He was nothing more than a cheap narrative device, created solely to illustrate how Team Flash is currently in chaos after the death of Frost.

OK, I think I've sufficiently torn this scene a new asshole. Moving on!

• Nice Attention To Detail: Iris & Cecile sit in the CCC Media break room, where they loudly discuss Team Flash business. At first I thought they were being pretty irresponsible, as Iris' employee Aariz is sitting right there in the background within earshot. On closer inspection, Aariz is wearing old school headphones, drowning out the two women. Well done, writers!

• Iris wants to write an obit for Frost, but worries that by doing so she'll risk outing herself as a member of Team Flash. Did she even know Frost that well? Sure, they were both members of Team Flash, but I can't remember ever seeing the two of them interact in any meaningful way. In fact Iris knows so little about her she ends up assigning the obit to Aariz!

Way to honor Frost's memory there, Iris!

• A bit later Iris meets with Frost's "mother" Carla Tannhauser, who asks her how she's holding up. Seriously? Why is Carla comforting Iris more than she is her own daughter?

• Iris decides to use her podcast to honor Frost  by interviewing people whose lives she changed for the better. Among them is former District Attorney Strong.

You remember Strong— she's first appeared last year in The People Vs. Killer Frost. She was hired by Kristen Kramer to prosecute Frost for her crimes against the state. Strong was played by actress Debbie Podowski, and they brought her back for this episode.

• At Jitters, Marco the barista decides to honor Frost's memory by erasing the "Killer" from her drink special. You show 'em, dude! That'll change the world!

• Last week Chester and Allegra FINALLY professed their love for one another, prompting me to celebrate the fact that we'd no longer have to watch these two thirty year olds act like fumbling adolescents as they awkwardly flirted with one another.

Welp, looks like I celebrated a little too soon. They may be done flirting, but now they're bickering like an old married couple. And what are they arguing about? Why, whether hummus is a condiment or a dip, of course! Oh, my sides— they're aching from laughter— I mean from vomiting!

I'll admit their bickering took my by surprise, and was a nice subversion of the audience's expectations. That doesn't make it any less insufferable though.

• During their insipid argument, Allegra tells Chester, "Easy, Condiment King! I don't need you wrong-splaining hummus to me!"

Believe it or not, Condiment King is an actual DC character, created as a one-off comical villain for Batman: The Animated Series. He was a comedian named Buddy Sandler, who was brainwashed by the Joker into becoming a villain who used various condiments as weapons. No, really!

• Over at O'Shaughnessy's Pub, Chillblaine deals with his grief by getting sh*t-faced and destroying the joint. Eh, at least he kept his shirt on while he did it.

Chester and Allegra then show up at O'Shaughnessy's to deal with Chillblaine. The bartender wants him outta there, saying he just froze half the bar. 

Sooo... how the heck did he manage that? Unlike Frost, Chillblaine doesn't have any inherent powers, as he uses high-tech freeze gauntlets. Which he's currently not wearing!

The bartender also reveals that Chillblaine froze his hand to the counter. Allegra apologizes for his behavior, then uses her UV powers to melt the ice and free the bartender's hand!

So I guess that answers the question of whether Allegra's concerned about people knowing she's a meta or not.

• All season long I've been pointing out how the exterior of O'Shaughnessy's (which in reality is located directly across the street from the BC Place!) doesn't match the interior set in the slightest. Nowhere is that demonstrated better than in this episode.

As you can see, the O'Shaughnessy exterior looks like a converted gas station, with 3, count 'em three bay doors.

For some reason, the interior features at least FIVE sets of somewhat similar windows— but they're inexplicably a good ten feet higher then they ought to be. The whole place is like a TARDIS, bigger on the inside than the outside.

• This is some Heavy Duty Nitpicking, but whatever. Chester & Allegra bring the drunken Chillblaine back to STAR, where they dump him on a bed in the Med Bay to sleep it off. Wouldn't it have made way more sense to have tossed him into one of the cells in the Pipeline? Those units would serve perfectly as a drunk tank.

I get the feeling The Flash's soundstage must have run out of space and they dismantled the Pipeline set, as we haven't seen it all season.

• Chester & Allegra end up honoring Frost by putting her powder blue jacket on display in their "Hall Of Fallen Heroes," or whatever this room's called. 

I don't remember exactly when this jacket first appeared, but she had it at least as far back as Season 4's Girls Night Out.

It's impossible to tell what most of the other items in the Hall are, as we never get a good look at them. That's definitely X-S's purple & white jacket at the right of the screen. I'm not sure how they got ahold of it though, as the original Nora was erased from the timeline and the new Nora is still wearing her version of the jacket.

Not sure what the object in the middle is. It almost looks like some sort of tiara or crown? The glasses at left might be Vibe's, although they don't look much like his. And he's not a fallen hero. Maybe they're Captain Cold's goggles? I really can't tell from this blurry shot.

That's definitely Ronnie Raymond's jacket (complete with the Quantum Splicer) behind Chester though. Again, no idea how they can have this, as Ronnie and his outfit were disintegrated in the Singularity at the end of Season 1. I suppose these could all be replicated artifacts, recreated just for the display?

• Barry decides to honor Frost's memory by doing all the items on her bucket list, which he has for some reason. As we join him, he's putting the finishing touches on a snowman, which he's build atop Mt. Everest.

We then get a good look at the list, which includes: 

– White Water Rafting
– Attend Samurai School In Kyoto (???)
– Swing Dance With Judd Nelson (I think?)
– Build A Snowman Atop Mt. Everest
– Master Ice Sculpting
– Have My Art Displayed In The Louvre
– Win A Hot Dog Eating Contest

Note that the first three items have already been crossed off the list. Earlier in the episode we saw him come back from rafting. At some point after that he apparently went to samurai school (which is apparently a thing) and somehow talked Judd Nelson into dancing with him. 

So how much time passed between Barry's white water rafting adventure and the snowman? Based on the way the episode plays out, it seems like only a couple of hours. Doesn't seem like enough time to attend a semester of samurai school.

Maybe Barry pulled the school instructor into Flashtime, and he spent several months in the class while just a few seconds passed for the rest of us.

I had to laugh at this scene, in which Barry admires his snowman as the camera zooms out to reveal Everest's snowy peaks, which are completely empty and pristine.

Hah! If only! In reality, we'd have seen a massive line of rich idiots with more money than sense, all lined up as they wait for their chance to take a selfie at the top.

As part of the list, Barry then hangs one of Frost's horrible, horrible pieces of art in the Louvre— right next to the Mona Lisa. Wow, that's a ridiculous stretch even for a comic book show like this!

Of course the second the Louvre director sees it, she gushes, "It's magnificent!" Wakka wakka! Because uppity high society snobs are so clueless they can't tell modern art from trash, amirite?

Barry completes Frost's list by competing in a hotdog-eating contest at CCPD. Thanks to his speedster metabolism, he easily wins, beating Officer Korber. So he cheated then, right?

Based on Korber's face, it's clear that she won the contest the previous year, and possibly even farther back. Was it really fair for Barry to use his powers to whup her? Even for Frost's sake?

• The bucket list scene was a lot of fun, and a nice way for Barry to pay tribute to Frost. That said, many of the activities on the list (like the rafting and mountain climbing) were probably meant for her AND Chillblaine to do together. Barry really should have asked him if he wanted to help, instead of hogging the list for himself.

• In the Med Bay, Barry tells Chillblaine (who's become second only to Joe as the team's wise elder):

Barry: "I also... thought finishing this list would be a way to honor her memory, but even with everything crossed off... it still doesn't feel complete."
Chillblaine: "Look, man, as wild and crazy as her lust for adventure was, what my Snowflake lived for, more than the thrills, was taking care of the people she loved. That's what she really wanted to do with her life. Hell, she was literally born to be Caitlin's savior. She never lost sight of that."
Barry: (obviously inspired) "I know how to honor Frost's memory!"

So what was Barry's brilliant idea? We never see him paying any further tribute to her for the rest of the episode. Did the writers forget about this scene?

The only thing he does in the rest of the episode is visit Caitlin and convince her to go to the funeral. Was THAT supposed to be his ultimate way to honor Frost? If so, it was very murky and could have been explained much more clearly.

• After refusing to go to the funeral, Caitlin comes home to her apartment and begins removing all traces that Frost ever lived there.

Looks like Danielle Panabaker is pregnant again! How do I know? Welp, she announced the happy news on Instagram back in January 2022. But also because she spends this entire episode being filmed from the waist up, or holding bulky items in front of her belly to cover her rapidly-growing baby bump! It's pretty obvious once you realize it.

We do get a couple long shots that are ostensibly of Caitlin, but it's clear they're using a non-pregnant body double who's desperately trying to hide her face!

• At one point Caitlin discovers Frost's beloved blue and white flannel shirt and smells it (ewww!). She then sits motionless on the couch and stares at the wall, apparently for an entire day, all through the night and into the next morning.

I assume this is a reference to Twilight: New Moon, in which Bella was so distraught after Edward broke up with her that she sat in her room staring into space for four months straight. Yeah, I can't believe I know that.

• The third act begins with everyone gathering for Frost's funeral. Yeow, that's kind of a provocative funeral dress she's wearing!

I bet that was an interesting conversation with the mortician as well. "Let me get this straight— you want me to put BLUE lipstick on the deceased?"

• Everyone on Team Flash shows up for Frost's funeral, with two MAJOR exceptions— Cisco and Ralph.

OK, I know there were real world reasons for their omission, but the producers really should have tried to get the two actors to come in for a quick cameo. 

Cisco and Caitlin have been friends for close to a decade, and he worked closely with Frost for at least half that time. His absence feels like a slap in the face to both of them.

Same goes for Ralph as well. He and Frost were good friends back in the day, and he even became her life coach in an effort to teach her how to be a real person— sharing his beloved Book Of Ralph with her. He definitely knew her better than Sue Dearbon, and SHE showed up to the funeral, so... 

The only reason Ralph's not there is because showrunner Eric Wallace is a thin-skinned asshole, who senselessly fired actor Hartley Sawyer for a minor lapse in judgement.

* Why the hell is Kristen Kramer at the funeral? She's the brash former State Prosecutor who did her level best to try Frost for her crimes and sentence her to life in prison. Yes, they eventually kissed and made up, but... it still seems like reeeeally poor taste for her to be there.

• I'm puzzled as to why Officer Korber (seen here behind Iris & Barry) is at the funeral as well. Did she even know Frost? I can't imagine she did, and likely knew her only as a criminal.

So how are Barry & Company going to explain to Korber how they know Frost and why they're at her funeral? I guess Team Flash could say they're there to support Caitlin in her time of need, but it still seems sketchy.

If Korber hasn't figured out Barry's secret identity by now, this should be the clincher!

• OK, seriously? Cisco and Ralph don't show up, but CCC Media reporter Aariz does? He LITERALLY does not know Frost, as I'm confident they've never been in the same room together. All he did was write a generic obit for her that Iris ended up not using.

• After delivering a touching eulogy for her sister, Caitlin approaches the casket and says, "I'll keep you alive, Frost. I promise."

Of course the implication here is that she'll keep her alive in her memory, but as we see in the tag scene, her line has an unexpectedly sinister actual meaning!

• Team Flash gathers around the casket to say one last goodbye.

There's that pesky Caitlin double again in the center of the screen, doing her best to obscure her face! Not only does she keep them from having to do costly CGI "twinning" effects here, but now they don't have to try and hide Danielle Panabaker's rapidly growing belly!

• After the funeral, Frost makes a phone call to someone and says, "Hey. We need to talk."

For a second I thought maybe she was calling her ex Marcus, in an effort to get back with him. Her tone was a bit too brusque for that though. 

Instead she called Chillblaine, as she apparently has his number for some reason.

Sometime later she lets Chillblaine into her apartment, where we see she's set up a secret and very elaborate genetic lab. Jesus Christ! How much time passed between her phone call to Chillblaine and this scene? Days? Weeks? Maybe even months?

And where the hell did she get all this high-tech equipment? Did she "borrow" it from STAR Labs? If so, how'd she sneak it all out BY HERSELF, without anyone else noticing? And how'd she carry it all up to her high-rise apartment with no help as well? 

Maybe she ordered it all from Amazon Prime. Or she smuggled it out one piece at a time like Johnny Cash.

I get that this is a comic book world, but c'mon! It still has to make a slight amount of sense.

• So what's Caitlin's endgame here? It's pretty obvious she's so distraught she's planning to clone Frost. But why? Surely a doctor/scientist like her would know that wouldn't work. 

Yes, she might be able to clone Frost's physical body, but she can't duplicate her mind. A Frost clone would be the most tabula of rasas, as her brain would be completely empty. Did Caitlin somehow use some kind of bullsh*t comic book science to make a copy of Frost's brain patterns before she died?

Also, it appears Caitlin's planning on cloning Frost from a hair sample she surreptitiously cut from her corpse during the funeral. Again, as a woman of science she ought to know that's impossible as well.

See, she clearly cut a length from the END of Frost's hair. The hair shaft itself is made up of dead cells, and the DNA inside would quickly break down and no longer be viable. You could use a person's hair to genetically ID them, but cloning would be right out. 

The only way this would work is if she pulled a hunk of Frost's hair out by the roots— which would still contain living cells with undamaged DNA. 

Again, I get that it's a comic book show that isn't much concerned with scientific accuracy. I just thought I'd point out that her plan's complete nonsense.

All that said, I reeeeeeally hope we're not gonna get a resurrected Frost. As I said last week, I hated to see her character die, but now that it's happened it better damn well stick. Having her come back after giving her a heartfelt and emotional death scene would be a HUGE cheat, and completely negate any impact it may have had. It'd be cheap and manipulative, and the audience deserves better. She needs to stay dead.

I may be worrying about this for nothing, as it seems actress Danielle Panabaker is on my side. In a recent interview with TVLine, she said when showrunner Eric Wallace pitched Frost's death to her, she claims her only question was, "Are we really going to kill her? Because it didn’t feel right to do a fake-out. This needed to be her real death, in order to feel truthful and honest."

So I'm hopeful that confirms Frost isn't actually coming back, and Caitlin's just grasping at straws here. 

Actually I wouldn't mind a "Caitlin Turns To The Dark Side And Becomes A Mad Scientist" storyline, as that would give her character some much needed interest. She's been pretty bland lately, as the writers have been neglecting her in favor of the way more fun Frost.

• In the tag scene, Taylor (who I admit I'd totally forgotten about) continues her anti-Allegra campaign. She also mentions that the Flash has been seen working with other people lately, and tells Iris she wants to find out who they are. I'm betting this is the start of a "Taylor Outs Allegra As A Meta And Member Of Team Flash" storyline. And why not? That'll teach Allegra to not wear a mask!

The Flash Season 7, Episode 14: Rayo De Luz

This week on The Flash... oh, it's an Allegra episode. Time to change the channel!

OK, I'm not being fair here. It's not that Rayo De Luz is a bad episode— heck, compared to some of the show's recent fare it feels like Shakespeare in comparison.

It just feels odd to devote an entire episode to Allegra, as I have mixed feelings toward the character. She's pleasant enough I guess, but I don't really understand why she's on the show. All the other side characters have their own purpose or play a specific part. Frost's there to spice things up with her bad girl persona. Chester's the resident tech guru, and a logical (if subpar) replacement for Cisco. Even Cecile has a role as the team's surrogate mother figure.

But what the hell is Allegra's function? Did the producers add her as an ersatz substitute for Nash Wells? If that was the plan, then it was a huge failure. 

Maybe the producers are aware of this situation, and this episode was an attempt at giving Allegra a purpose on Team Flash. Eh, it didn't work.

For some reason Candice Patton is AWOL this week. This marks the first ever absence from the series, leaving Grant Gustin as the only actor who's been appeared in every single episode.

Rayo De Luz was directed by Danielle Panabaker, aka Caitlin Snow, aka Killer Frost. This marks her third time in the director's chair, as she previously helmed Godspeed and License To Elongate.

I've no problem with her direction here, as she did a decent job given the pedestrian material she had to work with.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
We open with Allegra painfully crawling away from her evil cousin Ultraviolet. She pleads with her cousin, begging her not to kill her, but Ultraviolet raises her hands and fires an energy blast right at her.

12 Hours Earlier. Yeah. It's gonna be one of those episodes.

At STAR Labs, Barry announces he & Iris (who's completely absent this week) are taking some time off to "relax" (wink wink), and will be off-grid the whole episode. He leaves Frost, Chester & Allegra in charge. Wow. Why not just shut the place down for a week? Chester invites Frost & Allegra to play D&D, but they quickly find excuses to ditch him and get the hell out of there.

Elsewhere, Joe tells Cecile he found some dirt on Kristen Kramer. Apparently a soldier named Adam Creyke led Kramer's men into an ambush that killed them. Wait, I thought Kramer herself did that? Anyway, Joe doesn't know if Kramer planned the ambush or what, but says he thinks she's still a good cop (?). He's determined to find the truth about her. Don't worry about any of this, because none of it matters much.

Chester goes to Jitters, where he sees Allegra chilling. She tells him she's trying to find her cousin Esperanza, aka Ultraviolet, who's been assassinating various targets lately. She says she has intel indicating she'll strike Central City next.

Right on cue, Ultraviolet appears, announces she's there to kill Allegra and fires a blast of UV energy at her. Allegra says she doesn't want to fight, and then instantly begins fighting her(?). Chester tries to stop Ultraviolet with a stool (??), and she blasts him across the room. Just then Sue Dearbon slinks in and poses provocatively in the doorway as she taunts Ultraviolet. The two prep to fight, till Ultraviolet hears sirens in the distance and teleports away.

Back at STAR, Caitlin tends to Chester's wounds. Sue tells Allegra she heard Ultraviolet was headed for Central City, which is why she decided to stick around. Allegra wants to redeem her cousin, but Sue warns her that the currently depleted Team Flash isn't up to the task. She says Ultraviolet will kill Allegra if she gets the chance. Allegra insists on trying anyway.

Sue looks at a map of Ultraviolet's recent appearances, and determines her next target will be a free clinic downtown. She has a special "photon stun grenade" that'll stop her. Chester wants to go along as well, but Allegra tells him it's too dangerous.

Cut to the clinic, where Ultraviolet is chasing after a doctor. Right as she corners him, Sue drops in and tells him to run. She then tosses her grenade, which stuns Ultraviolet. Allegra swoops in and places meta-dampening cuffs on her. Ultraviolet shrieks at them, saying she was after the doctor who turned her into a monster, and they just let him get away.

Back at STAR, Ultraviolet's cooling her heels in the Secret Super Jail. After many threats, Ultraviolet says Dr. Olsen, who worked for Black Hole, operated on her and cut her voice from her. She then removes her neck piece, revealing a ghastly scar (well, sort of). She blames Allegra for leaving and allowing her to be captured by Olsen.

Allegra says she's sorry for what happened, and says they'll help her. Sue takes her aside and asks if she really plans on helping her cousin murder someone. Allegra ignores her and frees Ultraviolet.

Elsewhere, Joe meets with Kristen (who's now the interim CCPD captain). He shows her the file he found about Creyke, and says he wants to hear her side before he reports it to the authorities. She freaks the hell out, accusing him of trying to get her fired and orders him from her sight before she arrests him.

Back at STAR, Ultraviolet tries teaching Allegra how to fire an energy blast (which I thought she already knew how to do). When Allegra can't do it, Ultraviolet becomes frustrated and berates her. Sue enters and says she was right about Ultraviolet, provoking an attack. The two begin fighting in the Lab. Just then Chester enters, and is knocked on his ass AGAIN by a stray blast from Ultraviolet. She then teleports away.

Later on Chester wakes in the Medbay, and Caitlin says he's lucky he survived. Allegra apologizes for getting him hurt and leaves. Sue tells Chester that Allegra listens to him, so he needs to get her to change her mind about helping Ultraviolet. Chester says he'll try, then gets an idea involving Allegra's yin/yang tattoo.

Kristen texts Joe and asks to meet him. Against his better judgement he agrees to go.

Sue tells Allegra that she needs to forget about Ultraviolet, as some people just can't be changed. She says she tried to save her own family from Black Hole, only to find out they'd sided with the organization. Allegra says Team Flash never gave up on her, and she owes her cousin the same courtesy.

Unfortunately Allegra has no idea how to find Ultraviolet. Chester tells her he's figured it out. He says Allegra & Ultraviolet basically have the same powers. So all he has to do is use Allegra's powers as a filter for their satellite, and it'll reveal her cousin's location. Sure, why not. He then insists on going with Allegra to help.

At the warehouse, Ultraviolet searches for Dr. Olsen. Suddenly the lights come up, and she sees him standing in front of a table. He asks her if she's ready for one last experiment.

Chester waits in the STAR Labs van while Allegra sneaks into the warehouse. She's confronted by several guards, and Chester sets off an EMP to fry their weaponry and knock them out. Just then even more guards arrive, and Chester says the EMP needs time to recharge. Suddenly Sue appears (again) and tells Allegra to go save her cousin while she deals with the guards.

Allegra finds Ultraviolet and says she's there to save her. Ultraviolet says it's a no-go, as she's made a deal with Olsen. He'll restore her voice if she kills everyone who knows of his existence— including Team Flash.

Allegra and Ultraviolet then fight (again), as Olsen looks on. He tells Allegra that fighting back is useless, as Ultraviolet's powers are fueled by hatred. Allegra says she'll never give in to hate. Olsen tells Ultraviolet to finish her off, as we loop back around to the beginning of the episode.

Ultraviolet fires a deadly blast at Allegra, but she stops it with her one of her own. She powers up till she glows like a sun, easily overwhelming Ultraviolet and Olsen, knocking them both down. Sue enters and asks Allegra if she's OK. She smiles and says she's fine.

Back at STAR, Allegra tells Esperanza that Caitlin examined Olsen's files, and believes she can reverse what was done to her (???). She says they'll always be family or some such.

Sue says Allegra's stubbornness has inspired her to try and talk sense into her parents. Allegra thanks Chester for having her back, and offers to play D&D with him. Just then Barry speeds in and says his vacation was amazing, and asks if anything happened while he was gone. Chester and Allegra both shrug and say nothing.

Joe meets Kristen at a dive bar, and she tells him that she and Creyke grew up with one another outside their reservation and are spiritual siblings. She says Creyke tried to convince her not to go on the mission, when in reality he'd already sold out. She says it's her fault that her squad was killed, and asks him to help her find Creyke and punish him.

Elsewhere, Chillblaine's sneaking through an alley. Frost appears behind him and hits him in the back of the head, knocking him down. She says she heard he'd escaped from Iron Heights, and is taking him back in. He tells her not so fast, as he turned state's evidence and had his criminal record erased (???).

Thoughts: 
• About this week's title— "Rayo de Luz" is Spanish of course, and can mean "ray of light" or "silver lining." Either would work for this episode!

• Ugh, it's another "12 Hours Earlier" episode, where we start in the third act and then rewind back to the beginning. It's one of my all-time least favorite narrative devices, right behind "It Was All A Dream."

• Barry sits out about 98% of this episode, appearing briefly at the beginning and end. And Iris doesn't even appear at all! OK, technically she shows up for five seconds through the magic of stock footage, but she was nowhere near the set this week.

I don't know if this was a Covid precaution, or the actors just needed some time off. Whatever the reason, it felt weird for two of the main characters to seemingly abandon their own show— especially after Cisco just left the series for good in the previous episode!

• This episode heavily features Ultraviolet, Allegra's "prima" (aka cousin). Get used to that word, because the two of them use it a lot. SEVEN times by my count, although it felt more like twenty.

• Did we skip a scene? At the beginning of the episode, Chester tries to get Allegra to play D&D with him. She gets a tip on Ultraviolet's whereabouts, says she's gotta go and rushes off. 

Then two scenes later she's messing with her laptop at Jitters. What happened to the hot tip? Even stranger, Chester's there as well! What happened to his big D&D game? He can't be done so soon, as those games go on for HOURS.

It definitely feels like there's some content missing here.

• I don't have anything to say about this photo— I just wanted to post a pic of Chester wearing elf ears.

• Oh, DC! You and your fake comic book cities!

Recently in my Superman & Lois reviews I've been debating just where Metropolis exists in the Arrowverse. I've always figured it's the Earth-Prime version of New York City, and located in the same spot. However, recent events on Superman & Lois have made it seem like Metropolis is located in Kansas, along with Smallville. There were legitimate arguments for both locations. 

This episode would seem to clear up the matter once and for all! According to Allegra's map of Ultraviolet's activities, Metropolis is indeed sitting in the spot normally occupied by NYC! 

Which means that on Superman & Lois, the Smallville High School football team traveled some 1,200 miles to play their rivals in Metropolis! Yeah, I don't think something like that would ever happen.

By the way, according to this map, Opal City (where Jesse Wells was from) looks to be right on the west central Illinois border. In real life there aren't any major cities in that location— the closest one would probably be Champagne. Note that in the comics, Opal City was in Maryland! Go figure!

This map also places Central City in the same spot as Kansas City, Missouri in our world.

All this tsuris and confusion could easily be avoided if DC would just use real city names like Marvel always has.

• Allegra wants to "save" her cousin Ultraviolet, but doesn't have a clue how to go about it. At one point she says, "What would Barry do?" Holy crap! I hope we're not gonna start seeing wristbands with THAT acronym on them!

• Allegra's chilling at Jitters when Ultraviolet enters and attacks her. Why is it every time she throws a punch, it sounds like some kind of electrical generator or heavy machinery powering up? Is Ultraviolet bionic too?

• Allegra gets a beatdown from Ultraviolet, but is saved by the timely appearance of Sue Dearbon. Ultraviolet then tells Allegra to stay out of her business and vanishes. So she can teleport now? Since when? Has she always been able to do that?

• Now that Joe's quit the force, Kristen Kramer's become the new CCPD captain. Joe tells Cecile he's worried about this development, saying, "Babe, CCPD was like my second home. I trained most of the officers there. They're like my family. Now, I can't help but wonder who did I leave my kids with?"

I legit did a spit take when he said that last part! This from the man who's constantly handing off his infant daughter to anyone and everyone who agrees to watch her.

• Hands down the best part of this episode— and possibly the entire series— is Sue's reaction when she realizes that Caitlin, Chester and Allegra are all that's left of Team Flash. 

Her horrified and astonished expression is absolutely priceless, and actually made me laugh out loud. Mostly because I made pretty much the same face when I saw the team.

• Sue looks at a map showing Ultraviolet's recent activity, and instantly figures out where her next target will be. A couple things here:

First off, Sue draws a spiral shape between the dots on the map, and says it's a "typical Black Hole recon pattern." Yeah, here's the thing about those dots— no matter what configuration they're in, it'd be possible to draw a spiral through them. Their position doesn't mean anything!

Heck, you could connect and draw virtually ANY shape between them. Circle, square, lopsided triangle, or a zigzag line. All would be equally as valid as an arbitrary spiral.

Secondly, Sue uses a permanent marker to draw her random spiral right on the flat screen monitor! What the hell? 

• Once they figure out where Ultraviolet will strike next, Allegra asks how they'll stop her. Sue hold up a technobabble device and says, "With this. It's a photonic stun grenade. Procuring it required two trips to New Delhi, a helicopter crash, and a very deadly quinceanera."

I had no idea what that last word meant, so I had to look it up. Turns out a quinceanera is a celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday, and takes place in Latin American countries.

• Allegra & Sue eventually capture Ultraviolet and toss her in the Secret Super Jail. Ultraviolet then bitterly lashes out at her prima, demanding she let her go so she can get revenge on the man who mutilated her. To illustrate her point, she removes her neckpiece to reveal the sight of her grisly scar. 

Wait, that's it? THAT'S the ghastly-looking defect she's been hiding all this time? Sure, having her voice box cut out was a horrifying thing to happen to her, but I expected the resulting damage to look a little more gruesome. Jeez, I've seen acne worse than this barely noticeable imperfection. It isn't even worth covering up.

• As I've stated time and again, murder doesn't seem to be a crime in the Arrowverse. Nowhere is that more evident than in this episode, as it's all about Allegra's attempt to rehabilitate her cousin Ultraviolet.

As a professional assassin, it's a given she's killed numerous victims. Apparently none of that matters though, as Allegra says Ultraviolet is family, and she knows there's still good in her.

Congratulations, Prima! By not turning in Ultraviolet to the proper authorities, you're now an accessory to her murders!

• In a somewhat related story arc, Chillblaine appears in the tag scene and tells Frost he was freed from prison after turning state's evidence. But he's a convicted murderer, having killed at least once that we know of. How the hell could he be set free?

While it's technically possible for a murderer to receive immunity from prosecution in exchange for testimony, it's HIGHLY unlikely. Such action is usually reserved for petty crooks who have info on drug lords or organized crime figures.

Also, criminals who testify against other criminals generally place their lives in danger, and are often the target of retaliation from their peers. They're usually forced to keep a VERY low profile or even go into Witness Protection. 

They most definitely would NOT be strutting around showing off the newspaper headline trumpeting their state's evidence deal, as Chillblaine does in this episode! I know, I know, this is a comic book world and all that, but Jaysis!

• This is some Heavy Duty Nitpicking, but whatever. Joe goes to CCPD to confront Kristen about his findings. Check out the TV in the background (tuned to Channel 52, of course!). The one displaying a weather report stating that it's currently 92° in Central City.

So why's Joe dressed in three or four layers, topped off with a hat & heavy wool overcoat? An even bigger question is how the hell is he not sweating his ass off in the sweltering heat?

• Eventually Allegra and Ultraviolet come to an agreement, and they begin training. Ultraviolet tries to teach Allegra how to fire UV blasts from her hands— without much success. Wait a minute... doesn't Allegra already know how to do that? I don't have time to sift through every one of her episodes, but I could swear we've seen her blast things before.

• Heh. Preach it sister! Everyone in the audience is wondering the same thing about your prima.

• Sue tries to get Chester to convince Allegra that Ultraviolet's no good and is never going to change. She says, "She's gotta realize that sharing a back alley yin-yang tattoo with someone doesn't mean you're bonded forever." Her words trigger an idea in Chester as he exclaims, "Yin-yang tattoo? Ha! Great Rao!"

OK, first of all I swear I never noticed that Allegra had a yin-yang tattoo on her neck until this week. Has that really always been there, or is it a quick & dirty retcon? Her hair's usually covering that area, so I honestly have no idea.

Secondly, regarding Chester's "Great Rao:" In the comics, this was Superman's catchphrase, as Rao was the Kryptonian version of God. Not sure how Chester would know that (unless Superman goes around trying to convert humans to Kryptolacism), but there you go.

• Was this episode written by a horny fourteen year old boy? Because it's basically three shapely gals in skintight black catsuits striking provocative poses and fighting one another for forty one minutes.

This is especially surprising for a show on The CW. After all, they're the network that prides itself on its inclusivity, diversity and wokeness. They're constantly touting their "Strong Female Character" quotient, so it's baffling to see them resorting to jiggling T&A like this.

• Not a nitpick, just an observation. On a related note, when Sue Dearbon first appeared in the comics, she was an intelligent, attractive and urbane socialite. Later she married Ralph Dibny, and the two of them solved mysteries together, ala Nick & Nora Charles (as your grandparents who they were, kids). She had no powers of her own, and was a normal loving wife.

Compare that to the Sue of the Arrowverse, who's been transformed into a successful international thief, spy and assassin. She's basically Black Widow now.

Note that I don't really have a problem with this, as I think this version of Sue is much more interesting than the one in the comics. It's just interesting to see the contrast between the two.

I'm sure the fact that Sue's cavorting around in a skintight leather catsuit couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that Marvel's new Black Widow movie— featuring a similarly-clad shapely heroine— is coming out shortly after this episode airs...

• In the third act, Allegra finally defeats Ultraviolet by going all Super Saiyan on her ass. Or maybe by turning into Captain Marvel, I can't tell which.

Either way, you gotta admit that's quite a glow-up!

So what fueled this startling and impressive transformation? Ugh... the Power Of Love, of course.

For MONTHS now I've been tearing this show a new asshole over the fact that Barry's stopped using his superspeed to thwart evil metas, choosing instead to use the Care Bear Stare and defeat them with love. It's happened over and over and over all goddamned season.

I don't know if this is a result of Covid restrictions or it's a misguided attempt on the part of the writers to push a "Rehabilitation Over Punishment" philosophy.

Whatever the reason, Barry's new kill 'em with kindness approach has become laughable, enbarrassing and annoying. I thought we'd be spared it this week though, since Barry was pretty much AWOL this episode.

Nope! Despite the fact that he took a break from his own show this week, Allegra stepped up and defeated her prima with the Power Of Love. She even confirms it herself! When Ultraviolet asks how she powered up like she did, Allegra replies, "Dr. Olsen said our powers are fueled by hate, but... I thought about something else. Family."

Jesus Christ. Now even the side characters are killing the evil metas with kindness.

• Back at STAR, Allegra tells Esperanza that Caitlin examined Olsen's files, and believes she can reverse what was done to her. Really? Caitlin can transplant voice boxes now? That seems like a pretty advanced medical procedure for a research physician like Caitlin.

• According to Kristen, she and her "brother" Adam Creyke are both Native American. Huh. I just thought she was a bitchy white woman.

• A few weeks back it was established that Kristen hated meta-criminals with the white hot passion of a thousand exploding suns. In fact in Family Matters, Part 1, Joe discovered that Kristen had requisitioned special weaponry and ordnance, and was planning on walking around Central City shooting every meta-criminal she saw with meta-cure cartridges— without benefit of a trial! Holy crap! 

This entire scenario was presented as a HUGE deal, and a major plotline being set up in the back half of the season that would pit Joe against Kristen for the fate of Central City.

Annnnnnnd this week that entire subplot is totally abandoned, never to be spoken of again. In fact, Kristen infodumps her backstory to Joe, causing the two of them to bond and become best friends. They even set out on a road trip together to find the missing Creyke! 

What the hell is even happening on this show right now? What happened to her all-consuming hatred of meta-criminals? At the time she claimed it was because she cared about the citizens of Central City and was doing everything in her power to protect them. Suddenly all she seems to care about is finding her brother Creyke, who she says betrayed her. Is HE an evil meta? Is that why she hates them so much? If so, it doesn't explain why she's suddenly dropped her vendetta against them as a group.

Who sets up a major plotline, only to forget about it a month later?