There’s a lot of science in this episode of The Flash…so bare with me. In “Reckless,” Frost (Danielle Panabaker) comes up with a risky plan to capture the Black Flame and Barry (Grant Gustin) doesn’t like it. Iris’ (Candice Patton) attempt to help Tinya (Mika Abdalla) find her mother hits a few speed bumps.
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Iris doesn’t have a time sickness, she is spreading a time sickness. And, according to Deon (Christian Magby), it’s causing time to collapse around her. Iris sets off her distress signal and Barry arrives within seconds. It has something to do with what happened to Iris in another timeline. Deon says she can’t move, she has to stay in Coast City to reduce the effects on the timeline.
Deon puts a patch on Iris that gives her a huge headache. He leaves to find a cure. Barry offers to move to Coast City with Iris, but she reminds him that the Black Flame is still a threat to Central City. She has work to keep her busy, Sue Dearbon (Natalie Dreyfuss) is with her and she still wants to help Tinya find her mother. Barry reluctantly agrees to return home.
FROSTY ENCOUNTER
Back in Central City, Frost is listening to music and painting when the Black Flame pays her a visit and burns her arm in the process. The rest of the team is at the Citizen with Barry as he tells them about Iris’ condition. They say they can handle things if Barry wants to be with Iris, but he says he’s needed there.
Team Flash is still trying to find a connection between the Black Flame’s victims, but they aren’t coming up with anything. Kramer pulled every file of any suspicious fire related crimes since the particle accelerator exploded. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) says there’s a lot of files. He recruited Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) to help him.
The team gets an alert that someone entered the med lab at STAR labs. Barry leaves to check it out and finds Frost trying to bandage her arm. She has no idea why the Black Flame would attack Frost. She wasn’t grieving; in fact she was in a really happy place. Barry is worried that the flame is targeting Frost and wants to search her apartment.
FAMILY AFFAIR
Frost visits Mommy Dearest Dr. Carla Tannhauser (Susan Walters) and tells her about their case. She asks Carla to help her catch the black flame, using herself as bait. Carla reluctantly agrees and they approach the rest of the team with their idea. Carla thinks that the Black Flame is after Frost so it can recharge off of her energy.
Barry doesn’t like it but hears them out. Carla says they could capture the Black Flame if they built a fusion containment housing but that could take weeks. Or minutes. Chester (Brandon McKnight) suggests they use the fusion sphere from the ASF (the device they built to help Barry get his speed back.) All they have to do is recalibrate it for a cryo-kinetic signature.
Frost and Carla are ready to get to work. Chester and Allegra (Kayla Compton) both like and hate the idea, so they leave it up to Barry to decide. Barry doesn’t want Frost to be killed by the Black Flame and shuts down the idea to use Frost as bait. Frost follows Barry to continue their discussion, but he says he won’t change his mind. She reminds him that Deon told Iris to stay put, but they both know that’s not what she’s doing. She is out there trying to help Tinya find her mother. That’s what they do, they help people despite the risks. And that’s all she’s trying to do. Barry agrees to go ahead with her plan, but if anything goes wrong, he’s pulling the plug.
FUSION SPHERE
Chester and Carla get the fusion sphere set up. Carla is impressed with Chester’s knowledge of fusion and offers him a job. At first he’s excited, but then he looks at Allegra. He declines and says he really likes it at STAR Labs.
Frost is in place and Carla tells Chester to activate the fusion sphere. The sphere will amplify Frost’s cryo-kinetic signature, luring the flame to them. Frost has to stay put until the fire is trapped in the sphere. Now they wait for the flame to show up. Carla commends Frost on her bravery.
The flame appears on the satellite and moves quickly towards STAR labs. It starts to creep in through the ceiling but stops. Barry thinks the black flame knows what they are up to. Frost puts her hands up and starts antagonizing the flame. She blasts the flame with a cold burst and the flame strikes back at her. Frost flies across the room, but Barry catches her.
Frost is knocked unconscious. Caitlin is in the med bay when Frost wakes up and she’s not happy. She starts to scold Frost for risking her life and then her mother for helping Frost. This is obviously a family affair so Barry leaves to try and find the Flame.
NO CONTACT
Meanwhile, Iris hits a roadblock in her search for Tinya’s mother. Iris, Tinya and Sue go to the adoption agency that handled Tinya’s adoption, so they can’t give them any information about the birth mother. The clerk says there is a no contact order on Tinya’s file. Tinya gets upset and starts yelling. Sue takes her aside to calm her down.
The clerk says she would need approval from their board of directors to override the no contact order. Luckily Sue’s uncle Leroy is on the board. (or is he?) Sue asks him for the override and gives the phone to the clerk. The clerk quickly downloads Tinya’s file to a flash drive for Iris. She leaves to get something to drink. When she returns, everything in the office is gone.
Sue leaves to get their car as Iris asks Tinya if she’s ready for the next step. Tinya gets scared, thinking that her mother doesn’t want to meet her. Iris thinks she will, but Tinya says her mom gave up on her when she was born. Iris tells Tinya about how her mom abandoned her. She reconnected with her mom before she died, but she almost let that chance slip past her. Of course, Iris was hurt, angry, and scared, but if she didn’t reconcile, she would have regretted it for the rest of her life. Iris says Tinya is not alone. Tinya takes the flash drive and they leave.
RECKLESS BEHAVIOR
Caitlin scolds Frost and Carla for putting Frost’s life in danger. She doens’t want to lose Frost, so Caitlin is harsh with both of them. She says Carla is looking at Frost as a science experiment and not her daughter. Caitlin tells Frost to value her life and stop being so reckless. Frost decides to go ahead with her plan and Carla is still willing to help her. Cailtin says if anything happens to Frost, Carla will lose two daughters.
Carla told Joe about her plan to capture the Black Flame and Barry’s objection. He doesn’t see anything wrong with the plan but asks Barry what he’s really worried about. Barry says as Team Flash leader, it’s his job to keep everyone on the team safe. He doesn’t know how to do that right now. They’re only solution is to put a team member’s life in jeopardy.
Joe asks if he’s talking about Frost or Iris. He says Barry left Iris in Coast City asking the same question he’s asking if it is safe for her to continue the mission or should he pull the plug? Joe says the hardest part about being a leader is letting go and trusting his people to make the call themselves. Then he has to be there for them.
CRYO-FAMILY SACRIFICE
Carla changes her mind and temporarily stops Frost’s plan. She says Caitlin is right and Frost has to stop being reckless with her life. She can’t help anyone if she’s dead. Frost argues that she was created to protect people, but Carla says Frost is also her daughter and vital member of Team Flash and the Snow family. There’s a time to protect others, but now is the time for Frost to protect herself. Frost understands.
As for the flame, Carla came up with another idea. She still wants to trap it without putting Frost in danger. They just have to increase the cry-kinetic signature. Carla tells Frost that she has a cryo-kinetic signature. It’s not enough to manifest powers, but she has a cryo-gene. If they combine their signatures, the flame won’t be able to resist. They just have to trap the flame quickly.
Caitlin overheard their conversation and she will help. She’s not happy about putting them in danger, but if they work together, they can keep everyone safe. The alarm goes off and the Black Flame appears in downtown Central City. They tell Barry about Carla’s cry-kinetic gene. Caitlin confirms that the two genes together will increase the cry-kinetic signature. Barry helps set up the sphere and stays with Caitlin and Frost in the speed lab. He says he trusts the both and is prepared to get them out of there if it comes to it.
IN SYNC
They activate the sphere. Frost tells Carla to focus on her powers. Both of their eyes turn white. Their bio signatures sync up and the flame heads toward the lab. The Flame gets close enough to the sphere and is absorbed. The Flame starts fighting back and the sphere’s integrity starts to collapse.
Barry says they have to abort, but Carla wants to continue. Caitlin monitors her vitals and says Carla is going into cardiac arrest. Carla says it’s worth sacrificing her to trap the Flame. Frost pulls back and pushes Carla away from the flame. The Flame breaks free of the sphere and escapes. They didn’t get it and Frost is okay with that, but Barry is worried.
The team fills Joe and Cecile in on what happened. They are disappointed but glad Team Flash is okay. The investigation is at a dead end. Barry says the cold fusion sphere can contain the Flame. They can try again to capture it. He also thinks they can create a signature without using Frost or any other meta as bait. This time, they will take the fight to the Flame.
REUNION GONE WRONG
Caitlin and Frost make Carla stay with them for the night. Caitlin apologizes for yelling at them, but they both say they needed her to. Marcus calls and Caitlin says she has to come up with a story to tell him. She’s not ready to let him in on everything just yet. Carla apologizes for not treating Frost like a daughter. They are both ready to work on their relationship.
Iris and Sue go with Tinya to meet her mom, Renee Wazzo (Megan Gardner). Tinya only has one question for Renee. She asks why Renee didn’t want her. Renee says she wanted her, but she was too young. She was 16 when she had Tinya and her parents convinced her to give Tinya up. Renee says they were wrong and she has always regretted it. The only thing that got her through life was the hope that Tinya was living a good life. Iris gets a strong headache. Renee goes to check on Iris and touches her hand. Iris’ eyes turn green and Renee disappears.
Caitlin is at home alone and the Black Flame appears. She can’t get to her phone to call for help, but the flame doesn’t attack. It talks to her instead. It calls her by her name and says there is no life for them. Caitlin remembers her deceased husband’s last words to her. He said there was no life for them. Is the Black Flame … is it Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell)?
RELATED: Catch up on all of The Flash recaps here
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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