The Flash Review: Snow Pack (Season 5 Episode 19)
The power of family is the focus on The Flash Season 5 Episode 19, “Snow Pack,” a surprisingly nuanced installment that provides both emotional heft and some darn fun action scenes at the same time.
The episode has everything from a heated WestAllen argument to a Frost family face off in mid-air and even with the (unfortunate) return of the Cicada story, it’s hard to ask for a lot more.
The bulk of the story deals with the fallout from Barry’s decision to send Nora back to the future at the end of The Flash Season 5 Episode 18, “Godspeed.” He’s convinced it was the only possible choice after being confronted with his daughter’s lies. Iris doesn’t see it that way, insisting that Nora deserves a second chance.
The ensuing West-Allen argument is one of the best scenes the show has done in recent memory — perhaps ever.
Given that The Flash tends to be one of the designated fluffy and light shows in the Arrowverse, we don’t tend to see many fights between its main characters. Not even after Killer Frost attacked her friends back in season 3.
To see Barry and Iris really argue like this is something else.
The sign of a compelling argument is usually that you kind of agree with both sides.
And that’s super true here, as both Barry and Iris’ perspectives are completely understandable ones. Of course, Iris would at least want to be consulted before sending her daughter away. Obviously, Barry has complicated feelings about Eobard Thawne and anything connected to him.
The two got downright hurtful at times, with Iris hauling out a Flashpoint reference and completely disregarding Barry’s lifelong Thawne-pain, and her husband insisting that she is only invested in keeping Nora around because her daughter likes her now.
The Flash didn’t entirely stick the landing on this conflict, seemingly more interested in making sure the West-Allens made up by episode’s end (really, jokes?) than in really digging into the actual issues this fight raised, but it was sure entertaining while it lasted.
And, for the record, we should all definitely be side-eyeing Team Flash’s sudden decision to blame Sherloque for the mess Nora made. That character has never been a favorite of mine, but watching everyone pretty much turn as one to castigate him for outing her lies was wild.
Yes, we all like Nora. She’s fun to watch. But her entire presence in Central City was based on a lie, one which she kept telling even as she discovered how hurtful it would be. There should be consequences for that.
Elsewhere, Caitlin lands the B plot this week when her exceptionally campy villain dad, Icicle, returns to kidnap her and her mother. His goal is to use some science mumbo jumbo to strip both women of their humanity, and reconfigure the titular “Snow Pack,” his name for their family unit.
This is all basically a sort of ridiculous set up to bridge the frosty gap between Caitlin and her mother, and, despite its frequently nonsensical bits, that part of the story surprisingly actually works.
Part of that is likely because we so rarely see Caitlin stories that aren’t directly connected to Star Labs –– or, in recent seasons, Killer Frost. It’s nice to see a story that’s primarily focused on her as a person.
Plus, Danielle Panabaker and Susan Walters have lovely chemistry together and, despite the fact that their characters have had limited screen time over the years, still the relationship between them still feels genuine.
Since Caitlin only got her father back earlier this season, his death probably doesn’t land with quite the emotional impact it would had we spent more than five minutes with him, but still. At least the fight sequence between Icicle and Killer Frost is downright stunning to watch.
More people racing through the forest fighting on ice slides, show!
The only real downside of this episode? The Cicada plot returns out of nowhere, ruining the dreams of all of us who had blissfully forgotten about this mess while more interesting stories played out elsewhere.
But, oh, no, Cicada 2 is back and steals Icicle’s cryo-atomizer thing because reasons and I honestly can’t be the only person who just doesn’t care about this at all anymore?
Stray Thoughts and Observations
- While the entire Barry/Iris/Nora family throwdown makes for compelling drama — it also kind of makes no sense. Look, I’ll give you that Barry’s decision to haul Nora back to the future without letting her say goodbye to her mother was a jerk move. But the thing is, I just don’t understand why both Iris and her daughter are acting like Nora can just…stay in 2019 forever? Doesn’t she have to leave at some point? Even if only to make sure that she actually exists in the future?
- The Flash has always been STUPIDLY lazy about its own internal rules of time travel, but if years of watching Doctor Who have taught me nothing else is that she probably shouldn’t be able to hang out with her younger self without causing some kind of paradox.
- Why does anyone at all trust Eobard Thawne? Sure, maybe he has some genuinely warm feelings for Nora now that he’s literal minutes away from death, but there’s no way he’s not playing an angle here, right to the end.
- As evidenced above, Icicle’s whole look is terrible!!
- I’m 100% ready for whatever happens with Dr. Tahnhauser suddenly getting ice powers though, even if the way that the Snow family has acquired their meta abilities makes less sense every time the writers go back to this well.
- Also, it is time for Killer Frost to get an official outfit. Just saying.
What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.