Flash fans had a pretty feels-intensive mid-season finale, and the show’s now trademark post-credits sting has left us all screaming at our televisions, “THAT’S how the end it???” Thanks to an episode description from the CW, we now know what is in store for us when the show returns on January 20 with the episode “Revenge of the Rogues”.
If you’re not caught up on The Flash, read no further! There will be spoilers ahead!
The mid-season finale brought us a few big moments. Eddie and Iris are moving in together, Barry confessed his love to Iris--and Iris didn’t really reciprocate--, Caitlin’s fiancee, Ronnie, is alive and a metahuman, and most of all, we learned that the creepiest doctor around, Dr. Harrison Wells, is actually Reverse Flash. So will Iris and Eddie break up? Will Barry and Iris finally live happily together? What the heck is going on with Ronnie? And what in the world is up with Dr. Wells/Reverse Flash?
We might get the answers to all of those questions in the mid-season premiere, the CW’s description has given us a few clues on what to expect. So here’s what we know so far.
Captain Cold is back, and he’s got a toasty partner.
Leonard Snart AKA Captain Cold (guest star Wentworth Miller) returns to Central City with a new hotheaded partner in tow – Mick Rory AKA Heat Wave (guest star Dominic Purcell).
We knew that we’d be seeing more of Captain Cold/Leonard Snart when Barry let him go a few episodes back. However this time, the Captain has got a sidekick, Mick Rory or “Heat Wave”. So even though Captain Cold proved to be a formidable enemy to Barry, it seems that he’ll have an extra fight on his hands as he battles fire and ice. We’re going to have some epic fights on our hands, guys. Of course, the addition to Heat Wave is also pretty awesome for an entirely different reason. Captain Cold is played by Wentworth Miller, best known for his role in Prison Break, and Dominic Purcell also starred in the hit show. So Prison Break fans will get to see Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield together again.
Captain Cold is out to get Barry.
The duo plan to steal a multi-million dollar painting, but Cold has another agenda while in town – to set a trap for The Flash.
Barry put himself at the top of Captain Cold’s list when he let him escape a few episodes back. Barry really has been the only human--or rather, metahuman--who has been able to put any sort of barrier between Snart and what he wants. After all, Snart isn’t really a metahuman, he was just able to get his hands on some very dangerous freezing gun technology (created by Cisco, awkwardly). However, when Snart tried to wreak havoc on Central City and Barry stood in his way, Barry proved himself to have a definite weak spot for those he loved. More than that, he had several people in his life that he loved. After all, it was Caitlin and Cisco who saved Barry from Captain Cold. So if Captain Cold has it in for Barry Allen, that definitely means that one of his friends are in danger.
Barry’s afraid to fight Captain Cold again, but he doesn’t have a choice.
Snart and Mick kidnap someone close to The Flash and threaten to kill them unless The Flash shows up for a battle of fire and ice. Barry tells Joe (Jesse L. Martin) he isn’t sure he should take on Snart again after the casualties that happened the last time they fought.
Like I said, one of Barry’s friends is in danger. My money is on Iris, simply because she is the one person that could coerce Barry to do literally anything. If Iris is kidnapped, Barry might as well just own up to Iris on his secret identity. After all, the only reason he kept his life as Mr. Faster Than The Speed of Light a secret was to keep her safe. If Captain Cold knows kidnapping her is the key to getting the Flash to show up for a school yard fight, then Barry keeping his identity a secret is kind of pointless. However, with Iris living with Eddie these days, maybe she’s got enough distance from Barry to keep her safe. It is possible that Captain Cold kidnaps someone like Caitlin, which means we might get another glimpse at poor Ronnie.
Iris is working through her feelings.
Iris (Candice Patton) deals with the aftermath of Barry’s confession.
Understandably, Iris has a lot of thinking to do. Sure, she may be one of the most oblivious women ever, completely missing the fact that Barry was clearly and very evidently over the moon for her, but finally hearing Barry officially confess his love to her has got to rock her world a bit. It probably doesn’t help that Barry literally gave her a wedding ring for Christmas just prior to her boyfriend asking her to move in with him. So Iris definitely needs to do a great deal of thinking, and deciding how she truly feels about Barry. Of course, if Barry does end up confessing that he is the Flash, I’m sure that Iris won’t respond to well to both her father and her best friend keeping such a giant secret from her.
Barry is training hard for his next face off with Reverse Flash.
Meanwhile, Barry asks Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanagh), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) to help him double his training efforts so he’s ready for the Reverse Flash when he returns to Central City.
I mean, it’s kind of awkward that he’s asked Dr. Wells for help training for the next time he faces...Dr. Wells, right? Of course Barry doesn’t know that Dr. Wells is Reverse Flash, but Dr. Wells knows. I’m willing to bet Wells isn’t going to offer Barry the best advice when it comes to defeating Reverse Flash. I am really interested to know how long Dr. Wells will be able to keep his secret identity a secret from Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin. Honestly, I’m really surprised that one of the three hasn’t snuck up on him slinking off into his secret room. He seems to visit that room a lot. You’d think Cisco would have some sort of security drone silently moving about the hallways that would have gotten footage of Wells’ “lair”. Regardless, it does seem that we won’t see hide nor hair of Reverse Flash for a while. I’m going to be we won’t see him again until close to the season finale.
