Major spoilers for The Flash Season 2 below.
Fans have waited all summer for The Flash to premiere, and while there might be some people out there who disagree, I think it was absolutely worth the wait. A large part of that had to do with answering the episode’s question ”Who really saved Central City?” if it wasn’t The Flash. Turns out it was Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein’s Firestorm that actually did what was needed inside of the singularity. But the sacrifice was just a bit too overwhelming, and Ronnie didn’t make it out alive.
Wait, seriously? Ronnie’s dead? Caitlin, who spent part of their relationship thinking he was already dead, was made to grow accustomed to having him around again only to become a widow not long after they got married? That’s cold, The Flash.
Not that we weren’t expecting this to happen at some point during Season 2. After all, actor Robbie Amell wasn’t ever announced to be a star player in the upcoming spinoff Legends of Tomorrow, even though Victor Garber’s Martin Stein and Firestorm are big parts of that show. Plus, we’ve already been introduced to the new Firestorm half, Jay Jackson, who will be played by Franz Drameh. So unless there was some way for Ronnie to detach himself from the Firestorm powers, we figured he was probably always going to meet his maker in Season 2.
I’d like to give credit to The CW’s marketing team for releasing that clip the other day that featured the brief fight where Flash and Firestorm took on Captain Cold and Heatwave, as it appeared we’d be seeing Ronnie’s Firestorm kicking some more ass in the early part of the season. But it turns out that was just part of a flashback, and the S.T.A.R. Labs team has been mourning Ronnie’s death in the six months that followed the events of the Season 1 finale.
With six months to grieve, the characters were actually back to their normal selves for the most part. Sure, Caitlin looked bummed out the whole time, but she was back to being a heroic helper by the end of the episode. And though Barry took some moments of silence early on, he had other problems by the time the credits rolled. Now our main question becomes: if Ronnie’s death wasn’t the inciting factor for Caitlin to turn to evil as Killer Frost, what else could it possibly be?
Here’s hoping we find out soon, as The Flash continues Season 2 on Tuesday nights on The CW.
