The Arrowverse loves to keep its cards close to the vest as long as possible. Most of its seasons are over 20 episodes, so slow-burn stories come with the territory. The typical angle that The CW superhero shows take is introducing a mysterious villain who doesn’t want to reveal their identity right out of the gate. Prometheus shows up on the scene in Arrow Season 5 and never lets Oliver Queen and Co. know his next move. It takes months of investigating and failed missions for the Green Arrow to figure out that his greatest enemy has been operating right under his nose the entire time.
Star City does keep all of the wackos for itself, though. Hundreds of miles away, in Central City, Team Flash constantly has to do its best Mysterty Incorporated impression, ripping the masks off of its enemies and exposing their real identities. Reverse-Flash, Zoom, and Savitar all follow the same blueprint, which makes it a breath of fresh air when a villain announces their presence in advance. However, there’s one instance of that blowing up in The Flash‘s face, ruining a character who should’ve been the farthest thing from complicated.
The Flash Spoiled the Arrival of a Major Villain in Season 3
The number of metahumans on Team Flash started to grow after Season 1. Cisco taps into a power that allows him to open portals to other realities and see visions of past events, which comes in handy when Zoom brings his reign of terror to Earth-1. While gathering information about the evil speedster, Barry travels to his home, Earth-2, and meets some of his lackeys, including Killer Frost, Caitlin Snow’s doppleganger. She doesn’t last long, dying at the hands of Zoom, but her existence doesn’t surprise Caitlin all that much, as she, too, has a darker half. Caitlin keeps a lid on the situation until Season 3 during a shocking episode, aptly titled “Killer Frost,” where the villain entirely takes control and tries to kill Barry.
Killer Frost’s debut on Earth-1 changes the landscape of The Flash‘s third season, as she aligns herself with the Big Bad of the season, Savitar, and ruins many relationships that Caitlin spent years building. Unfortunately, at the time of the episode’s release in 2016, there wasn’t any room for surprise because director Kevin Smith let the title of his installment slip on social media well before it aired. The slip-up wasn’t necessarily the nail in the coffin for Season 3, but it opened a can of worms that took a toll on subsequent outings.
After letting the chilly cat out of the bag in The Flash Season 3, Caitlin makes peace with her alter-ego in Season 4, even helping save the world from Nazis during the “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover. A few more seasons of heroism follow for Caitlin and Killer Frost, but everything changes in Season 7, when the latter gets a body of her own. Caitlin struggles without her other half, and things get even harder when Killer Frost sacrifices herself to stop Deathstorm. All Caitlin wants is to get her friend back, so she messes with her brain to regain her second personality. Instead of bringing Killer Frost back, the process essentially kills her, leaving a new personality, Khione, in her place.
All of Team Flash gives Khione a warm welcome, but they can’t help but miss their old pal Caitlin, and Barry blames himself for her being gone. Fortunately, everything returns to normal when Khione ascends to godhood, paving the way for Caitlin to regain her body. It’s a happy ending for Caitlin and her friends. However, no amount of hugs and happy reunions makes up for the fact that Caitlin’s journey is very hard to keep up with and not all that rewarding. Maybe if The Flash had left Killer Frost for Earth-2 to deal with and found another way for Caitlin to be useful back home, her story would’ve been more positive than negative.
The Flash is streaming on Netflix.
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