"Reckless" is the tenth episode of the eighth season of The Flash, and the one-hundred-sixty-first episode overall. It aired on April 6, 2022.
Synopsis[]
| Barry's desire to keep Team Flash safe is tested when Frost recklessly courts danger as she tries to stop the "Black Flame", meanwhile, Iris tries to help a teen girl reunite with her mother but unintentionally does more harm than good.[src] |
Plot[]
The episode begins with Deon Owens explaining to Iris how her time sickness is making things disappear. He suggests she stays in Coast City until she is sorted out, and Iris alerts Barry to inform him of this. Barry wants to stay with Iris, but Iris reminds him that Central City needs the Flash and assures him she'll be fine.
Meanwhile, Frost is painting at home when suddenly she starts sweating for the first time and a dark flame emerges from the painting and attacks her, burning her arm. Frost signals Barry and tells him of the fire attack. Barry concludes that the fire is drawn to her because of her cryo signature, realizing that it's a cold fusion fusion. Frost then goes to Tannhuaser Industries to see Carla, suggesting they use her as a bait to capture the flame.
In S.t.A.R LABS, Frost and Carla meet with Team Flash to discuss the plan. Chester gets the idea to create a Cold Fusion Reactor based on the core for the Artificial Speed Force machine to both increase Frost's cryo-signature and imprison the flame when it comes. However, Barry is against using Frost as bait, fearing for her safety. He immediately starts walking out from the plan, but Frost catches up to him and convinces that they have to try, promising that they'll pull the plug if something goes wrong.
They build the Cold Fusion Reactor and strap Frost in preparation. The flame comes through the vents, but stops before they could trap it. Frost attacks the flame and gets knocked out for her troubles. She wakes up in the medbay to find Caitlin, who came from vacation with Marcus after their mother called her following the flame's attack. She calls out Frost for recklessly endangering her own life and tells her that there's a line between protecting others and protecting onself. She also calls her mother out for using Frost as bait, even if she did ask her to.
Meanwhile, Iris and Sue Dearbon take an orphan girl named Tinya Wazzo to an adoption agency to ask for her birth mother. The adoption agency refuses to handout the information, but Sue calls her uncle Leroy (who is on the board) and gives the phone to the clerk. The clerk then gives them a USB containing all the information about her. However, Tinya starts to have second thoughts about her mother since she abandoned her. Iris calms her down and tells her that she felt the same way when she first found her own mother, how she was angry at her at first and was barely able to reconnect with her before she died.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Carla apologizes to Frost, saying she was wrong to have treated her as a science expirement instead of as a daughter. She comforts Frost about her recklessness and assures her they can still catch the flame if they have a strong cryo-signature. She then reveals that she too has a cryo-signature since Icicle put her in his chamber, and the metahuman test coming out negative was an error. She doesn't have ice powers yet, but she might develop them later because of her signature. They then try to plan again with both Carla and Frost strapped the machine. The dark flame returns and starts getting sucked into the machine, but the process is killing Carla due to how strongly the flame is resisting. Despite Carla's objectionss, Frost saves her by pulling her out, allowing the flame to escape. Despite their failure to capture it, Barry realizes that since they now know the flame is cold fusion, they can still work on capturing it later using a much stronger cryokinetic signature that doesn't involve anyone being bait.
The next day, Iris, Sue and Tinya finally track down Tinya's mother's house and Tinya excitedly reveals to Renee that she's her daughter. When she asked her mother why she gave her up, Renee tearfully explains that she wanted to keep her, but was forced by her parents to put her up for her adoption due to her teen pregnancy and how deeply she regretted making that decision. Tinya, also tearing up, tells her mother that she needed her in her life and she couldn't move on without her. As both mother and daughter start to rebuild bonds, Iris's time sickness starts acting up again causing Renee to disappear. A horrified Tinya demands to know what Iris did to her mother.
At the end, Caitlin is drinking in her apartment when the dark flame suddenly appears again. She tries to signal Barry, but the flame starts talking to her and Caitlin recognizes it as Ronnie, her dead husband.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Grant Gustin as Barry Allen
- Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen
- Danielle Panabaker as Dr. Caitlin Snow and Frost
- Danielle Nicolet as Defense Attorney Cecile Horton
- Kayla Compton as Allegra Garcia
- Brandon McKnight as Chester P. Runk
- Jesse L. Martin as Joe West
Guest starring[]
- Natalie Dreyfuss as Sue Dearbon
- Christian Magby as Deon Owens
- Susan Walters as Dr. Carla Tannhauser
- Mika Abdalla as Tinya Wazzo
Co-starring[]
- Meghan Gardiner as Renee Wazzo
- Amanda Khan as Jude Washington
Uncredited[]
- Kyle Secor as Dr. Thomas Snow/Icicle (archive footage)
- Robbie Amell as Deathstorm (voice; archive audio) and Ronnie Raymond (archive footage)
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Frost's plan would have worked if Carla had a younger and more robust heart to handle the strain.