THE FLASH “Infantino Street” Review

By Justin Carter

Infantino Street

For the first 3/4 of “Infantino Street,” it seems like you know exactly what’s going to happen in the episode. There’s a little under a day before Iris meets her grim fate, and Team Flash has managed to find a way to stop Savitar — a Speed Force Bazooka that can only be powered by Dominator tech from the crossover back in December and currently held by ARGUS — but it’s out of their reach for…reasons. So Barry decides that the only way to get inside ARGUS and steal the thing is by traveling back in time and bring Leonard Snart to the present for a good ol’ fashioned heist.

Now in all honesty, the ads probably should’ve hidden that Snart was going to be a part of this episode. Exactly how one goes about that is unclear, but with his presence being one of two game changers in the episode, the opening act has the sense of simply counting down until Wentworth Miller graces our screens yet again. Grabbing Legends season one Snart (the only real option, if we’re being honest) means that the episode can continue to build upon the best frenemies dynamic he and Barry have had the last two years. Great as it was to see Captain Cold back in Legends’ sophomore year, it was only for a limited run of episodes, and it didn’t always feel like he was at Full Snart. “Infantino” happily lets Miller chew the scenery from the moment he steps on screen, and everyone’s reactions to his unexpected return make the proceedings even better.

Snart lives by a set of four rules when it comes to a heist, and after a quick scuffle with ARGUS security, it’s the moment where they reach their objective that the “everything goes all to hell” rule comes into play. King Shark is guarding the Dominator tech, leading to great moments where it turns out that Snart is a huge fan of Shark Week and opts to use his Cold Gun to put the monster to sleep rather than entertain Barry’s kill-crazy desires. Even though there’s no real danger of Snart getting chewed up by Shark when security locks him in the beast’s pen, it does lead to Snart rightly telling Barry that being dark and gloomy doesn’t suit the Scarlet Speedster particularly well.

Transferring Snart over to Legends was ultimately the smartest move for that character, but it does serve as a reminder that Flash is slightly poorer for his absence. Their departing conversation goes to further cement the influence that Barry had on the icy criminal, and he manages to drop the last words before his death on Legends (“No strings on me.”) as they separate. In all honesty, I really hope Legends’ third season contrives a reason for him to be back again, if only so we get him in the crossover this winter.

While Barry and Snart are having all the fun and HR and Cisco on heist support, everyone else is preparing for midnight to roll around and do what needs to be done. Wally and Joe whisk Iris away to Earth-2 with Harry, leading to a lovely moment where Joe and Iris reveal minor years old secrets to each other as a way of breaking the tension. (Exactly why they went to what’s essentially right next door instead of literally anywhere else is a mystery, but Harry’s back, so it’s all good.) And when Barry declares that he’s back at STAR Labs with the Dominator tech, it seems like a fairly successful plan. Go Team Flash!

…And then it all goes horribly, horribly wrong. Turns out Savitar was the one who showed up at STAR Labs, and with HR having mistakenly informed him of Iris’ location, the subsequent throwdown is just brutal. (It’s not particularly violent, Wally’s broken leg aside, but it did feel like everything was going relatively smoothly for the team.) All roads lead us to the conclusion the show has been building up for the last four or five months and…it works. Even with the full knowledge of this happening, the staging of the stabbing and the music and overlaying Barry’s futile running with Iris’ video message of marrying him: all of it hit like a freight train. There’s still a multitude of ways for the show to reverse this during the finale next week, but it is still a very good scene to end the episode on. Whatever else can be said about this season of Flash, “Infantino Street” succeeds with one hell of a bait and switch during its penultimate episode.

Additional Notes

• I’ve seen some theories as to how Iris dying could be reversed. Time travel’s been thrown around, along with HR using his holo-pen to switch places with Iris while Barry and Savitar fight. (This one seems the most likely to me.)
• If HR does turn out to have swapped with Iris, it would posthumously make him the most valuable member of the team, as far as this season’s concerned.
• During the foray into ARGUS, cells for Grodd and Cupid are seen, along with Cheetah. Wonder if they’ll ever show her in this, or if they’ll save her for Arrow.
• “I thought Snart was with the Legends.” “No, he dead.”
• King Shark can regrow limbs, leading to this hilarious aside where Snart simply says that he’s been there.