Caitlin wants Killer Frost back on her own terms because she values the relationship the two have built together. This time, external forces aren’t driving things – she herself is. In every previous version of the Killer Frost saga, Caitlin hasn’t had much choice in the matter of her powers. For the first time in this storyline, her character has real agency, and is allowed to choose her own fate. Smartly, the show did not immediately bring Killer Frost back from her Thinker-induced disappearance, instead allowing for Caitlin’s search for a way to revive her to dominate the initial episodes of Season 5. And by finally defining Killer Frost’s back story, The Flash opened up a way for the character to fully move into the future. While this revelation was certainly a dark twist, it’s one that makes a lot more sense than some of the other options the show has floated over the years. She had always been a part of Caitlin, due to her father’s creepy medical experiments. Killer Frost’s existence wasn’t the result of the particle accelerator explosion or caused by Barry’s Flashpoint time travel. The Flash finally committed to something almost like an arc for both women which included a story with a definable past, a clear path toward the future, and some actual answers about who Frost is and how she and Caitlin can co-exist.
Though the decision to erase Killer Frost from Caitlin’s life at the end of Season 4 felt kind of random at the time, it ultimately provided something of a soft reboot for her and her story. While it’s certainly worth debating exactly how much of a disservice The Flash has ultimately done both Caitlin and Killer Frost by ignoring, retconning and outright bungling Frost’s addition to the show's canvas, the show does deserve praise for finally attempting to correct some of its earlier mistakes. The characterization of these women was a legitimate mess, and one that The Flash seemed completely incapable – often uninterested, even – in fixing. Yet, we also witnessed Caitlin struggle with whether to suppress her meta powers, and the darker side of herself that Killer Frost often represented. We saw Killer Frost partner with evil speedster Savitar, try to kill her own friends, and work as muscle for hire for a black market metahuman dealer. Was she a villain? An anti-heroine? A parasite? A suppressed aspect of Caitlin’s personality? Or something in between all those things The answer often changed depending on which episode you were watching.
The show had difficulty consistently explaining even the most basic of character concepts concerning Killer Frost, such as where she came from, how her connection to her host worked or why her powers seemed to corrupt Caitlin every time they were used. Though the addition of Killer Frost has – at last – given Caitlin some stories that have nothing to do with her romantic life, they also haven’t exactly been good or what you would call coherent.
#The flash alter ego how to#
The Flash has often struggled with how to write Caitlin, giving her little to do beyond explain medical procedures or date men who died tragically or turned out to be evil. It may have been a long time coming, but The Flash has finally decided to do right by one of its most historically underused characters, giving both Caitlin and Killer Frost a complicated past to reckon with, a new relationship to explore, and a future that feels wide open at last. However, it also seems safe to say that the addition of her icy alter ego to the series’ cast has frequently felt like a disappointment, featuring contradicting plot points, changing characterization, and a lack of real direction. It feels safe to say that Caitlin Snow’s transformation into her comic book alter ego Killer Frost was one of the most highly anticipated events on The Flash.
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