Central City is suffering from a major heat wave with no relief in sight. At the St. Diogenes Social Club, several local mobsters have gathered: Johnny Choi, Nikolai Brown, Ray McGill, and Luis Vega. While they wait for a repairman to arrive and fix their air conditioner, they discuss what to do about newcomer Jimmy Swain, a mobster who plans to take over all of the underworld operations in the city. They agree to unite long enough to kill Swain. The repairman, an albino, arrives and they draw their guns, and cautiously let him in.
Barry is trying to sleep when he gets a phone call. It's Julio, who wants him to come down to the St. Diogenes Club to check out a weird crime. When Barry arrives, Julio takes him inside and shows him the four mobsters: frozen solid. Garfield demands answers and Barry and Julio speculate, but admit that it seems impossible. The lieutenant tells his scientists who the dead men are, and they figure that the gangsters were gathered for something serious. Outside, reporter Terri Kronenberg is trying to cross the police line to get photos. She slips past Bellows but Barry and Julio trip over her as she sneaks beneath their van. Terri asks for a quote but Barry calls for Bellows to take her back.
Jimmy meets with the "repairman," who calls himself Captain Cold, and congratulates him on a job well done. Swain offers Cold a permanent position in his organization. When Cold turns him down, Swain opens his safe and opens it using a palmprint scanner. Once he pays off the hitman, he asks him to do one more job: dispose of the Flash. Captain Cold is intrigued.
The next day at police headquarters, Barry and Julio are discussing the case when Garfield calls them into his office. He introduces them to Terri and informs them that she's on special assignment to do a series of articles about the police. Garfield hands her off to Barry and Julio and won't take no for an answer. Terri apologizes and Barry slips away, leaving her with Julio. Murphy comes over and suggests she might find his legendary exploits worth reporting. She tells him to write them down and gets away, and Murphy takes her idea seriously.
At STAR Labs, Barry talks to Tina about the possibility of spontaneous freezing. She's skeptical and promises to examine the tissue samples from the dead men. When Barry returns to the lab, he finds Terry waiting for him with takeout food. She apologizes for the other night and admits that she's pushy, and starts to admire Barry. Barry backs away and she asks him about the Flash. He claims not to know much, and Terry suggests that the hero is a member of the police force. However, she dismisses Barry from consideration because he's not physical enough. Terry wants to get an interview and make a big story. Tina arrives and tells Barry in private that the men were frozen by something that uses nuclear energy. Terry covertly listens in. They're interrupted when the police are mobilized to deal with a bomb threat. Someone has planted three bombs throughout the city, all times to go off in five minutes. As Barry leaves with the other officers, Tina tries to distract Terry, but the reporter quickly leaves to pursue the story.
The Flash makes quick work of the first bomb. A wino is preparing to mess with the second one when the hero arrives to stop him and defuse it. The Flash then arrives at the third location and disarms the remaining bomb. Exhausted, the hero slumps back and Captain Cold steps from the shadows. He set the whole thing up to exhaust the Flash and make him vulnerable. Captain Cold opens fire and the Flash dodges his first attack, but is hit by a second shot that freezes his leg. The police arrive and Captain Cold escapes, but warns that he'll be back.
The next day at STAR Labs, Tina informs Barry that a lab in California developed a portable freezing unit powered by a nuclear module. Burglars stole it six months ago. Tina suggests that he lay low but Barry refuses to back off. She puts a mini-transmitter in his suit's earpiece so she can track his lifesigns and respond if he's in danger. He thanks her for her concern and goes back to the lab. Fosnight calls to tell him that the hitman, an ex-mercenary, is the same one who struck at the Diogenes Club. The snitch explains that Swain is trying to move in and hired Cold to finish off his rivals and the Flash. Barry then picks up Julio's tabloid magazine and discovers that they've already published a story on Cold's nuclear-powered weapon.
Bellows notices that Murphy is writing a story about how he saved Central City, and can't help ribbing him. Barry comes in and asks Bellows for an address on Swain, and finds Terry in Garfield's office. He confronts her about the story and she finally admits that she listened in. Barry has confirmed that she doesn't work for the local newspaper and that she's actually with the tabloids. He figures she was pumping him for information and Terry admits she's trying to get a story on the Flash so she can get a job with a big newspaper. He tells her to come clean with Garfield or he will, and she reluctantly goes to see the lieutenant.
Swain demands to know why Captain Cold's weapon is in the tabloids, and why the Flash isn't dead. Captain Cold assures him that he's built a tracking device to locate the Flash, but Swain fires him and refuses to pay him the remaining half of his fee. As the hitman leaves, he gives his former employer a gift: a glass snowball. Once he goes, Swain examines the snowball... which explodes. Captain Cold returns a few seconds later to an office completely frozen over, and uses a hammer to shatter the now-brittle safe door and take all of Swain's money, and vows to finish the job no matter what.
Barry returns to the lab and Julio informs him that the police have found Swain's frozen corpse, and another frozen body at a metal plant. They split up and Barry goes to the plant as the Flash. Captain Cold tracks him and follows. At the plant, the Flash discovers Terry's frozen corpse... except she reveals that she's using makeup, and then slaps on a pair of handcuffs to keep him there. Before the Flash can get free, Captain Cold opens fire and freezes the floor. The Flash goes out of control and is knocked out. Terry frees herself and gets clear as Captain Cold freezes the Flash solid, triggering off Tina's alarm. When he grabs Terry, she blinds him with a flashbulb and gets out.
Terry gets back to her apartment and calls her editor, and tells him that she has photos of the Flash, dead.
Tina arrives at the plant as the police load the Flash into an ambulance. She steals the ambulance and drives back to STAR Labs. Behind her, Captain Cold calls the tabloid and poses as a darkroom clerk who has Terry's photos, and asks for her address.
At the lab, Tina tries to revive the Flash and finally succeeds. She explains that his high-speed metabolism saved him, and Barry says that he could see everything even while frozen. He realizes that Cold will kill Terry, and tells Tina to call the station while he goes to save the reporter.
Terry is developing the photos in her home darkroom and there's a knock on the door from someone claiming to be a courier from the tabloid. She answers the door and finds Cold at her doorstep. He freezes the door and breaks in, and searches the apartment for her. The Flash arrives and knocks him out, and Terry comes in from the balcony where she hid. She's angry that her photos were destroyed, and the Flash realizes she held back the photos for the tabloid. He accuses her of being a brat and tells her to focus on the truth and helping people, rather than headlines, and then departs.
The police take Cold into custody and Murphy escorts him to a cell. He asks for the hitman's dark glasses but Cold explains that his eyes are sensitive to light and the officer lets him keep them. When Murphy returns, he discovers that Bellows is reading his exploits to the other officers, much to their amusement.
In h is cell, Cold removes concealed cryogenic bombs from a hidden compartment in his heel. He then removes the bow from his glasses and inserts it into the lock. The hidden cryogenic charge freezes the lock, allowing him to shatter it. Striding through the station, Cold uses his freeze bombs to make good his escape.
Tina gives Barry a portable heating unit to wear. She explains it will stabilize his body temperatures if he's hit with a blast of cold, but against the villain's sub-zero temperatures, it will only work once. Tina also suggests that the cold beam can be reflected.
At the station, Garfield demands to know why Murphy didn't adequately search Cold, and puts him on report.
Cold gets to his car and gets a spare freeze gun from his car. Meanwhile, Murphy hits the streets, vowing to make up for his failure.
In the streets of Central City, Cold freezes a bus to draw the Flash's attention.
Barry is at home dealing with his cold when Terry arrives and tries to apologize. Julio arrives to tell Barry that Cold is loose and has taken the bus hostage to force the Flash to come to him. Barry tells Julio to go ahead and Terry insists on going with Barry. He goes to his bedroom and shuts the door.
Cold is holding the police at bay when the Flash arrives. The villain shoots him again but the Flash uses the portable heating unit to free himself and then bounce the villain's next shot back, freezing him. As the Flash defrosts the bus and its passengers, Murphy arrives. Garfield mistakenly assumes that he saved the day and Terry arrives to promise that he'll be a hero when she gets through writing his story. Murphy is eager to take credit for capturing Captain Cold at first, but then admits that the Flash saved the day, and he'll publish it in his new book.
Later, Terry meets Barry at the lab and apologizes for what she did. She admits that given what the Flash told her, she's decided to quit her job and work as a greeting card writer until she can get a job as an honest reporter. Barry congratulates her and she tells him his new theory: Julio is the Flash. Barry jokingly admits it's a possibility, and when Julio comes in, they ask where he's been. He admits that he's been out running around.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 3, 2018