At Jitters, Raelene Sharp orders coffees and walks out. Orlin is sitting at a table ad his dagger glows as Raelene Passes. He goes out behind her dressed as Cicada, and Raelene manifests metallic arm razors and knocks his dagger away. She lashes Cicada, but then her powers fade and she collapses as the blade spins back, hitting her in the bed. Cicada says that she never have existed as he collapses from his wound.
The next day at STAR labs, Cisco tells the team that he's set the satellite network back up and has predicted where the shrapnel would have fallen. Now they have 46 locations where pieces of shrapnel landed, and one of them is where Cicada was hit. Caitlin has measures the high levels of dark matter in Cisco's hands, and the core is the only part of the satellite that had that much dark matter energy. The team splits up and Iris and Sherloque go to track down the core. Nora wants to go with iris and see her detective work, and iris agrees over Sherloque's objections. Ralph goes to check the FEMA sites that were set up to help people after the satellite fell.
Cisco and Barry approach Caitlin and asks what's going on, and she realizes that they set it up so the three of them would be alone. They explain that they've tracked down all of the Tannhauser black op sites, and Cisco hacked their systems and learned that her father Thomas entered one a week after he supposedly died.
Ralph arrives at the West house and Cecile says that he's out with Jenna. She volunteers to help him, gets up the couch, and tells Ralph that she can be intimidating. Ralph agrees and says that they're getting a list of FEMA recipients, and Cecile agrees to help.
Cisco sets the extrapolator coordinates for the site at the North Pole, and the three of them step through to the site. Barry vibrates them through the wall and they explore the interior. Thomas calls to Caitlin and steps out of the shadows, and wonders if it's really happening. They hug and Thomas says that she found him. Caitlin explains that his message eventually lead her to him, and Thomas explains that he knows Barry and Cisco because he stayed in contact with scientists, including Wells. Wells gave him a video link to STAR Lab, and it only worked one-way. Cisco finds an incubator and Thomas claims that it was there when he got there.
Thomas explains that when he got desperate from his ALS, he came there to experiment with cryogenics. The experiments became more dangerous and he quarantined himself there, but was able to stop the disease's progression. Carla shut down the site with Thomas in it, and Thomas says that Carla thought it would be easier if Caitlin didn't see him. He claims that he survived there on rations and spending months in the incubator.
Ralph and Cecile go to the FEMA site and discover it all but empty. Cecile talks to the assistant field director, Vance Brandon, and he says that they'll need a warrant to get the list of recipients. She tries to intimidate him but he's not impressed and walks of. Cecile figures that her "war face" is rusty and she's lost her mojo.
The trio return to STAR Labs with Thomas and Caitlin says that she wants to run some tests. Thomas admires the view of Central City, and Barry suggests that Caitlin go for a walk with her father and reconnect. Her father immediately agrees and they lose. Cisco tells Barry that Thomas' story is full of holes, but Barry points out that Nora's story had holes and she just wanted to meet with her father.
Sherloque, Iris, and Nora go to the construction site where the core crashed, and Nora suggests that she go with Nora and together they interview people who were there the night of the Enlightenment. Her mother says that normally she isolates people alone, and Sherloque finally tells them that they have to split up. Barry calls Iris, and she says that the mother-daughter investigation got off to a rocky start. Nora returns and tells Sherloque that the core isn't there. Sherloque tells her to search the other sites but realizes that she's there to spend time with Iris. Nora admits that she is and prepares to head back to STAR Labs, but Sherloque says that he has a plan to find the core that involves Nora and Iris.
As they walk through the park, Thomas talks about all of the things that he missed while he was in containment. Caitlin says that Carla is cold as ice when she sees him, and Thomas assures her that Carla loves her. He suddenly has a seizure and passes out, and Caitlin finds the arm on his skin crystallizing.
Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin examines Thomas and he realizes that she saw his disease. She says that she examined him while he unconscious determined that he has a cryogenic malignancy that is rewriting his genetic doe. If it continues then he'll die. Thomas explains that when his emotions spike, the disease spreads. Caitlin realizes that she had the same ALS markers and he "cured" her by using experimental treatment on her after he did it on herself. it seemed to work, but then Caitlin exhibited dual personality traits. Cisco asks Thomas where his dual personality is, and Thomas says that he never had one. Caitlin suggests that they use her cells to administer a serum, and lower his cells to absolute zero. Thomas tells them that his cells can survive sub-zero temperatures because of his cryogenic gene treatment. Barry suggests that they use a laser-cooling system created by the DOD. Cisco warns that they can't hack into the DOD security system, and Caitlin tells him that she's not going to let her father die. After a moment, Cisco agrees to do what he can.
At the hospital, Dr. Ambres sees a blood trail and follows it into a supply room. Orlin is there and Ambres says that if he keeps up then he'll die. She tells Orlin that she knows why he's killing metas, and Orlin insists that his daughter Grace needs help, not him. He asks if Ambres is going to call security, and she steps out of his way.
At the West house, Cecile tells Ralph that she froze up. Ralph says that the criminals he knew were all terrified of Cecile, and assures Cecile that woman is still there. She fakes offense and intimidates Ralph, and experienced Brandon's fear empathically, so he was hiding something. Ralph's nose twitches and he explains that it twitches when he smells a mystery. Cecile tells him to stop.
Sherloque is sitting by the harbor singing and making tea. Iris and Nora wait, and they finally ask him what he's doing. Looking around, Iris sees an old poster for a carnival the night that the satellite crashed, and she and Nora figures that Cicada brought his child there. Sherloque motions out at the harbor, and Iris suggest that Nora create a vortex to pull the water up. She assures her daughter that she can do it, and Nora speeds out to create a vortex.
Cisco hacks the DOD computers and looks over at a photo of himself, Barry, Caitlin, and Wells. He breaches back to the North Pole site and gets a vibe vision of Thomas working with a canister. Recovering, Cisco looks inside the canister.
Breaching back to STAR Labs, Cisco confronts Thomas as Caitlin and Barry finish their preparations. He tells Caitlin that Thomas isn't her father, and shows him a plate of samples. Cisco says that he saw "Thomas" standing over the incubator working on skin grafts. He suggests that when Thomas tried to cure his ALS, it created a dual personality of Killer Frost and she's wearing skin grafts to look like Thomas. Thomas says that he created the skin grafts to cover the disease symptoms on his face. Caitlin doesn't believe Cisco, and Cisco walks out.
Barry goes after Cisco, and Cisco tells Barry that it's another father-daughter pairing like Barry had with Nora. He tells him to think about it like a CSI rather than Nora's dad, and do it for Caitlin rather than Cisco.
Ralph and Cecile go back to the FEMA base, and Cecile says that she pulled his file and found a dozen outstanding parking tickets for a Lamborghini. Cecile and Ralph have discovered that Brandon has been telling citizens their claims have been denied and then he pocketed the government money. Brandon soon cracks and gives them the files on the recipients, and Cecile tells Brandon that she's already called his superiors.
Orlin staggers into his home and opens his shirt. The energy on his chest is pulsing, and he rips off the bandage over his wound and drops his medication. He goes for it and collapses.
Barry approaches Caitlin and says that Cisco cares for her. He says that he wants Caitlin to be happy but points out there's a lot about Thomas' story that doesn't add up. Caitlin insists that it's Thomas and tells Barry to stop treating her father like a criminal because he's the only family that she has left. Barry reminds her that they're her family and all they're asking her to do is keep an open mind. Caitlin tells Barry that he can ask her questions after he gives Thomas the serum. However, she realizes that if she gives the serum to a cryogenic meta then it will wipe out his human side.
After finding Cisco, the trio confront Thomas. He realizes that they've figured out his scheme, transforms, fills the air with frozen liquid to freeze their lungs, and gets the hypogun with the serum.
When Barry and Cisco wake up, they wake up Caitlin. She blames herself but Cisco assures her that it's okay. Iris calls them to the cortex, and says that she's located Thomas at the DOD facility. The temperature inside is dropping toward absolute zero, letting Thomas inject himself into an icicle. The team heads to the DOD building and Cisco tells Caitlin that he's going despite the damage to his hands, and dubs the villain "Icicle".
Flash and Nora speed into the building but slip on the iced-over floor. Icicle explains that the machine is capable of freezing carbon dioxide. Caitlin, Vibe, and Elongated Man arrive and Iris tells Caitlin that the temperature is almost at absolute zero. Flash realizes that there's no moisture in the air, and Sherloque tells Flash to use his lightning to counter the cold. They can't, but Sherloque and Iris realize that Caitlin is immune and Killer Frost is still there.
Vibe tells Caitlin that she can do it, and Caitlin asks her father not to do it. Icicle laughs and says that Thomas hasn't been able to hear anything for a long time. The temperature reaches absolute zero and Caitlin transforms into Killer Frost, blasting Icicle back. Icicle offers to share the serum with her so they can be stronger together, and Killer Frost says that she's strong because she has people in her life that care about her. She blasts Icicle back, crushing the serum, and punches Icicle. He reverts to Thomas and tells Caitlin that she found him. He then transforms back into Icicle and blasts her back, and then shoots through the roof and out of the building.
Killer Frost destroys the machine and temperature turns to normal. Flash assures Killer Frost that she's not alone, and she reverts back to Caitlin and says that she's no alone, either.
Later at STAR Labs, Cisco is unable to locate Icicle. Caitlin figures that there's still some of Thomas inside of Icicle, and her parents were both trying to protect her. Barry says that they see the good in people and hopes that will never change. Cisco figures that DeVoe used Brainstorm's powers to create a mental block to prevent Caitlin from summoning Killer Frost. He gives Caitlin Harry's mental activity dampener to help her hear Killer Frost, and figures that the more she uses it, the more she'll be able to contact her alter-ego on her own. Once Barry and Cisco leave, Caitlin puts on the dampener and hears Killer Frost in her head.
In the Speed Lab, Iris and Nora show Barry and iris the recovered core. There's a piece missing from the core in the shape of Cicada's dagger. Cecile and Ralph arrive and say that one child, Grace Gibbons, was hit by dark matter fragments and they figure that she's Cicada's daughter.
Ambres goes to Orlin's house and finds him unconscious on the floor. She checks his wound and says that she's going to patch up his chest. He tells her that it's making her stronger.
Written by Gadfly on Nov 21, 2018