TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 3, Episode 22: Infantino Street [The CW]

The Flash: Infantino Street Review

The CW’s The Flash: Season 3, Episode 22: ‘Infantino Street’ may be one of the strongest episodes of the season as it has built up into what will possibly be an epic final battle between Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and his evil double Savitar. For now, we ended up having a great team-up between the Scarlett Speedster and a time-travelling Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller). It was an equally satisfying episode that offered a tease of what to expect in the season finale.

It was strange hearing the sweet sounds of music playing in the background as the episode started, showing some shots of Team Flash hard at work while knowing that things could get worse if their plan doesn’t work. The music really set the tone for the episode immediately after hearing it. Having the same song play again in the final moments of the episode was a clever technique to bring things full circle. It’s a great skill to use in episodes like this, so hopefully we can get to see more of this film style in the fourth season.

Starting off the episode was Team Flash recruiting Captain Cold to obtain the tech that could stop Savitar. The only problem is that even though it’s in A.R.G.U.S. sealed shut, there’s also the fact that King Shark is playing guard in those chambers. One of the biggest regrets that fans have is the fact that Captain Cold and the Rogues haven’t been utilized at all on this show. We get to see members of that criminal group having their own standalone episodes, but it would be nice to see them team up together. Perhaps that could be a great idea for The Flash’s fourth season. It’s great that the writers found a way to bring Leonard back after that sacrifice he made for the Legends. We find that Leonard has still much to learn about being a hero.

Having Snart and King Shark as part of the storyline during the penultimate episode did feel like they were out of place at first, but it all made sense in the role they had to play in defeating Savitar. Barry was in need of a master thief, so he turned to one he was familiar with. Even King Shark was a perfect choice as a villain to foil their plans to steal the reactor. The episode made better use of King Shark by using some amazing visual effects and balancing out the gloomy mood that the episode put off. It was so much fun to point out how many shark puns and lines were utilized in the hour.

It was good to see Leonard Snart trying to do something good for once, which is what Barry has been doing. It felt like a good way to wrap up Leonard’s time on the show. Even though we don’t see him as much, it was a heck of a lot of fun having Wentworth Miller back on the sets of The Flash, even if it’s for a little while. There was even a touching moment between the two after Snart gave some promising words to our young hero.

It was a shocker to see how deep the final confrontation between Barry and Savistar was after witnessing the prophesized death of Iris (Candice Patton). That build up to the season finale helped develop some amazing new character drama, just like that bittersweet scene between father and daughter with Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Iris. It was a nice moment for both of them as they shared a scene for perhaps the final time before Iris meets her maker. Jesse L. Martin does put his singing to good use with that charm and having the burdens of a father underneath that.

The episode also spent a lot of time developing Savitar. It would’ve been good if the identity of Savitar was kept a secret until the season finale to give it that wow factor, but at least they didn’t waste any time before the season finale. Now that we know who is underneath that armor, Savitar will stop at nothing until he gets his revenge. There were a couple of times where Savitar didn’t feel guilty or fearful of the things he’s done. Even Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) had some doubts on her role in Savitar’s plans.

It was already too late for anyone to save Iris after she injected herself into the situation with Savitar. Even with the proton cannon, it still didn’t stop the God of Speed. This is all leading up to what should be a very grim season finale. Nothing could’ve prevented what Savitar has done. Instead of finding out a way to save Iris, the team must find another way to stop Savitar. Hopefully, everything wraps up in the season finale without having us to worry so much.

One of the characters that need to be mentioned in the episode is H.R. Wells (Tom Cavanagh). He is the man outside of this equation on the show. It’s hard to know how he fits into the team, especially after messing things up for them when it came time for Savitar to be stopped. Perhaps H.R. had a plan and switched places with Iris. It does seem like a logical theory went you consider the fact that Barry used a holographic disguise gadget. Maybe we will get to see that machine get used again during the season finale.

The Flash comes back in good spirits as we get ready for the season 3 finale. The penultimate episode got to balance both the dark tone and the character drama dealing with Savitar’s impending defeat thanks to the partnership made by Barry and Cold. It was a pretty memorable yet jam-packed episode with some great chemistry from some of the characters. Let’s hope they keep that momentum going in the season finale.

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