‘The Flash’ 100th Episode: The Cast Reflect on the Past and Tease What’s Coming Next

The CW hit The Flash just reached the impressive 100th episode milestone, and the cast and crew had a red-carpet event and party in Vancouver recently to celebrate.

Series star Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash) and leading lady Candice Patton (Iris West-Allen) were at the forefront. Costars (and episode 100 Director) Tom Cavanagh (Harrison Wells), Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost), Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon/Vibe), Hartley Sawyer (Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man), and Jessica Parker Kennedy (Nora West-Allen/XS) made the scene, with series regular (this season’s Big Bad) Chris Klein (Orlin Dwyer/Cicada) as well as showrunner (and episode 100 writer) Todd Helbing also in attendance.

Collider was right there on the carpet, asking the cast for their thoughts about the show and possible teases about what’s to come. Warning, there are some spoilers from the 100th episode, “What’s Past Is Prologue,” below. First up: the man himself, Grant Gustin.

Collider: Is playing The Flash a dream role for you?

GRANT GUSTIN: This is something I never spent time imagining, to be honest. I never saw myself as being a superhero. I always wanted to be in a superhero movie so I could be like Jimmy Olsen or something. So, this is something I’d never even fathom.

Collider: Do you approach this role differently than previous ones?


GUSTIN: I mean this has been, you know, my main focus and the only role for five years and I’m technically, with the exception of this, pretty damn green as far as this business is concerned. There’s like a whole school for playing a superhero now I feel like on TV and it’s pretty different from any other process, doing something like playing a character in an indie or something. But I try to keep it as real and grounded as possible. I mean, any scene I go out on, I’m going to find what are the truths for me in this scene.

Co-star Candice Patton talks about her relationship with Barry and the changes for her character she welcomed this season.

Collider: So, the literal leap of faith, jumping out of a skyscraper window to save Barry’s life. Is that a metaphor for Iris and her feelings for her husband?

CANDICE PATTON: I think sure, you could make that assumption for sure. Iris has always been a “ride or die” kind of girl for Barry. Iris has always had his back in any way she could, and I think it’s very indicative of she is. She’s not afraid, and she does whatever she can in the moment help and save the love of her life.

Collider: Are you excited to get to do more reporting to help the team this season?

PATTON: I’ve always appreciated it when we see more of journalist Iris. I think it’s important for us to see our leading female character as someone that’s contributing to the team and to the city and I think that is Iris’ way of contributing. She’s a journalist at heart, so that’s how she can contribute to the team most effectively.

Next up is Carlos Valdes, who has an insight about Cisco that most of the audience shares.

Collider: What is your favorite part of playing Cisco?

CARLOS VALDES: What is my favorite part of playing Cisco? The hair.

Collider: You get a lot of comments about the hair. The hair game is strong.

VALDES: The hair game is strong; hair game is au naturel. You know, a lot of people don’t realize this, but the reason that I love playing with Cisco’s hair so much is that there’s not really a lot of processing going on. You know, it’s really mostly just my natural hair. It’s me at my most natural. So, all the voluminous-ness that you see on camera is actually a God-given gift.

Collider: Do you like at various times in the show working with different versions of Harrison Wells? Does it get your juices flowing?

VALDES: Playing with different Wells gets my juices going. Let’s not take that sentence out of context, but it’s true. Yeah, he’s great. You know, the guy’s a genius. Any variation on the character that you throw his way, he will just commit to it and give you something even better than you imagined. And you know, he’s obviously always open to like messing around with the text and with the dynamics. So, you know, I’m always bound to get a surprise, but it’s always a very gratifying surprise with Tom Cavanagh.

Collider: Do you have anything for the audience regarding Cisco’s injuries going forward?

VALDES: So, Cisco’s injuries aren’t getting any better, because there’s like dark matter shards that are lodged in there and they have to be taken out through this very extensive process. But that has actually given Cisco the ability to go back and remember what it used to be like being regular civilian Cisco without his powers, which I think will pose an interesting challenge in later episodes.

Danielle Panabaker now discusses the new dynamic between Caitlin and her alter ego Killer Frost:

Collider: Your role within Team Flash seems to have expanded this season. Are you excited about the change?

DANIELLE PANABAKER: Absolutely. It’s something I fought for and really wanted to play. I mean, this year has been incredible. Obviously, Caitlin has really stepped up in a different way. We get to see her being more of a doctor and a scientist this year and as well as her struggle with Killer Frost and then Killer Frost’s presence also brings another element to the team as well.

Collider: In the 100th episode it is revealed that your character will play a very important role for Team Flash against Cicada going forward. Any hints about what will happen in the episodes to come?


PANABAKER: I think the reveal that Caitlin’s powers came from her father and not the particle accelerator explosion is going to be very important for the rest of the season. So, it becomes paramount for Caitlin and Killer Frost to figure out their relationship and how to coexist, as well as how to succeed as members of Team Flash.

Chris Klein gives his take on Cicada, and what the future holds for him:

Collider: We’ve seen lots of shows with the reluctant hero trope, but you’re really portraying a reluctant villain. How is it for you to play a rather unique take on the standard bad guy?

CHRIS KLEIN: Well, I’m just thrilled that you caught onto that. I’d like to think that it’s rare and I’d like to think that Cicada and Orlin Dwyer is a unique villain. It’s not about reinventing the wheel, it’s about making sure the wheel spins. There has been five really, really, great villains on The Flash and those are big boots to fill. I’m excited to do what I can and really all that starts with Todd Helbing the showrunner, and all the great writers on staff. It’s what they wanted. They wanted, as you say, the reluctant villain, the way that they put it is they wanted the humanistic aspects of this guy to be well known. They really wanted the audience to struggle with the fact that this guy is doing bad things but maybe not be such a bad guy.

Collider: It seems at the end of episode 100 that Caitlin and Killer Frost are going to be a really big problem for Cicada going forward.

KLEIN: It looks that way. I think Team Flash is going to be of relieved that that’s the case. I mean, you know, it’s a big conflict for Caitlin and Killer Frost but for Team Flash, up until now, they’ve really been struggling to figure out how to stop Cicada. I mean, it takes away a meta’s powers. That’s something. So, you know, in the 100th he takes his medicine, he gets as good as he gives for about the first time and, having nothing to lose, it’s going to be important because his mission just got a whole lot harder.


Collider: So, what’s the over/under for how many wounds he ends up with by the end of the season?

KLEIN: Boy, I tell you what I think it’s pretty high now. It’s two so far and, you know, I keep getting the call to come back in for more hair and makeup tests. So, I think we’re looking at Cicada getting beat up pretty good before the end of the season.

Tom Cavanagh, who plays Wells, also gave his thoughts on directing episode 100:

Collider: Can you tell me the different types of satisfaction you get from playing the multiple Wells and also directing episodes of the show? It tickles your brain in different places, I’m sure.

TOM CAVANAGH: That’s a great question. It’s a phenomenal question. It’s like your question is far better than the answer I’m about to give you. There’s a certain indulgence that every actor has to have where they’re working on themselves and their character and it’s personal, and you want to selfishly show yourself off in the best light. But the most important part of that is telling the story right. All the actors you respect the most are those ones are hardly ever indulgent, but if they are indulgent, it’s for the story first, right?

Now the larger picture is the Director’s job really, you know, to see it at all times. How it affects me on a day to day, on the quotidian when I’m Directing is simply my characters are the ones that I’m least indulgent in. It’s literally like, you know, what’s expected of you because you have it in your head. Go do it on take one and let’s move on, you know what I mean? But what’s nice is because also I’m going to be in the edit, it’s like things that mattered to me almost always are things that happen when I’m not speaking and I can protect that. And on television, that’s very difficult to protect. You know, it’s the small things that you cannot blame an editor for cutting because it doesn’t seem like much, but it matters to you more than anything. And then the terrifying thing is making sure that there’s a lot of people in this lineup that know the show intimately and it’s your responsibility to bring it home to them because, it sounds pandering, but it really, really, is truth to others. You don’t want to do something where it’s like, hey, here’s our greatest hits. You want to say what story can we tell that involves those things, but it is a story that is worth telling right now. It’s like a comic book from start to finish, you know, and so that’s what we tried to do, and these people will tell us whether we did it right, but I will say this, it was never lost on me at like maybe 2:00 in the morning and I’d be walking to the next setup, kind of reviewing seven charts we’re going to get, just feeling how fortunate you are. Just so fortunate.

Did you enjoy episode 100 of The Flash? Let us know in the comments section.

The Flash airs Tuesdays on the CW.