It is the winter finale of The Flash and we get the return of Mark Hamill (just in time before Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens) as the Trickster. We also get the first appearance of Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West.

Congrats it’s a boy!

At Jitters, Iris and Joe are discussing what he should get Barry for Christmas. Joe reminisces about gifts his dad gave him and vowed that when he had a son that he would only get fun gifts. After hearing Joe say this, we see the incredible guilt Iris has for keeping his son a secret.

At Barry’s lab, Iris interrupts a make out session between him and Patty. Iris confides in Barry about Joe’s son Wally and the two decide they will tell Joe together. Later on, the two do tell Joe about Wally. Joe doesn’t say anything but goes back to work. At the pipeline, Joe shares with Barry how he feels that he failed as a father to his son but Barry says that he has nothing to feel guilty about because he didn’t know he had a son.

After the events of the episode are over, Joe drops by STAR Labs to tell Barry about his visit with Francine and how he let go of his anger towards her. Joe then gives Barry the watch his dad gave him and says that he told himself that he would give it to his son and now he has. Cue tears as the two share a hug.

At the West Christmas party, an unexpected guest drops by: it is Wally! and he is welcome in to join the celebrations.

Under the Mistletoe

Jay and Caitlin are coming up with ideas to close the breaches and are very flirty with each other. Cisco is hilarious in this episode and just wants the pair to kiss. The pair finally do so at the West Christmas party after Caitlin hangs up some mistletoe much to Cisco’s relief. Glad to see Caitlin be happy again after what happened with Ronnie.

Return of the Rogues

Snow has fallen over Central City that soon turns into a blizzard. But this isn’t nature but man made as the Weather Wizard aka Mark Mardon who used it to break out Captain Cold and the Trickster.

Bringing the two to an abandoned toy factory, Mardon tells Cold and Trickster that he wants their help in killing the Flash. The Trickster is in but Cold is hesitant. In fact, Cold has no interest in killing the Flash and goes to Barry’s and Joe’s to warn him about Mardon and the Trickster. Barry wants Cold’s help but he isn’t interested in being the hero. But Cold will be a hero come January 21, 2016 when Legends of Tomorrow premieres.

At the scene of the breakout, Joe is afraid of what Patty might do because of Mardon did to her father and shares these concerns with Barry. Barry tries to get Patty to open up about her father but she immediately clams up.

When the Trickster broadcasts a video message to lure out the Flash, Team Flash and Patty figure out where the Trickster could be, the abandoned toy factory. Patty and

the Flash arrive at the same time while the Trickster taunts them via a doll and attacks the pair with several dreidels rigged to explode. The Flash moves his arms really fast to get them to fly to safety. Patty wants to continue her pursuit of Mardon when she realizes that he isn’t at the factory. The Flash tries to get her to stand down but she is determined and confesses to the speedster that she feels incredibly guilty about her father’s death. See here Patty was the one that was supposed to be at the bank but she blew off her after school job for fun with her friends. After her father was killed, Patty became a cop to avenge his death. Barry tries to get hold of Patty but can’t and confides in Caitlin that he doesn’t know how to help her since she only confided in the Flash and not him.

Cisco figures out how to stop Mardon and Barry knows and explains what happened the last time they faced Mardon in a previous timeline. Basically, Cisco and Jay will work on a weather wand to tamper down Mardon’s powers.

The Trickster is at Central City Square being Santa Claus (Vancouver filming fact: Central City Square is Robson Square here in Vancouver and there is ice skating there until February 2016). The Trickster is giving kids each a gift to take home with them.

When the Flash finds Mardon on a roof top overlooking Central City Square, he actually flies off the roof that he has to follow by running up and down buildings. Eventually, the Flash does take down Mardon with the wand but then he is faced with a choice: let Mardon and Trickster kill him or they will detonate the 100 bombs that were given away thus killing 100 families. The Flash hands over the wand and starts to take a beating.

Meanwhile back at STAR Labs, Harry figures out how to get to the bombs. With the help of Cisco, the two find one bomb, use a drone to carry it off to a breach and that will create a magnate to draw out the other 99 bombs. Once the bombs have been safely detonated, the Flash ties up the Trickster and knocks down Mardon.

Patty comes on the scene, shoots something at the Flash to incapacitate him and she pulls her gun out ready to kill Mardon. The Flash tries to talk Patty down from committing murder and eventually does by saying that if she does she will lose everything that she has built. So Patty arrests Mardon.

Back at STAR Labs, Barry sees Harry and feels compelled to speak to him as he is Wells. Barry says that while he still hates Wells, he has forgiven him.

At the West Christmas party, Patty arrives in an ugly Christmas sweater and tells Barry that she is ready to tell him about her dad and that it took someone (i.e. the Flash) to get her to be more open.

A Deal with Zoom

The episode opens with Harry trying to outrun Zoom who grabs him by the throat. Harry begs Zoom to just kill him but Zoom doesn’t. They meet a few other times in the episode until we realize what for in the coda. Zoom wants Harry to help Barry improve his speed force to get stronger and better so that he can take his speed. Harry only agrees after Zoom promises not to hurt his daughter.

And that is how we end the first half of season 2. We are on a break until January 19, 2016. So if you only read my The Flash recaps then Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. See you in 2016.