Every CW show has its own flavor. Where Supergirl is about being true to yourself, and Arrow teaches us about confronting the darkness inside us all, The Flash embodies friendship and family. Anchored by great performances, each episode shows some of the warmest relationships in the Arrowverse. However, one relationship is secretly trapped in ice.
Cisco Ramon and Caitlyn Snow have the trust and respect that comes from working together for years, but are they really friends? Here are 10 reasons why it will never happen.
Caitlin Associates Cisco With Losing Ronnie
Back in season one, the show introduced Caitlin as already grieving the loss of her husband Ronnie. Though he later returned as the flame-powered hero Firestorm, those very same powers would take Ronnie away from Caitlin again in season two, this time for good.
It’s a terrible loss and few people will understand it like the person who was there when she first thought she lost Ronnie. That shared grief has given Caitlin and Cisco a bond that transcends friendship, but it’s not the same thing.
Paralysis By Analysis
Caitlin and Cisco share one trait that stands in the way of them being real friends. In short, they both overthink things. It’s hard for overthinkers to be present and vulnerable. Though Cisco is almost compulsively positive, his intelligence drives him to overanalyze each aspect of people.
It’s often innocent, driven more by curiosity than suspicion, but his drive to pick apart people like puzzle pieces doesn’t leave much room for friendship. That includes Cisco’s colleague Caitlin. Though Caitlin has the brains to engage Cisco like few others, it’s that tendency to get lost over-analyzing things that keeps them at arm’s length from real friendship.
Cisco Delights In Exploring Everyone Else’s Superpowers—Except His Own
In season one, Caitlin catches Cisco being Barry’s “eyes and ears” as he does recon across the city. Caitlin fears what will happen. Cisco is the sort to encourage Barry to keep taking chances. For Cisco, everything is often one big comic book. For Caitlin, this is real life that could go really wrong.
Cisco dives into inventions, super suits, and the intricacies of everyone’s powers. On the other side is Caitlin, who looks for healthy limits on crime-fighting and superpowers. It’s a hint at the black and white thinking that keeps the two from being friends. Cisco is all or nothing, hence why a brief return in Crisis notwithstanding, Cisco later gives up his powers. Caitlin is all about integration. The two don’t mix.
Different Fashion Styles
Just look at the two side by side. Both have their own style, a certain flair for clothes that’s fun in their own ways. But the differences in Caitlin’s super-fine business suits compared to Cisco’s comic book chic couldn’t be more apparent.
Caitlyn says it herself in the side-series comic book issue “Showtime” from The Flash: Season Zero. Caitlin rides in Cisco’s car for the first time. She notes that it’s unhygienic and rather small. Caitlin might appreciate what makes Cisco different, but she can’t deny her visceral reaction to his style.
Cisco Is Fun-loving, Caitlin Is Serious
Cisco often seems unable to take things seriously. That’s part of the shock that comes from Cisco acting out with anger, such as in the post-Flashpoint episode, “Paradox”. But for the most part, Cisco is a jokester more likely to give you a cool superhero name than carry a grudge.
Compare that to Caitlin, who has always had a cold streak in line with her ice powers. It’s a delightful surprise when the audience hears Caitlin crack a joke. Her tendency to remain tight-lipped, however, crosses with Cisco’s instinct to crack a joke. The cliche is that opposites attract, but once the novelty wears off, opposites tend to just annoy each other.
Cisco Tells Jokes, Caitlin Tells It Like It Is
Cisco lives in what could be called La La Land, a mental/emotional symbol of his vibing powers. He sees the world as a fantasy — a comic book, if you will.
But where Cisco uses fantasy to confront his fears, Caitlin has only recently learned to accept her super-powered alter ego. She clings to the hope that she can integrate her powers with her humanity. Though these differences make Caitlin and Cisco valuable members of Team Flash for different reasons, they also show why the two aren’t (and may never be) real friends.
Intellectual Competitors/Rivals
Caitlin and Cisco have collaborated on inventions to help Barry save the world, but it’s that same fierce intelligence that keeps coming between them. Not because they don’t admire each other’s ability to outthink anyone whose last name isn’t Wells (okay, and Thawne), but because the ideas each come up with are completely at odds.
Look no further than Cisco’s persistent effort to create a metahuman cure. Instead of integrating his powers, he gets rid of them. Though Caitlin helps him develop the cure, it’s only after she sees he will continue with or without her. It’s a choice that compromises Caitlin’s journey to accepting herself, even the parts she didn’t ask for.
Caitlin Blames Cisco
Caitlin can’t ignore Cisco’s role in the particle accelerator accident that started this whole mess back in season one. Despite numerous warnings, despite countless concerns, Cisco pushed ahead with Wells to build and activate the accelerator. Though the audience later learned that Wells was actually Eobard Thawne in disguise, Cisco didn’t need to be tricked into doing this.
Cisco delights in testing out new inventions. Eobard may have activated the accelerator for his own nefarious reasons, but Cisco pulled the switch all on his own. Because of this, Cisco will always represent a potential threat to the new loved ones in Caitlin’s life.
Cisco Is A Prison Guard—And Caitlin Is A Potential Prisoner
Cisco, on occasion, serves as a prison guard to the S.T.A.R. Labs makeshift underground prison. Though S.T.A.R. Labs has on occasion imprisoned humans—least of all villains powered by technology—its primary purpose has always been to house dangerous metahumans. From the beginning, Caitlin has worried that she is one of those dangerous metahumans.
Throughout each season, Caitlin has seen S.T.A.R. Labs capture and imprison metahuman villains. When she first discovers her Killer Frost alter ego, she worries it’s a matter of time before she discovers she’s as evil as the people locked up. And for a time, she proves that she could be. It’s this potential for evil that confirms for Caitlin that Cisco could always turn on her. Indeed, it leads to the number one reason why the two aren’t really friends.
Cisco Gave Up His Powers
In Arrow, Oliver Queen brings a certain grit and gravity reminiscent of the caped crusader that inspired this iteration. Killer Frost brings a similarly icy demeanor, but rather than accepting darkness as a kind of eternal curse, Caitlin is determined to shine the warmest blasts of ice in the Arrowverse.
But whereas Caitlin works to integrate her darkest self, Cisco rejects his. He needs to look no further than Killer Frost to see how dangerous a person can become once turned into a metahuman. More than this, he encountered alternate reality versions of himself that pitied him for rejecting his true potential to be a supervillain god. This is one reason why Cisco takes his own metahuman cure, but above all, it’s the number one reason Cisco and Caitlin aren’t really friends.
