The CW Conclave: Best and most heartbreaking family moments

The Flash: “I’m your daughter, Nora, from the future.” (4×23)

The Flash is known for its last-minute finale cliffhangers, but season four’s ending may have been the series’ best cliffhanger yet. Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) meeting their daughter (Jessica Parker Kennedy), who is their age and a speedster, opens up so many possibilities.

Additionally, it was the perfect way to cap a season that was particularly hard on the West-Allen ship. After watching Barry enter the speed force at the end of season three, Iris had assumed she’d never see her fiancé again and was still mourning him at the beginning of season four. Then, their wedding was interrupted by literal Nazis.

Soon after they finally got exchange vows, Barry was sentenced to life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He was later released, but let’s just say, Barry and Iris deserved a win last season. Getting to meet their grown-up daughter a couple decades early was an incredible opportunity that will definitely make for a fun and interesting season five.

Unfortunately, as has been teased by The CW, Nora and Iris won’t start off the season on the best foot for reasons that remain unclear. Hopefully, though, their conflict will be resolved quickly enough.

Photo Credit: The CW

“He’s lying to you. He’s drugging you. He’s a monster.”  (4×17)

Without a doubt, Clifford DeVoe’s (Neil Sandilands) relationship with his wife Marlize (Kim Engelbrecht) was the most toxic relationship ever depicted in the Arrowverse. In that sense, the reveal that DeVoe had been drugging and manipulating Marlize so that she wouldn’t stand in his way was far more infuriating for viewers, on Marlize’s behalf, than heartbreaking. After all, no one besides Marlize had ever been rooting for him.

But that’s exactly why it was also heartbreaking. Marlize sacrificed so much to save the life of her ailing husband. Even after he became “The Thinker,” she assumed that some part of him still loved her. It was her agonized realization that she had, at least for many years, only been a pawn to him that was devastating to watch.

Even seconds before he erased her memory once again, Marlize was still holding out hope that he would stop himself on account of her being his wife. Fortunately, she was ultimately able to help Team Flash defeat DeVoe and make a new life for herself.