After a LONG wait thanks to a midseason break, The Flash returned with a big episode that not only capitalized on the events of “The Man in the Yellow Suit”, but also set forth many storylines for the rest of the season.
“Revenge of the Rogues” dealt with many things, not the least of which was the return of Captain Cold and his new partner Heat Wave. This episode more than anything showed why Flash honestly has one of the best Rogue’s Galleries in the comic book world, these characters are diverse in their powers, yet a lot of them come together to be a group with a code. In conclusion, The Rogues freaking rock!
It’s good that they’re slowly building the group, because if it came too fast (no pun intended) it wouldn’t hold the same weight. Here though, we not only see the group beginning to form, but we see why this isn’t going to be a snap together band of criminals.
I loved how they showed frequently throughout the episode that Cold and Heat Wave don’t see eye to eye on everything…or very much at all for that matter. One is calculating, the other is blunt. Cold is calm, while Heat Wave is impulsive. You’d think they wouldn’t be able to work together, and indeed they showed how close they were to coming to blows. Yet the “wise” words of Cold brought them back to the same leader. Thus showing how not only The Rogues CAN work as a team, but why Cold is a very powerful character even without the gun.
Cutting to the punchline so to speak, the final battle between Flash and the Rogues was really good stuff. The Cold Gun and the Flamethrower (until it gets named) had some really good effects that paired up well with Flash’s speed visuals. I also like how once again it was science that revealed how the two guns could cancel each other out.
Say it with me everyone, “Don’t cross the streams!”
On a character building level, “Revenge of the Rogues” did a great job building upon Barry’s mental state after his battle with (a) Reverse Flash. He’s shaken, and in a way broken. Barry still wants to be The Flash, but he also knows that he will face Reverse Flash again, and he needs to be ready for it. The theme of facing the enemy in the future vs. the enemy right in front of you provided some very cool moments. From Joe confronting Wells about putting thoughts in Barry’s head, to the very enlightening (very foreshadowing) chat with Barry and Wells, all characters in this storyline were at their best.
An unexpected fruit from this storyline came in the form of Cisco, as he built a really cool Heat Shield to protect the police from Captain Cold’s gun. It was great that the police called him and Wells out for what happened with the reactor, cause it led to a beautiful speech by Cisco about how he wanted nothing more than to make up for what they did. Hopefully we’ll get more moments like this in the future.
Caitlin also got some good material here as well, as we got some big advancement on the Firestorm storyline. Advancements that led to the introduction of Jason Rusch, who is (in part or in whole depending on the comic) a version of Firestorm. The backstory of one Martin Stein will no doubt to some great episodes coming up, as we’re guaranteed to meet him and Ronnie once more.
If there was one small down moment of “Revenge of the Rogues”, it was the Iris moving out storyline. True, I understand why Joe would be choked up about this, but it just felt a little overdone. I will say that Barry’s chat with Iris at the end was good stuff. Hopefully this will continue to be something special without being cheesy.
In the end, “Revenge of the Rogues” brought back The Flash in a big way, keeping the momentum from the midseason finale and speeding forward without hesitation. The wait if over Flash fans, let’s race down this track!
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
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