The Flash - Revenge Of The Rogues - Review

Wow! While The Flash ended part 1 of the season with a bang, part 2 began with yet another bang. Not to mention how much of an information overload this midseason opener was. I personally had to watch the episode twice just to digest everything. A key idea I felt from this episode was transition. Everyone is transitioning into a new phase of life, whether good or bad.

Let's start from the top with Barry who is still dealing with the fallout from the midseason final. Barry is still carrying around the weight he's had all these years, but now that Reverse Flash is back he can't just move on from it. This tension pulls Barry between his 2 father figures, Harrison Wells and Joe West. Should Barry really try and move on from his past? Or should he try and use it to push himself to even greater heights (or speeds in this case)? These are the decisions that Barry is now faced with going forward. There is no such thing as peace for our speedster.

To add further turmoil to Barry's life, we also saw the return of Captain Cold and the formal introduction of Heat Wave. These are the kind of villains we need in the show. While the first part of the season had some underdeveloped and uninteresting villains, I'd hoped that as time went on that would be improved and I am so glad that is has.

Captain Cold and Heat Wave are both very entertaining and their motives, reasons and just the overall way the characters themselves act was fascinating to see. They really captured these characters from the comics and made them impressive. I felt they played off each other well (which due to the actors past experiences was expected), and both were formidable and threatening to our hero. The villains have begun to transition from a single entity to a villainous team. Dare I hope that the season final will involve the full team of rogues going against Team Flash?

I also really liked how Caitlin was used this episode in that she is being used as a world building tool. Her investigation into Project F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. introduced more concepts (and characters) into this TV universe that pushed the limits and boundaries even further. I've always been a fan of shows that build a deep and detailed world, so this to me was a high point. Someone needs to get a magical object to Caitlin asap so we can go even further in this astounding universe.

Carlos Valdes as Cisco surprised me this episode. He has notably improved since the start of the show. Initially I felt he overacted and seemed like one of the few weak points of the show, but his performance during this episode was anything but. He still has that geeky-fanboy fun side but he's now pulling it off so well that I find myself fanboying along with him. It's nice to see that both Caitlin and Cisco are really becoming their own entities and not just 'those people on Team Flash'. Both the actors and the production team should be congratulated for this.

While not as substantial, some seeds for the future were also planted in this episode. Iris and Eddie are progressing further in their relationship which is causing Barry and Iris to transition away from each other. We've already seen that Iris can handle herself on her own to an extent, so now that she's away from Barry I hope we can really see her grow into her own character much like Caitlin and Cisco have. Barry also moved back in with Joe and their chemistry continues to be a high point of the show.

2 other rogues were also hinted at during this episode. We briefly were introduced to the Rathaway family who apparently 'no longer have a son anymore'. Along with the mysterious voice of Captain Cold's sister. Both of which we'll meet more formally in future episodes.

The last surprise from the episode that I feel I must talk about is the Flash revealing himself to the public. While the people don't know his identity, they now know he is not just a myth. He is real, and he's here in Central City. While we saw some signs that people considered him a hero, I wonder how this will continue to play out? Will others with powers seek him out? Will the people of Central City support him or go against the Flash? So many possibilities can be explored and I can't wait to see what option the writers take.

Overall Feelings:
Where do I even begin?
Everyone was developed in some form. We had very memorable villains, hints for the future and some astounding world building. The Flash continues to impress every single time!

About the Author - Christopher DeBono

Australian Student. Addicted to TV, novels, comics and all things video games.

Watches everything on The CW and many Australian shows.

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