They’re awesome. No, seriously. Sure, they have goofy gimmicks and crazy costumes, but they are “some of the most colorful, well matched, and consistently well written villains in comics.”
For years now, that’s what I’ve been hearing about Flash’s Rogues, and I’ve mostly had to believe it because I’ve never really read any Flash comic books outside of the first graphic novel from the New 52 re-boot. However, then I encountered some of the Flash’s villains in the animated shows Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Wow, no one had told me his villains have names like Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Reverse Flash, Captain Boomerang, and Mirror Master, or that one of them is a telepathic, hyper-intelligent gorilla from a hidden society of highly evolved apes. That all sounds so…goofy, perfectly par for the course for characters mostly created in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Then I saw a Justice League Unlimited episode that had a lot of fun presenting a couple of the villains as vaguely likable criminals, burdened with worrying about paying rent, consistently breaking “I swear I am done being a super villain” promises to long-suffering spouses. The Flash seemed to actually have a somewhat cordial relationship with them, and they knew their only hope against the fastest man alive was to team up.
Suddenly, I felt like I got it, as much as I could based on a single episode of a cartoon at least. The Flash’s villains are a collection of seemingly random gimmicks who are clearly no match for The Flash, but that doesn’t drag the stories down because the writers take the time to turn people like Captain Cold into fascinating characters who just happen to function as villains.
Prior to “Going Rogue,” I wasn’t really getting any of that from The Flash, not that I was expecting it in just the show’s first 3 episodes. This early on in a superhero show, you expect Smallville-esque freaks-of-the-weeks who are more special effect than character, thrown out as an excuse to create situations which could allow the writers to further develop the show’s regular cast. So, sorry Weather Wizard, I don’t even remember why you were doing what you were doing in the pilot, but I do remember that because of you Barry Allen truly became The Flash, formed his team, and accidentally let Det. West see him without his mask. I kind of remember that in the second episode Multiplex seemed to simply be out for revenge, but was actually doing it all for his dead wife. However, what really stuck me with me was how cool it looked when Barry had to fight through the army of clones en route to the real Multiplex. In last week’s episode, I vaguely recall that The Mist was striking out at everyone who handed him a death sentence, but I definitely remember that because of The Mist Barry and Caitlin had a heart-to-heart about her dead fiancé.
Oh, also, that scene with Barry rescuing everyone from the train? So much fun. That was their best visual effects moment yet.
Now that her extended cameo is over and done with she was, well, Felicity. Her accidental sexual innuendos were flying at us left and right, as were her varied costume changes (how many dresses did she pack?), and as per usual she found herself being pushed and pulled in a love triangle. It’s difficult for me to imagine what you would have thought of her if you are a Flash-only watcher (sorry, Arrow), but they did at least basically say, “Remember that guy Barry talked to on the roof at the end of the pilot? Well, Felicity works with him, and she overheard everything.” Wait, how did she overhear all of that? Eh. Don’t ask. Instead, enjoy the sight of Barry super-speeding his way to a rooftop, taking a picture of Felicity from the rooftop, and then whooshing down to her on the street to show her that picture, all in 3 seconds. Then laugh as his shoes catch on fire. Wasn’t that great? You had a question, though, right? What’s that? You’re too entertained to care anymore? Excellent.
The admirable thing about Felicity’s cameo is that it did ultimately serve a functional purpose. She was there to provide mentorship to Barry’s Scoobie Gang, giving them a blueprint for potentially functioning as a cohesive unit. It is because of her suggestion that we saw Cisco and Caitlin actually venture into the field, away from the lab, during a climactic final fight. Granted, if Captain Cold had called Cisco’s bluff they’d all be dead, but, hey, it all worked out, though maybe Cisco should wait until the villain is further away to announce that his death ray was just a vacuum cleaner with LED lights. He’s a rookie.
The unfortunate thing about Felicity’s cameo is that when Felicity and Barry lament on the train at the end, “What are we doing? We’re perfect for each other!” your reaction is not, “But Barry is clearly meant to be with Iris.” That’s probably what you’re supposed to think, but it’s just not, despite Candice Patton’s best efforts. Plus, how many love triangles is Felicity potentially connected to at this point?
It remains to be seen how long Barry’s extended family on the show will include Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells to go along with kind-of-not-really dad and sister Det. Wells and Iris. They pretty much have Barry and Det. West nailed. Those characters completely work right now; you love seeing them every time they’re on screen. The question marks had been Cisco and Caitlin, and last week’s episode began the process of stretching them out dramatically, Cisco allowed to be more than comic relief in what was really Caitlin’s showcase episode. This week may have felt a bit like, “Hey, wait, did I miss a scene or something?” when it was revealed that Cisco was the one who created the freeze ray, but I was surprised at the depth from Carlos Valdes’ performance when he had to come clean about it to Barry, particularly the “I thought we were friends!”/”We are friends!” exchange. The potential pitfall with Cisco was that he wasn’t taking any of this seriously enough, and they didn’t wait very long to show his serious side, making him not just somewhat responsible for a man’s death but also aware of it and sincere in his contrition.
Not With My Daughter | This was the first episode which actually made me care about Det. Thawne and Iris’ relationship, and it was pretty much entirely because of Jesse L. Martin’s continually assured and heartfelt performance as Det. West. Poor Candice Patton gets to watch TV and make cold-based puns in the West living room (something about it getting cold in there since her dad’s being so icy toward her) immediately before Martin blows all of us away with that speech about how her dating his partner means he must now worry about having to someday be a dad informing his daughter that he was somehow responsible for her boyfriend’s death. Plus, they clearly must have been listening to the Irony radio station, but the awkward songs coming up on the radio in the car with Thawne and West? Hilarious. This was also the first episode in which Rick Cosnett was given something other than “Gee, aww shucks” facial expressions to play as Thawne, although they were there plenty during the trivia night double-date with Barry and Felicity.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The villain was dramatically compelling, the final fight scene was the best thing they’ve done since the big budget pilot, and Felicity dropped by not just for the heck of it but to help elevate those around Barry. It was quite simply the best episode yet. Granted, that’s only out of 4 total episodes, but, still, they wanted to go out making us mad that they’re not going to be on next week. Well, this was a great episode, and I’m officially mad that a new one won’t be on next week. Job well done.
NEXT WEEK
THE NOTES:
1. Cisco created some sort of failsafe gun in the event that The Flash turned evil? Batman would be so proud. He does that kind of thing for the entire Justice League. A lot. In fact, I think Iron Man also pulls some similar shenanigans with all of the Avengers.
2. I can’t be the only one who couldn’t stop hearing “My Freeze Ray” from Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog once “Going Rogue” introduced Captain Cold’s Freeze Ray.
3. If you watched tonight’s episode, and you’re first question is, “Why didn’t Barry just use his super-speed to take the gun out of Captain Cold’s hands?” then you are thinking too much about this show. But, seriously, why didn’t he do that at the theater? He had the element of surprise!
4. I assume Felicity means that when she overheard Barry’s conversation with Oliver she heard it through Oliver’s earpiece, but, honestly, the first image that popped in my head was of Felicity hiding somewhere on the roof, peeking around a corner. Also, didn’t Oliver have that talk with Barry like immediately after Felicity walked away from him after their first kiss at the hospital in the Arrow season 3 premiere? Would Felicity really have gone right back to work being Oliver’s IT gal, or simply gone home for a good cry?
5. When Barry was trying to show off his powers on the treadmill for Felicity, Grant Gustin’s tone of voice was entirely perfect. He sounded exactly the way my nephew does when he wants me to marvel at his ability to jump down the bottom two steps of the stairs, “Look, Kelly. Look what I can do! Why aren’t you looking?”
SECOND OPINIONS:
ScreenCrush – “At some point, villains are going to have to stick around past a single episode in order to make a dent in this universe. And while Wells might ultimately be the Big Bad (to steal a ‘Buffy’ phrase), it will be good to see recurring figures match powers AND wits with the Fastest Man Alive.”
TV.com – “The Flash still has a few small kinks to work out, but if ‘Going Rogue’ is any indication, those kinks may not last much longer.”
I’m done with my ramble. What about you? Is my praise for this episode perhaps a tad bit too effusive? Are you exactly as over the moon about it as me?
