The Flash Episodes 3-4 review - Things you can't outrun/Going Rogue

The flash has started off with good first 2 episodes, but with such high quality expected of the series after the success of CW's Arrow, can the next 2 episodes match the viewer's expectations?

3. Things you can't outrun

So they're going for the Arrow style opening, yeah because the "my name is Oliver Queen" doesn't get old at all.

Anyway, that's by-the-by, the Flash this week is an episode that looks into the supporting cast a bit more, we see the secret be revealed about Iris' love for Eddie (and not a moment too soon) and we see the explosion of the particle accelerator from the points of view of the scientists.

Caitlin has said before that she lost her husband on the night of the particle accelerator explosion, and we see that in more detail here and he goes out like a hero… would go out if we didn't already know he’s coming back (btw, in case you blinked, that’s Robbie Amell playing Ronnie, he's the cousin of Steven Amell who plays Oliver Queen)

We also briefly see Cisco's role in events. He's always been the chirpier of … Team Flash? But it's clear from here he carries an amount of baggage from the events. Given what he had to do I can imagine there's quite a lot of guilt involved.

We also see yet another reveal about Wells. There is a lot to ask about his character, the problem is the show gives us the same answers again. In episode 1 he has a newspaper from the future, in episode 2 he says that he will be called the Flash, and in this episode he is watching as Barry is transformed. WE GET IT, HE HAS KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE, AND HE'S FAKING HIS INJURY!

Meanwhile, we see Detective West wanting to get more involved in trying to prove Barry's dad to be innocent. I imagine he now carries around the burden of understanding that he may have been wrong for many years, and an innocent man is in prison because of it. But he's right that releasing him without first proving his innocence would do more harm than good.

Barry, meanwhile discovers a villain called the mist, and he has the most shallow motivations yet. He wants revenge on those that put him in prison. The show needs to start having some more well developed villains, and not just Wells (I’m not even sure whether I can classify him as a villain) it does so well developing its main cast, but it needs to do the same with at least some of the villains too.

Rating: 7/10

4 – Going rogue

We begin the path to introduce the Flash's greatest enemies, the Rogues. And we start off with the familiar face of Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold. We also get an introduction to Heat Wave at the end but I’ll come to that later

As one of the more recognisable Flash villains they did a really good job with him. Giving him, in a couple of interesting ways a few of the morals the rogues are founded upon which differentiates with many other super criminals. He berates his colleagues for killing a cop early in the episode, and gives a child a piece of gum in the museum

But why do we care about the villain when we have the centrepiece of the episode, Felicity Smoak is in town, and boy does that make things complicated in relationships. Felcity and Barry are very alike in that they pine for relationships with people they really can't have them with. With Felicity it's Oliver Queen, and with Barry it's Iris (and they both see it in each other too), both may get their happy endings, but whether or not it will be with each other remains a mystery

The double-date scenario usually one of my least favourite TV tropes, but it worked quite well here because it was short.

We also see Detective West coming to terms with the fact that his partner is dating his daughter. In honesty, I think his motivations are solid, but I like that he backed down on this. He might be a stubborn character, but I like that he didn't let that qualm his daughter's happiness, especially knowing that Edward saved his life

We also have Cisco's secret, he created a cold gun to stop the Flash in case he (forgive the pun) went rogue. It’s interesting to see the most joyful of the characters is the responsible for some of the darker moments of the series. Harrison Ford's reaction was interestingly angry, because of course he wants Barry kept alive.

Rating 9/10

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Note: The Flash and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will not be airing next week, as such I have altered the November Schedule to reflect this. Arrow episode 5 will be reviewed on it's own next week, with the Flash episode 5 and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes 6-7 on the 14th November

Images used in this review are from The Flash and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.