The Flash episodes 10-13 review

The Fastest Man alive is back, and really he has been for a while, so let's waste no time digging into these episodes

Revenge of the Rogues

You know 2/5 is not the rogues. You need Mirror Master, you need Captain Boomerang, and you need the Trickster to be entitled to that name. OK, so Flash fanboy stuff aside, let’s take a closer look at this episode.

So Barry’s training himself hard in order to beat the ‘Reverse Flash’ when he returns, but he needs to find other ways to manage a situation when Captain Cold returns with a partner, heatwave, who plan to bring the Flash down, or at least into the public eye

Let’s get to the major issue with this episode. There are 2 things that make the rogues interesting and unique in the DC universe. 1) They’re called the Rogues and 2) They abide a certain moral code into their procedures. Prominent in that code: NO KILLING INNOCENT WOMEN AND CHILDREN! This is why having Heatstroke be a completely insane pyromaniac doesn’t work with his character (and to be honest, didn’t we already have that with Firefly?) there’s also the issue of THE BOMB THEY LEFT WITH CAITLIN.

OK, so it isn’t the return of the rogues that has me excited, even though the revelation that Snart has a sister who’s probably gonna be an active part of their group is interesting enough, so what else is there?

Well, we have Caitlin’s investigation into FIRESTORM, a project that fills itself with references. Both Jason and Professor Stein have been associated with the DC character firestorm in the comics.

Then we have Barry’s relationship with Iris… erm… it’s still awkward, moving on…

Harrison and Joe serve as different ends of Barry’s moral compass. Joe represents his compassion, and his need to help people whilst Harrison represents drive, determination to succeed, and the element of personal sacrifice a hero like him requires. Harrison is still clearly up to no good, though, we just don’t know the details yet.

The police also provide another complaint I have with the episode, they’re freaking useless. Cold and Heat Wave were standing still for most of the fight, shoot them in the kneecaps already! Love the Cisco heat shields though (guess they had to give him something to do)

Rating 7/10

The sound and the fury

Well, it certainly lived up to its title, there was sound, and there was fury, mostly me calling bullsh*t on the scene where Iris was offered the job. Seriously, he only left the number on the fridge, she didn’t call it and find out she had the job in 5 seconds flat!

Anyway, so, plot, Hartley Rathaway, aka the Pied Piper seeks revenge on Harrison Wells, and that basically is it. So, into the finer details. Harley is a douche. There I said it. The problem is, he was disowned by his family when he came out (the closet, that is), and his ears were damaged in the accelerator explosion, but you can’t feel sorry for him because he’s so much of jerk, you’re inclined to dislike him, and the reason for that being that they needed an excuse for him not to have been mentioned until now, you could’ve sprinkled in a few references in to avoid this, but I digress.

The action really lacks this episode, and I mean seriously there’s almost none at all. Harley is a thinker type villain, so the first time he set Barry up, and was defeated easily, the second time it’s Dr Wells that defeats Hartley after Barry is essentially defeated with ease. Neither of which make for compelling action.

We see Harrison use his speed for the first time (without wearing the costume) but we also get some interesting revelations. The accident that confines him is still very real, he can’t always control the amount of access to the speed force he has, which is interesting, we’ll see how that factors into him being the Reverse Flash later, and suspicions are certainly rising in the fact that he knew that there was a possibility of the particle accelerator exploding, and now both Eddie and Joe are looking into him

Meanwhile Iris was hired at a newspaper or something, but she discovers it’s only because of her potential connections to the Flash, and not her journalistic know-how, which she doesn’t really have yet anyway, so… I know you’re partner’s not nice, but take it with both hands Iris.

The ending. Hartley apparently knows what happened to Ronnie and where he is (goody)

Rating 6.5/10

Crazy for you

“Touch me once and you'll know it's true

I never wanted anyone like this

It's all brand new, you'll feel it in my kiss

I'm crazy for you”

Madonna

So, how was this episode of the Flash? Well it was fun, it was enjoyably fun, and… For a show that claimed to be more light-hearted than Arrow, this kind of episode is surprisingly rare. Not to say it’s not got it’s dramatic moments. But I think the less serious villain (I mean seriously, with her power, couldn’t she have just killed that guy rather than committing a robbery and being an easy target for someone like the Flash?) and a lovely scene with Caitlin and Barry in the bar, cemented this episode as one that’s more enjoyable to watch, which makes it easier to overlook its flaws

First flaw, Chase had hostages, why didn’t you disarm him, fastest man alive? Might’ve avoided you narrowly getting shot too. Also, Cisco, if you’re gonna undo someone’s handcuffs have a backup plan.

But just because the episode is fun, doesn’t mean it lacks emotional beats. Cisco and Hartley share exposition as to what happened to Ronnie, which allows Cisco to finally relieve himself of that grief we rarely ever see in him. Of course, Hartley gets away and I rather hope he doesn’t return, unless he finds something that makes me like him as a villain (a redeeming quality would be nice, something to tell me he isn’t just a douchebag who got powers, and decided to be an even bigger one) There are also some touching scenes between Barry and his father.

So, our villainous couple decide, after the arrest of the mastermind that was about to force them to commit a robbery, to commit a robbery anyway (if she can only teleport along sightlines, how did she end up in the truck, it didn’t have that big a window) and when Peek-a-boo is defeated, Chase bails out on her (catch up with him Flash, he could not have gone far)

Also, Barry talks to a woman named Linda, she’s the wife of Wally West in the pre-new52 comics. Yeah…

Rating 8/10

The Nuclear Man

Ah, it’s time for the superhero awkward romance cliché. I need to go for some reason… Superheroes having romantic lives isn’t bad in itself, but there really are only two ways to develop it. Have the character reveal their secret identity, or have them break up for messing her around too much.

Guess what, even at the age of 22, I’ve seen those stories often enough thanks. So, you’ll forgive me if I dance around this subplot somewhat and get to the meat and bones of this episode, Firestorm.  We discover that it’s Professor Stein’s mind that’s present in Ronnie’s body as the fused with that firestorm matrix that… why did he bring it to the particle accelerator again?

Anyway, this time the battle to help the world became personal (in a way Hartley’s never was) as they don’t want to hurt him but help him, and… I don’t know whether or not they succeed, given the synopsis for the next episode they did, but they left it on a very open not

Meanwhile, Cisco took a break from that plot to look at house where Barry’s mom was murdered.  He uses sciency stuff to find some imprints left in a mirror, revealing that there were 2 speedsters at the house that night, one of whom was Barry.

Cisco did not take it well when Joe mentions that Harrison’s his suspect, but the seeds of doubt have been planted, not to mention with his all too real willingness to kill Ronnie/Martin in order to stop them going nuclear, instead pulling some weird device out of his secret room that could possibly end it, but it will delay his endgame, whatever that is… seriously, we’ve had 5 episodes since coming back, and barely a hint to his endgame.

Oh, and Iris is a b*tch, and Eddie shows up again…

Rating 7/10

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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.