The Flash S1E10 Review: I really love this show

The Flash, Season 1, Episode 10: Revenge of the Rogues

Yeah, that was quite a long wait for the Flash. It's back, though, and, man, what an episode to return to! We get the reappearance of Captain Cold, my favourite character in the series, and he's brought his buddy Heat Wave. And, well, mother of hells, they do make the two of them really feel like their comic book counterparts. Heat Wave in particular. And not only that, we also get a few more intriguing details about the whole Firestorm thing, which is apparently F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. and is related to one Martin Stein and one Jason Rusch. There's also some foreshadowing for future characters, as well as a wee bit on Iris, Eddie and Wells.

Of course, being a Flash episode there's bound to be a moral, though again this is executed rather beautifully even if they do spend a wee bit too much time on it at the climatic battle. The moral this time is basically 'going faster is not always the answer' and indeed Barry is obsessed with outspeeding the Reverse-Flash at the beginning of the episode and it's only by slowing down that he and Wells manage to outwit the Rogues. Barry is still in tiptop shape, doing general Barry stuff, and I do like how he tries to make priorities and put the Reverse-Flash over the Rogues, and that ends up costing the policemen pretty dearly.

There are some cool sequences like the opening battle with that crazy sci-fi attack drone, which is a lot more beautiful than what I would expect from a throwaway opening sequence. And we get a massively awesome battle of Flash just zipping around while tongues of flame and ice beams shoot around. It's just random beams of light moving around a screen and Barry's obviously going to win, but for whatever reason I was just smiling all throughout the battle and felt just so freaking happy that they're just doing this comic book thing without any pretense of being overtly gritty or realistic. Also, those are quite well-done fire blasts and ice beams and whatnot.

And, of course, thanks to Captain Cold and Heat Wave, the Flash is now revealed to the entire world. Yay! Also he gets called the Scarlet Speedster, which is a nice nod to the comics as well.

Captain Cold and Heat Wave are just hamming it up this episode and they are freaking glorious. New arrival Heat Wave has gotten a more urbanized version of his classic costume, though he still keeps the goggles and the heat gun is a lot more faithful than I expected it would be. There's the weird little fuel tank just hanging out there, and the triangle-shaped barrel... and Heat Wave is as much a pyromaniac that has a love-hate relationship with Captain Cold as his comic book counterpart. We get some sequences of him just looking into matches and infernos and saying about how it's beautiful and everything, we've got that scene that shows that he has burn scars all over his body and he rants about how being burnt has freed what he really is... it's a nice depiction of pyromania that highlights all the psychopathic tendencies yet doesn't go too overboard.

Also, I do like Heat Wave being portrayed as a dumb thug, yet not one that's brainless. He's ready to face off against Cold during that terse moment in the base, he's ready to call Cold out when they were just baiting the Flash by robbing the exotic car expo, and has that moment where he talks to Cold and thinks about what to do before burning the painting...

Also Heat Wave is just a big ham, isn't he? "I don't understand why they call you cops the heat. I AM THE HEAT!" That scene just cracks me up.

Captain Cold also brings more awesome to the table with his micro-managing and his anger at Heat Wave for losing control, but he definitely respects and appreciates Heat Wave a lot more than the random thugs he killed (and spared) in his debut episode. I do like Cold. It's more of the same compared to the last episode with the added obsession with taking down the Flash... as well as the subtle parallel to how Barry himself is obsessed at taking down the Reverse-Flash. Cold is a pretty cool villain, if you'll pardon the pun, and plays off Heat Wave extremely well. I still think Heat Wave stole the show this time around, but Cold is still very very awesome. Not really much to say about Cold, really, other than the fact that he is still freaking awesome.

Also, even if they get captured by the police at the end of the episode, we know it's not going to last as they're broken out almost immediately by Cold's sister, Lisa Snart... otherwise known as the supervillain Golden Glider. We don't get to see most of her, just her hand, but that is truly unexpected! I was honestly expecting Pied Piper to come to the rescue considering how he's everywhere in the trailers and his parents had a cameo in this episode, but no! Plus, I'd think the show would introduce the other 'main' members, Mirror Master and the second Weather Wizard. But Golden Glider is cool.

Also, Pied Piper's parents, the Rathaways, make an appearance as the rich upper-class people who Cold and Heat Wave steal that painting from. The father rejects a call from his son Hartwell Rathaway and claims that he doesn't have a son anymore, and I'm going out on a limb to say that it's because of his, y'know, gay-ness. We'll see. Pied Piper's slated to appear in the next episode or something and I certainly want to see him. MORE ROGUES!

There were a couple of B-plot running alongside the main Rogues plot, most of it focusing on Caitlin finding out more about Firestorm before being captured by Cold. I honestly expected Captain Cold to leave behind an ice grenade that'll kickstart the whole Killer Frost thing, but I guess we can take our time with that.

Anyway, in an attempt to research Firestorm, Caitlin and Barry both discover that 'Firestorm' is, in fact, an acronym for 'Fusion, Ignition, Research Experiment and Science of Transmutation Originating RNA and Molecular Structures'. We get a quick explanation from the two of them regarding Firestorm's nuclear powers, and it's nice to see that they're not just dumbing Firestorm down into what's basically the Human Torch and is actually acknowledging the geekiness of Firestorm's chemistry textbook powers.


Caitlin tracks down the author of the paper, Jason Rusch (Firestorm II in the comics), and after a bit confronts him about the Firestorm project. Rusch explains that his professor, one Martin Stein (hint, hint) has gone missing after the funding for the Firestorm project was shut down and he apparently received help from an unknown benefactor. Well, I know Stein and Ronnie are going to be Firestorm and there are going to be some weird personality stuff involved, but throwing in what I'm assuming to be Wells into the fray... plus the whole conspiracy thing... it certainly makes me get all excited for the Firestorm. This is an excellent take on the character's origin, keeping it extremely faithful yet making me so interested in it.

Caitlin herself, for her credit, isn't afraid to stare down Heat Wave, though I can't help but think that the whole bomb situation ends up being too much of a distraction especially with the constant cutting back and forth between the Flash/Cold/Heat Wave triple battle.

Wells is still being a kind mentor, in a fashion, despite the reveal to the audience that he is the, or a, Reverse-Flash. He almost stands up in the opening sequence to rescue Barry from that one missile (which is yet another cool sequence) and gets some rather ominous lines in the episode, though he lightens the mood up by acknowledging some of Cisco's nicknames like Captain Cold and the Reverse-Flash.

Cisco does his nicknaming thing, of course, coming up with Heat Wave (of course), and name-drops Ghostbusters and crossing-the-streams, but he actually gets a pretty cool moment when he demonstrates the anti-Cold riot shields and gives that speech about making up for their past mistakes. Surprisingly mature there, Cisco.

Eddie gets over the fact that the Flash tries to murder him a couple episodes back, and manages to save Barry by blocking him with Cisco's riot shield for the few crucial seconds for Barry to get up and speed them to safety. I guess most is forgiven between the two of them? They get a cool shot together while arresting the Rogues. Granted I'm not quite sure why Barry doesn't just zip towards the Rogues and tear the guns away from them in super-speed, but I guess we can't have a cool fight if that happens.

Iris gets a couple of harmless scenes where she's preparing to move out and Barry later makes peace with the fact that Iris and Eddie are going to be together, and there are a couple of touching scenes between Iris and Barry, as well as Iris and Joe. And apparently Barry moves back into Joe's house to at least keep his foster father figure company.


Man, this episode was awesome. I like it so much. It's such a comic-book show, it's got such nice characters, and it has pretty great self-contained pacing while still building up to larger things.