The Flash, Season 5, Episode 20: Gone Rogue
Y'know, as much as I adore the wrk they did with Heat Wave and Captain Cold in Legends of Tomorrow and other CW/DC shows, I will always be sad that we're denied a real, proper live-action Flash Rogues. We get random individual Rogues showing up here and there, but they're never as spectacular as they would've been as a recurring band of villains -- and considering how honestly bland Cicada and the various evil speedsters have been over the years... yeah, it's definitely kind of a waste.
This episode is... it's neat, I guess? Nora calls in a trio of villains -- Rag Doll, Bug-Eyed Bandit and Weather Witch -- and begin to call the group the "Junior Rogues", recruiting them to help her rob STAR Labs and McCulloch Technologies for some technobabble, with the excuse that she's really, really pissed off at her partner, the Flash. And, of course, Nora's just faking it, 'using' the Rogues as patsies while she raided McCulloch Technologies for a certain piece of technology that's going to be useful to fight Cicada. Because Cicada is still relevant.
And... I dunno. I admit that I haven't been the most invested on Nora West-Allen as a character, but this episode honestly hinges so much on an obvious "will she/won't she be evil" un-twist that I really just found myself utterly detached from everything that's going on. The visuals are cool, and all three returning villains are fun enough as part of an ensemble cast, but when the show goes back to the Barry/Iris/Nora drama... it's just really exhausting to watch. Barry's a dick, Nora's unreasonable (even if she's just acting, does Rag Doll look like someone who's the picture of mental health?), and honestly, it's hard which one of the two to really root for.
Of course, Nora gets betrayed by the Rogues, who demand the Flash show up... but Team Flash is already on the scene, disguised as the guards, and help Nora beat up the Young Rogues. There's some attempt at a "you must accept people can change" bit going on, supposedly a continuation of the Weather Witch/Silver Ghost episode, but the handling of the characters in this episode make any attempted 'moral' feel confused and pretty bland.
There are also a brief B-plots, I suppose, particularly with Caitlin and Ralph investigating Thomas Snow's old lab to try and figure out Cicada's plan (some sort of weapon to kill all metahumans in one fall swoop), including an honestly hilarious "OH GOD NO GROSS" moment with the idea of shipping these two. Considering the piss-poor relationship fumble that the show's given Caitlin in season two, this is definitely appreciated.
Anyway, the Young Rogues honestly feel like they lacked the oomph of a proper villain team-up, I'm still not particularly invested in the Allen family drama, while both Nora and Cicada each have their own doomsday weapon they're happy to unleash on their enemies. It's... it's neat? I can't particularly say I'm fully invested, mind you.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Nora gives the false identity of "Jenni Ognats", the civilian name of the comics' version of XS.
- McCulloch Technologies is a reference to the second Mirror Master in the comics; in the CW-verse, we get a character based on the original Mirror Master, Sam Scudder, with Evan McCulloch apparently being active in Earth-2. The weapon XS steals looks exactly like McCulloch's mirror gun from the comics.
- G. Simone is, of course, a reference to renowned DC author Gail Simone.
- Sherloque was trained in escape artistry by Thaddeus Brown of Earth-51. Thaddeus Brown is the first Mr. Miracle, and the person who trained the far more prominent second Mr. Miracle (Scott Free) in escape arts.
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