5 Things We Learned From THE FLASH – “Revenge of the Rogues”


CW’s The Flash kicked off its mid-season return with a vengeance, and I do stress that term. With Barry Allen training for his next battle with The Reverse Flash and Captain Cold assembling a crew to take down the Scarlet Speedster, that might be the theme of the next few episodes. Last night’s episode, dubbed “Revenge of the Rogues”, not only gave fans what they were expecting from the hit series, but gave us some insight on what to expect for the rest of the season.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE!

#1 Tool Time: Villain Style!

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About halfway through the episode, Heat Wave (played by Dominic Purcell) managed to damage his hand held flamethrower in a fight with the police. At first I thought this meant his time was already done, until he was seen fixing it in a later scene. It was revealed that Captain Cold (played again by Wentworth Miller) had him learn everything about his new weapon, making repairing it quite easy. Since Cold is depicted as being an intelligent criminal, we can assume he’s done the same thing with his cold gun. This bit of information assures that even with their weapons back in the hands of S.T.A.R. Labs, these two now have the knowledge to make, and possibly improve, another copy of their guns to torment The Flash at a later date. These two have already proven that you don’t need superpowers to be a supervillain, just a bad ass weapon and a whole lot of attitude.

#2 Firestorm’s Origin Story

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Okay first off, let’s give a big hand for whoever came up with that killer acronym for Firestorm. I know a lot of time was spent in the writer’s room at CW trying to come up with it. Second, the whole story of the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. project really caught my attention. Luc Roderique gave a surprisingly good performance as Jason Rusch, explaining much but still leaving us with questions: How did Ronnie end up at Hudson University from S.T.A.R. Labs? Did General Eiling confiscate their research? How exactly did they melt a concrete wall? And who else was on the research team besides Jason and Martin Stein (played by Victor Garber)? Could it be Crystal Frost aka the original Killer Frost? In the comics, she was a scientist at Hudson University…

#3 Heat Wave is bat s#!+ crazy!

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Before becoming the Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics, Geoff Johns wrote for many different comic titles. His most impressive was his time writing The Flash. During that time, he gave updated origin stories for a lot of The Rogues, including Heat Wave. In it (specifically The Flash #218), he explained that his gimmick of using fire isn’t a gimmick at all – he’s a full blown pyromaniac, much like fellow DC villain Firefly. That part of him has crossed over onto the series, but with a bit of an edge. And while I wasn’t a huge Prison Break fan, Purcell’s performance seemed like a mixture of Mick Rory and Lincoln Burrows during the show’s fourth season. His sadistic and erratic behavior are a perfect complement to Cold’s tactful and cool (ice pun) demeanor. The chemistry between the two rogues was the highlight of the episode. I can’t wait to see how they’ll interact once Weather Wizard, Trickster, and maybe even Pied Piper join the gang.

#4 Central City knows of The Flash

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Up until last night’s episode, The Flash was simply an urban legend throughout Central City, unlike Starling City vigilante The Arrow. True, Iris West (played by Candice Patton) has a blog dedicated to him, but who above 30 really believes a blog with no real hard evidence? That all changed thanks to very public (and insanely awesome) battle between Captain Cold and Heat Wave in the middle of the street. A dozen cops saw everything, and overhead lights were shown on The Flash, indicating that the press has some video of the hero in action. With the secret out, I’m willing to bet that the media and news reporters will be speaking to Iris soon about what she knows. It will be interesting to see how Barry reacts to his sudden celebrity as a famous superhero. I’m sure it won’t be all parades and Flash museum dedications just yet.

#5 Golden Glider Appears…Sort Of…

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Instead of being treated to our usual “What evil-esque thing will Dr. Wells do?” segment, fans got to see the full extent of Captain Cold’s planning. While on their way to prison, Snart and Rory are saved by none other than his sister Lisa. In the comics, she is one time member of The Rogues named Golden Glider who used technologically advanced ice skates (yes, I said ice skates) to commit crimes alongside her brother. Though we don’t get a look at her face, it has been confirmed that she is played by The Tomorrow People’s Peyton List (CW sure knows how to recycle actors). I’m curious to see if she really will be using her deadly skates or will she have metahuman powers like her New 52 counterpart? And is that a copy of big brother Leonard’s cold gun in her hand?

What did you think of last night’s episode? Will The Rogues be fully formed before the end of Season 1? Drop some thoughts and comments below!