The Flash: &quot;Revenge of the Rogues&quot; Recap

The Flash’s “Revenge of the Rogues” Recap

Mid-season Premiere

The CW 1.20.15

Spoilers

The Flash is back for the second half of season one! And with it not only comes previous villains, but rumors of new villains, cameos by the 90s Flash cast, and the promise of Season 2. Congrats, Team Flash (more on all of that later). :)

Onward to the episode:

In the mid-season finale, Barry faced off with what Cisco dubbed the “Reverse Flash,” a man in a yellow suit (with a red lightning bolt) that can run faster than Barry. Barry believes this man was present at his mother’s death and the cause of her death. But he wasn't able to “catch-up” to him, so he is left with even more questions (and the viewers of the show are too, as the yellow suit was revealed to be possessed by one Dr. Wells).

The mid-season premiere finds Barry training hard to “catch-up” to the Reverse Flash’s speed when Captain Cold and a new villain, Heat Wave, return to Central City with plans to get rid of the Flash.

The episode begins with Barry narrating (as usual) that he is not fastest man alive.

But Barry is determined to become the fastest man alive and catch the Reverse Flash. In order to do so Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells train with Barry by sending missiles at Barry for him to dodge. There were a couple close calls when Barry didn't quite reach high enough speeds and we almost see Dr. Wells get up out the wheelchair, which would have been a grand “Surprise!” moment for the Flash Team.

Captain Cold arrives, busting through walls with his cold gun. With him is—revealed later in the episode—Heat Wave, another villain with a fire gun instead of a freeze gun. These two team up in order to set a trap for the Flash; however, Barry doesn't arrive as he is focused on 1. Training 2. Iris moving in with Eddie still (come on!)

After the break-in, Barry determines Captain Cold is back, so Cisco creates a cold-resistant shield to help the police against Cold’s gun and Caitlin learns more about the meaning of Firestorm. Apparently it’s an acronym for an experiment a grad student and his professor began (I’m sure we’ll learn more on that later; it's still shrouded in mysterious things).

After Barry talks through his options with both Dr. Wells and Detective West about what he should do—help save Central City by confronting Cold and Heat or focus on his training to defeat the Reverse Flash—he makes his decision when Caitlin is kidnapped by Heat Wave. She’ll die unless the Flash comes out in the open to not only reveal himself to Central City and the world but have a showdown with Cold and Heat.

Barry refuses to think of any other option; and he does what the criminals want. Showdown of Flash vs Frost vs Flame commences. (and the cops just stand around to watch, doing nothing to stop the blazing fight.)

Dr. Wells instructs Barry during the fight that to defeat them, he must get their guns to cross streams. But that’s easier said than done. Barry realizes running around isn’t helping the cause and only draining his energy. He gets hit—much like he had earlier in the episode during training—and is done (oh no!) Captain Cold and Heat Wave aim their guns for what appears to be the final blow, until dun-dun-duh! Eddie arrives with the cold-resistant shield to help the Flash out. Yes, that’s right, Barry’s rival saves him. (And I cannot hate Eddie too much now, since he was the only cop to do anything.)
Barry and Eddit get out of the way, and Barry realizes he can’t be fast to defeat them. Instead, he has to be slow. (Wow! What a twist to the “fastest man alive”)

So he walks toward the two villains and the aim their guns. But as the fire and ice hit Barry from both sides, the two streams cross and Barry switches to fast mode and zooms out of there. Captain Cold and Heat Wave hit each other and are blasted apart. The cops swoop in and capture the two villains (finally).

Barry and Iris have a chat to clear up their strained relationship. Now that Iris moves in with Eddie, Detective West is left with an empty house. Barry decides to move back in. The episode seemingly ends with good smiles and broken ties on the mend.

Except Captain Cold and Heat Wave are seen in a prison truck on the way to prison (which is hilarious when you realize they were both from the show Prison Break); But of course, they manage to escape because Captain Cold’s sister stops the truck and busts open the doors (I guess you could say they've learned better ways to break out of prison).

Overall, the episode brought back the fun and excitement of a superhero, especially one dealing with multiple villains at once. I’m excited to see what the rest of the season will hold.

There are rumors that more Flash/Arrow crossovers will happen in the future, such as an annual event. And also that members of the 90s Flash TV show will make an appearance. We've already seen two cameos: one is John Wesley Shipp who plays Barry’s father on the CW show and used to play Barry in the 90s show, as well as Amanda Pays, who played Tina McGee in the mid-season finale and was a character with the same name in the 90s show. For the future, there are rumors that Mark Hamill will reprise his role as the Trickster (making it his third time doing so, once in the 90s show and once in an animated version). Yes, that’s right folks, Luke Skywalker himself might pop in later this season.

Questions:
1. Will Barry be able to defeat the Reverse Flash?
2. Who really is the Reverse Flash (and what does Dr. Wells know)?
3. What’s Captain Cold and Heat Wave planning next (and who is his sister)?

We’ll have to wait and see what happens next with the “fastest man alive.”

Jaime