The Flash "Rouge Time" Review/Thoughts

From holding up a casino for fun with the Snart siblings to shooting the shit about high school girlfriends with the Ramon brothers, this week's episode of The Flash sat us down and taught us all about the importance of sibling bonding.

Episode Description: After accidentally running back in time, Barry gets a chance to alter his future for the better. However, things take a bad turn when the Rouges return to Central City with their newest member, Lisa Snart, a.k.a. Golden Glider.

High Points:

• Scumbag Barry Allen: Is asked not to tamper with the timeline in any way. Goes ahead and tampers with the timeline in every possible way
• Positives to this include the Weather Wizard being put away in record time and Cisco getting to live
• I was interested by Harrison Well's reaction to learning Barry traveled back in time. We learned last week he is waiting for Barry to be able to break the time barrier so he can go home, but even when he was alone in his back room this week he seemed more nervous about Barry's newfound ability. We may know who Wells is now but we still need to find out what causes the Flash to "go missing" in 2024.
• I loved the interactions between Captain Cold and The Flash this week. This is the third time this season the Rouges have faced off with the Flash and the arch-rivalry between Snart and Allen is really starting to show. 
• On top of that, I especially liked the exchange Snart and Allen had in the woods. It established A) a true superhero/villain arch rivalry between Captain Cold and the Flash and B) their "game". In the New 52, Captain Cold and The Flash have a similar relationship where they continue to go head-to-head over time as long as no one has to die as a result. I really enjoyed seeing this similar relationship form in this episode
• I was a fan of Golden Glider as a character. I am not overly sold on her "gold gun" but I enjoyed the dynamic between her and her brother Leonard
• Barry has a heart-to-heart with Eobard Thawne in which he asks Barry how many other people might have to die if he goes back in time to save his mother (Flashpoint Paradox anyone?)
• Cisco has a heart-to-heart with Eobard Thawne that goes a lot better for Cisco this week than it did last week
• Rest In Peace Mason Bridge. We thought your appearance in the show may signal a potential relationship with The Flash, but you barked up the wrong tree and got your heart stopped by The Reverse Flash (that really seems to be Eobard's go-to move)
• Finally after everyone else has had a run at being suspicious of Dr. Wells, it is Barry's turn

Low Points:

• I am still not overly sold on Heat Wave. I know that an unhealthy obsession with fire is kind of THE defining characteristic of Heat Wave, but right now he just kind of strikes me as a goon with a flamethrower. I'd like to see a bit more character development there
• I also wasn't sold on Golden Glider's "gold gun". Sure it looked kind of cool but Golden Glider is named more for the ice skates that allow her to skate around in midair than anything having to do with gold. I feel like they just want Cisco to have to make a gun for every villain that ends up being on the Rouges. 
• Why the hell does Cisco's family give him such crap for being a mechanical engineer? "You think your mechanical engineering can help us now?" -Dante Ramon. And your piano playing is going to help out all the more Dante? Get a job hippie.

Preferably one that pays this time Dante

Verdict: As exciting as the last 15 minutes of last week's episode was, It was clear that all that ground was going to give way to an alternate timeline when Barry ended up running back in time. Zero time was wasted in wrapping up the whole Weather Wizard storyline which allowed time for the Rouges to make their third appearance this season. On a small side note I found it very interesting that very different events occurred because of one thing Barry changed when he went back in time. The Rouges didn't pull their casino heist the first time around, only after Barry went back in time. Sounds like there may have been a "time boom" involved in Barry's tie traveling, similar to the large scale one that occurs when The Flash goes back in time to save his mother in Flashpoint Paradox. I'm not speculating anything in the way of a full-scale Flashpoint Paradox scenario, but it is exciting to see that more events are effected by Barry's time travel than just the events he chooses to tamper with. This time the unforeseen event was Captain Cold and his gang rolling back into town to do what they do best: commit petty theft and crime just because it is so gosh darn fun. Gold gun aside, I enjoyed the Rouges' newest addition to the team, Golden Glider, and I think her personality compliments her brother's very well. I am also an ever growing fan of this Captain Cold and the dynamic he has with Barry Allen. As the leader of the Rouges, Captain Cold is one of The Flash's oldest rivals and this episode did a great job in really establishing them as just that. Like I was saying in my high points, The New 52 comic run of The Flash alludes to a "game" that Captain Cold and The Flash have. Essentially it is a sort of agreement that no one has to get killed in this constant back and forth between the two, and it is exactly what was established between the two characters in tonight's episode. Barry can't put Cold away without revealing his own secret identity to the world, but Barry was able to use Leonard's ego to keep him from killing people in the future. It is an interesting hero/villain relationship that commands that each party have a level of respect for the other while still being directly opposed to one another, which I think is going to make for a great arch-rivalry between the two in future episodes. Also, in the New 52 Captain Cold only breaks from their "game" when he suspects that The Flash was responsible for his sister's death, so there could be potential for a storyline involving the death of Golden Glider in the future. In the meantime there was not too much that happened on the Harrison Wells front during this episode. We saw him in his back room checking the newspaper from 2024 and we watched him as he killed Mason Bridge. We are starting to reach a point in the show where the questions start shifting from "Who is Harrison Wells?" to "What are his true plans/motives?". We know that he is trapped in this time and needs Barry to get back to his own time, but when is that? Usually Eobard Thawne is a man from the 25th century so why is he so obsessed with making sure that happened The Flash disappears in 2024? It appears to me we have two options on our hands. Either we are forced to wait through nine more seasons of The Flash before we reach an end to this storyline in the real 2024, or we are going to see some time-travel into the future fairly soon. As much as I would love to see the show run for that long, I hope to god it is the second one because the episode cliffhangers this season alone have made me speculate almost to the point of paranoia. I feel like I'm trying to get to the bottom of some huge conspiracy theory every time I flip on my TV on Tuesday night. 

Even Spidey wants to know what the hell is going on in this show

We also got the death of Mason Bridge tonight but I don't feel to shaken by that personally. He was a character who was known to be friends with Wally West so originally there was the thought that his presence in the show could signal a potential appearance of the second Flash. However, he only ended up serving as a character who poked his head in now and again to be generally suspicious of Harrison Wells. And who knows, with all this timeline hopping who can truly say who will remain dead for how long (I'm looking at you Cisco). All in all it was another strong appearance by The Rouges this week and Captain Cold has turned out to be a great foe for The Flash to butt heads with time and time again. An 8.0 out of 10 seems in order.

Thanks for checking out the review! Who do you think should be the next addition to the Rouges Gallery? Who had a worse time with the ladies this week: Barry or Cisco? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments and on twitter @Caped_Informers. Be sure to check back here for more show and movie reviews as well as news and original articles concerning your favorite comic heroes. The Flash returns same time next week with "Tricksters". 

A Lesson in Time Travel from Professor Zoom: In case anyone felt like they were woefully uninformed on the scientific complexities of what constitutes a "time boom", please take a brief moment to watch as Professor Zoom explains this concept in simpler terms. Also watch him fight The Flash and get pumped for the potential showdown later this season.

A Note from Christian: Everyone who has every been alive needs to watch this video.