'The Flash' Recap: Enter the Rogues
Warning: This recap contains storyline and character spoilers for this week's episode of The Flash.
Expect to see Wentworth Miller back soon. Captain Cold is one of Flash's oldest archenemies and, as the final scene of this week's The Flash showed, he's beginning to form a supervillain team with his cache of stolen S.T.A.R. Labs weapons.
Leonard Snart doesn't look like much in the comics — he's been around since the '50s, and his traditional blue and white parka is a reminder of his goofy Golden Age origins. But Miller — who many will recognize as Michael Scofield from four seasons of Prison Break — brings a calculating and, well, cold intensity to the role, making him an excellent foil to the effervescent Barry Allen (Grant Gustin).
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This new Captain Cold still has the parka, but the colors have been toned down to a dark gray, which suits Miller's portrayal. He's smarter than Flash's previous villains, which will make him a fun character to come back to as the season goes on.
His cold gun comes from a disgruntled S.T.A.R. Labs janitor who steals some experimental weapons from their vault. Snart appropriates the weapons to help him go after an enormous diamond, but also to manipulate The Flash into a face-off. It's the first serious threat he's faced in his criminal career. It takes the assistance of Cisco (Carlos Valdes), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and a visiting Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards, guest starring from Arrow) to defeat Captain Cold — for the time being. The last scene foreshadows the introduction of Heat Wave, who is played by Miller's Prison Break co-star, Dominic Purcell.
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The episode is entitled "Going Rogue," a nod to The Rogues, a band of supervillains who frequently threaten Flash in the comics. The show has already cast fellow Rogues Pied Piper (Hartley Rathaway) and Girder (Greg Finley), and producers have hinted that the brother of the series' first villain, Clyde Mardon, will appear and possibly take up the mantle of Weather Wizard.
Another interesting nod to the source material: the stolen cold gun was specifically designed by Cisco to stop The Flash. This was before the two got to know each other, but Barry still views it as a betrayal. In the comics, Cisco Ramon is the superhero Vibe, who is recruited into the Justice League of America specifically because his vibrational powers can counteract Flash's own.
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Is this foreshadowing a confrontation between Barry and Cisco? What about Cisco and Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanaugh), whose need to keep Barry "safe" drove him to kill a rival scientist back in Episode 2? And does Barry and Felicity's kiss mean that they're ready to give up their respective unrequited loves and officially become a couple? After all, as Iris (Candice Patton) pointed out, they are a "very rare species of adorable nerds."
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
