Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The Flash - Family of Rogues


The arrival of Lewis Snart (Michael Ironside) in Central City isn't a celebration for anyone, including the criminal's children who he blackmails to service his own ends. After placing a bomb inside the head of Golden Glider (Peyton List), Lewis forces Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) to join his old man's crew and help with his next big heist. Although I'm still not completely sold on the idea of Cold as a good guy, "Family of Rogues" does take an important first-step in moving the villain onto a new path which will likely culminate with his involvement in Legends of Tomorrow.

I'm always in favor of Captain Cold reappearing in Central City. It's nice to see List reprise her role as Lisa Snart, and I'm happy to see the show continue her flirtatious behavior with Cisco (Carlos Valdes) which has opened the door to an unexpected relationship between the pair should the show's writers ever choose to go there. Ironside works more as a plot device than a fully fleshed-out character, but his involvement does bring Cisco and Lisa closer together and allow Captain Cold to make the smallest step in turning over a new leaf.


Playing on the same themes of parents and children, the latest episode continues the B-story involving Joe (Jesse L. Martin) coming clean to both Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) about Iris' not-so-dead mother (Vanessa Williams). I've got to applaud the show's choice of Iris accepting Joe's revelation rather than using his deception as a cheap way to divide father and daughter. Even if the subplot doesn't eventually lead anywhere that interesting it does give us one of the most emotional scenes of the new season which instead of fracturing a father's relationship with his daughter (like with the Snarts) brings them closer together.

And, if that's not enough, the show teases us with a new version of Firestorm, a possible romantic relationship developing between Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), and the appearance of an alternate Earth version of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) arriving in Central City thanks to the stabilized doorway to the Multiverse inside S.T.A.R. Labs. Based on what we've seen so far, things aren't likely to slow down for our hero this season.

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