Jessie Robertson reviews the sixteenth episode of The Flash…
Only The Flash could get away with something like this; our major plot turns last week have all been reset with Barry’s time jump!
So, there is no kiss, no reveal to Iris, Cisco isn’t dead, Wells hasn’t been discovered (yet) and a tidal wave is not about to wipe out Central City. This is huge. I see why they did so much in that one episode because if you’re going to use this trick, the first time is the big one, so it has to count, the resetting has to be something major, worthwhile. Because once it’s done, you have modify the trick for next time, unless he pulls some Superman stuff.
So, this time, Barry snatches up Martin within the first 4 minutes of the episode and locks him the Vault (as he’s screaming he’ll flush them out with a giant tidal wave!). Wells picks up on this and is not happy; Why? He’s the only one that’s supposed to be messing with the time stream. He must have known Barry would eventually have figured this out (sort of) but he seems very thrown off his usually cold, calculating self due to this event. There’s some great storytelling later though as he keeps silencing Barry on what had happened in the previous timeline, because any slight alteration could change things drastically; but in the end, he relents. Is it due to Barry already changing his actions or from Barry’s desperate cry to have someone to lean on in his moral crisis? Wells continues to straddle that line of cold-blooded killer and father figure; well, he’s both, but you never know what’s in this guy’s soul. There’s a great bit where he and Cisco find themselves in the room with the force field, you know, where Wells killed him last week, and he tells him the same thing about Cisco giving him what it feels like to have a son; this time he just doesn’t vibrate his hand through his chest.
If the time resetting gives us the Rogues instead of Martin, I’m okay with that because Martin is a powerful, but rather stock villain. We’re introduced to Snart’s baby sister, Lisa, or Golden Glider as she will come to be known, I’m guessing? She’s as sugary sweet as a frappuchino from Jitter’s at first glance when she hits on Cisco at the bar (btw, how funny watching Cisco and Barry get hit on and their reactions). Captain Cold continues to be the most fun to watch villain I’ve seen in some time; from his monotone delivery to his cheesy one liners and the building of the Rogues has got to be the most fun to be had on television. They take over a crime family by beating them up (and apparently killing them?) and engineer a casino robbery, yatta yatta, none of that is half as interesting as them semi-torturing Cisco to get their guns back. And Lisa’s gun- Holy cow! Nothing was even mentioned if those thugs that were gold-ified were alive in there, dead, or just gummed up. And how did Cisco build those in an empty house? He was shown with materials in front of him but where did they come from?
Barry’s major struggle with the time reset is he lives with the knowledge that Iris has actually been harboring a flame for him for a while and when it turns out resetting back a day and the events that transpired left those feelings deeper down, Barry comes off like the creep. He even provokes nice guy Eddie to hit him! I though originally Iris would be THAT GIRL and not want Barry anymore since he was available (Linda broke up with him) but no, it’s more internal than surface. I think it would be pretty hard to forget a kiss like that too, BA. Linda Park is a character that’s pretty important to Flash lore, so it seems, at least at this point, she got the real short end of the stick as far as material. Mason Bridge is another character who seemed to have a lot going on, with his years of experience in the paper biz, being a mentor to Iris, and working on a story on Wells, but since the timeline was reset, that story will never be printed. I’m guessing he ends up becoming a metaphorical “bridge” to lead Iris into a serious investigative reporter.
A pretty fun episode (how can it not be with the Rogues?) that did something bold and original with it’s material and I think it will pay off in the long run (maybe not the “Lightning Psychosis” stuff)
Other Notes:
– Anyone else find that setting where Flash and Cold have their chat pretty damn cool looking? I love that all in that one conversation Flash gives Cold his “no-killing” mantra and names his rivals “The Rogues Gallery”.
– Love the detail of the surveillance footage of Lisa Snart’s car with the license plate frozen over
– “You said you wanted to spend more time together” – Snart to Lisa as she’s riding shotgun in a sidecar motorcyle, as their about to rob a mob’s casino truck. Sounds like quality time to me.
– We’re introduced to Cisco’s brother after it was mentioned in the original timeline he wanted nothing to do with him. Here, they get to bond a bit while being held captive by crazed maniacs.
– Who will be the next Rogue to join Cold’s merry band? My money’s on Pied Piper.
Jessie Robertson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5&v=ONsp_bmDYXc&feature=player_embedded
Originally published March 25, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
