Review: The Flash Episode 16 “Rogue Time”

Time sure was messing with Barry this week on The Flash.  The aftermath of last weeks time travel kept some similar themes.  We got a fight with at least one member of the Rogues and some important quality time with Cisco.  The beauty was in the details.

Cold was back in town, and this time he brought his sister.  The first goal for them was to secure weapons.  They pulled that off by capturing Cisco.  The second, was to even the playing field with The Flash.  And level it they did with the information they pulled from Cisco.

This week Cisco was more integral to the plotline than in the original version as his family issues were brought forth.  We got to see his troubled relationship with his brother Dante, but also got to see how deep their bond ran.  This was a cool mini parallel when put up against the Snart siblings.

Positives

Like I said, the beauty of this week was in the details of the repeat.  Whereas last week we got a show-stopping action conclusion, this week was purely character focused.  Instead of The Flash trying to stop Weather Wizard, we got a simple chat between the unmasked Barry and Captain Cold.  There, they came to an agreement, Barry won’t whisk him away to the pipeline (real prison is still on the table) but Cold can’t reveal his identity or kill anymore.  If he’s as good as he says he is, it shouldn’t be a problem, as Barry puts it.  This made for an awesome development, as many fans had been quite upset that the no-kill code wasn’t solidly in play for the Rogues.  Well, it is now.

Cisco, however, was the real star this week.  His scenes with his family were top-notch, as he continues to prove he’s one of the most talented actors on the show.  No longer does he seem like solely comedic relief and it is a wondrous development.  The final pep talk with Dr. Wells was the true highlight of the time travel portrayals.  The line from Wells about what it feels like to have a son had so much weight on it given the context from last week.  Great stuff all around.

The romance stuff was interesting this week.  Not that it had me more engaged, but it was just awkward to watch (in a good way).  The whole time he was trying to talk to Iris about her feelings I couldn’t help but shake my head.  Oh Barry…  The punch turning into a hug and the made up disorder were just comedic icing on the cake.

Negatives

The Gold Gun.  What?  I already had some problems with Cisco’s making of the new guns, which could have been remedied by some quick line about where the parts came from.  Throwing in this magic gun that shoots gold just was absurd.  Not only was the animation ridiculous, but if it really shoots gold why are they stealing stuff?  The pseudo-comic book science of the gun was too much, especially since Lisa’s MO is NOT a fancy gun.

The agreement between Cold and Flash could have been a bit clearer.  I could see how some would think Barry was giving Cold free reign of the city, but as mentioned above, I’m fairly certain that’s not what’s happening here.

The Verdict

The Flash admirably followed up its awesome time travel with an episode that clearly played with those ideas to strong, but not perfect, effect.