The Flash
Episode Title: “Rogue Air”
Channel: CW
Director: Doug Aarniokoski
Writers: Aaron Helbing and Todd
Helbing
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 43
min
Rated: TV-PG
Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
There
was an unbelievable number of things going on in “Rogue Air.”
The final stages of Eobard Thawne's plan are begin set into motion
and he's comfortable enough to monologue to Eddie for a bit on loss,
and what one would do to get back the things he's lost. Cisco
discovered that there was a power source in Wells' wheelchair that
was generating an insane amount of power, enough to energize the
entire city. He theorized that Eobard was somehow using it to power
himself, how that would work wasn't touched on and the idea seemed a
bit too convenient a way to explain Eobard's superior speed. The
team realized that Eobard was still in STAR Labs somewhere, but when
they went to the pipeline to investigation he escaped and freed
Shawna Baez, aka Peek-a-Boo. She briefly wreaked havoc and was
threatening to kill Caitlin when Iris knocked her out. She was
placed back in her cell, and Joe heard yelling coming from inside the
particle accelerator. They rescued Eddie from Eobard's hiding place,
Iris finding the engagement ring in the process.
After
discussing with Eddie his time in captivity the team discovered that
Eobard was powering up the accelerator for some nefarious purpose.
With no way to stop it Barry decided they needed to move the
metahumans out of their makeshift prison in order to save their
lives. Barry decided that Lian Yu, the home of ARGUS's prison for
exceptional inmates, and Oliver Queen's dumping ground for the worst
of the worst, is the best place for the metahumans. Calls for help
to Oliver, Robbie, and Dr. Stein (both halves of Firestorm) go
unanswered, but through Diggle he's able to set everything up. Joe
was not a fan of moving the criminals from one unlawful prison to
another, but was convinced to try to help. His plea for help from
Central City's D.A. fell on deaf ears, with her reiterating what that
kind of imprisonment is in the eyes of the law. It is an interesting
moral argument, but felt a bit misplaced in this particular episode.
The moral questions surrounding the pipeline seem like something to
tackle during the middle of season two, not something you distract
from the upcoming season finale by mentioning them.
Barry,
seemingly out of options, resorted to the lesser of known evils to
get the job done. He met with Captain Cold to secure his help in the
transportation. After some haggling Barry agreed to erase all
evidence of Leonard Snart's existence and Snart agreed to help Barry.
He brought his sister along, and the scenes between her and Cisco
served as the infrequent comic relief in the episode. Luckily they
left Heatwave at home, he must not play well with others, which was
good. Dominic Purcell plays the character too cornily to fit into a
situation as serious as the end of this season. Cisco figured out a
way to rig the power supply he found on Wells' wheelchair to subdue
their metahuman captives' powers while they were in transit. Leaving
one to wonder why exactly Barry needed Snart's help. The transport
goes smoothly until they arrive at the airport. ARGUS's plane was
late, and suddenly the dampening field Cisco had rigged was failing.
The metahumans escaped, Snart admitted to sabotaging the device, and
now four of the Flash's dangerous foes are free.
I
know that this conflict was set up to do two things. First to pose
the moral questions asked by various characters during the season.
Joe's insistence that Barry was too unlike Oliver Queen to use
villains to his own ends, which seemed like an odd thing to say
because I can't remember the Arrow doing anything like that. They
did use Barry's desire to save the metahumans to highlight the way in
which Barry is different, heroically, from Oliver; but it would have
easier to show how Barry was different from Oliver by focusing on the
possibility that Oliver might have just left them all to die. The
second reason of course was to get some established villains back
into the world and ready to cause trouble for season two, setting up
the Flash's Rogues Gallery with Captain Cold at its head. I just
wish that instead of dragging Snart along in a situation he wasn't
needed hadn't been the way this was accomplished. Wells could have
just released them all to distract Barry from whatever his motivation
was in reactivating the particle accelerator.
Barry
and company returned to STAR Labs to lick their wounds, with Joe
provided a brief “I told you so,” moment. Then alarms began to
go off as the accelerator reached operational status. Like clockwork
Wells appeared outside ready to do battle. Barry went out to face
him, but he wasn't alone. The Arrow and Firestorm showed up in the
nick of time, prepared for the showdown. The battle between the two
sides was brief, but action packed. The best part about this scene
was that the man without powers, Oliver Queen, was most effective in
the fight. With the help of some nanites provided by Ray Palmer,
Oliver twice managed to incapacitate Eobard. The first time Eobard
recovered after trading blows with the Arrow. The second time took
all three of them; the Flash got him isolated, Firestorm roasted him,
and once Eobard had hit the ground Oliver pumped him full of more
nanites. The show ended with Barry standing over his vanquished foe.
These
crossovers have a flaw. While Oliver is dealing with his trouble in
Nanda Parbat he had time to jet over to Central City and bail Barry
out? There must be a direct shuttle service between Central City,
Starling City, and Nanda Parbat. Just slide your Metro card and
you'll arrive at your destination in an hour or less, or your next
ride is free! The crossovers are always exciting and I really enjoy
seeing the other heroes guest starring, but some serious effort
should be made to have these events feel more organic. The other
issue I had with the ending is that it seems obvious that Eobard
intended to be caught. He has activated the accelerator for some
unknown purpose but has limited access to it while Barry is hunting
him. His best chance of getting close to it will a occur when Team
Flash tries to take him into custody. I'm really hoping for Cisco,
the resident movie buff, to mention something to this affect early in
next week's episode.
Conclusion:
The moral questions raised in “Rogue Air” seemed out of place
this close to the season finale. At this point I want more of a
focus on Eobard and his endgame. Barry got burned by trusting
Leonard Snart in a moment that he should have seen coming. Snart's
presence was not necessary to the final plan, so he was there only to
teach Barry a lesson. The superhero team-up was a lot of fun, even
if it was a little short, but more effort needs to be made to make
the guest appearances of other heroes feel more natural. The quick
shout out to Green Lantern, the test pilot that went missing from
Ferris Airfield, was a good way to remind the viewers that this is
all part of a much larger picture, even if our chances of seeing Hal
Jordan or another Lantern in action on the small screen are pretty
low.
Rating:
7.5/10
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