THE FLASH “Gone Rogue” Review

The Flash — “Gone Rogue” Pictured (L-R): Rag Doll, Emily Kinney as Brie Larvan, Jessica Parker Kennedy as Nora and Reina Hardesty as Joss/Weather Witch — Photo: Jeff Weddell/The CW

THE FLASH “GONE ROGUE” REVIEW

BY JUSTIN CARTER

The various threads of The Flash all begin to come together this season in a surprisingly strong episode given the setup. Fresh from the Negative Speed Force, Nora’s gone seemingly full evil and has recruited Weather Witch, Ragdoll, and Bug-Eyed Bandit (hey, remember her?) to help pull off a heist for some weapons with meta-tech inside them. Doing so requires kidnapping Cisco and Sherloque while Barry, Iris, Cecile and Joe play catch up and Ralph and Caitlin go off on their own little adventure.

I’ve mentioned it on Twitter previously, but let me reiterate here: Ralph has quietly become the MVP of the year. All season, he’s been helping everyone else as best he can and jumping around between various groups. It was nice to see that paid forward even slightly with Caitlin telling him that he’s worthy of love and it’ll come around eventually. (I also enjoyed how they hilariously nipped that potential plot turn in the bud as soon as it popped up.)

The idea of someone kidnapping Cisco to make evil technology isn’t innovative for this show — something Cisco himself jokes about, completely unfazed by the satiation— but there’s one thing changing everything up, and that’s that our villains this week are all a bunch of angry kids. The dynamic between the Young Rogues works and after what Nora’s been through these last few weeks, it makes complete sense as why she would seek out these four and find a weird family of her own in them. It ends up being surprisingly affecting when Nora gives up her identity to them and lets out some feelings she hasn’t been able to put into words for quite some time and the other Rogues relate to her as best they can.

In the end, it all comes to Barry finally apologizing and accepting that his daughter is cribbing ideas from Thawne. In this case, a gun that could destroy Cicada’s dagger completely and prevent any literal backstabs. Will it work? Probably not without a hitch, because next week is the final face off!

Additional Notes

• Will never not feel like Ragdoll is the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.
• I love that even when faced with dying in the exact same way he did 4 years ago, Cisco is still not all that worried.
• Meanwhile, with Cicada II: The Sequel, she’s started seeing her dead uncle! Because why not.