THE FLASH Review: Family Troubles are Universal in “Family Of Rogues”

By Justin Carter
One of the genuine surprises of The Flash’s first season (aside from being really great), was Captain Cold. Wentworth Miller gave the ice-based villain a jolt of energy, and the show knew when and how to best use him when the situation called for it. After the penultimate episode last season in which we saw him walk off with a cleared name just in time for Legends of Tomorrow, fans were worried that Leonard Snart wouldn’t come back. Thankfully, he returns to help the season find some much needed chill after pair of hot opening episodes.

Snart’s sister Lisa (Peyton List) comes to Team Flash for help after her brother has been kidnapped by their dad Lewis, played by Michael Ironside. After learning that his son has a cool gun that freezes people to death, Lewis gets Snart to work with him by putting a bomb in Lisa’s head as leverage, because when you’re a dad in comic books, you’re either a patron saint or in the running for ass**** of the year.

Ironside is perfectly cast as Lewis, and it’s easy to see where Snart’s cold snark and deadpan one-liners come from. A series of small actions, like detonating a guy’s head for being snippy to his son, do a good job of selling him as a bad guy, even without the reveal that he abused his kids. Miller has always had fun as Snart, and that continues here. He knows just the right buttons to hit with Barry and walks a fine line between lovable and detestable that makes him so charming in the first place. Hopefully that same energy sticks when he shows up on Legends of Tomorrow.

The Snarts aren’t the only ones with family troubles, although it’s probably safe to say the West family don’t put bombs in each other’s heads. Maybe. After the tease of Iris’ mom last week, Francine makes another appearance and demands to see her daughter. Joe’s reticence is revealed to be because his wife was a drug addict who put Iris in danger during an overdose and later escaped from rehab and disappeared completely. That’s a big bomb to drop, and probably not what a lot of fans were expecting, but it works because Jesse L. Martin and Candice Patton sell the hell out of it. It thankfully doesn’t create a rift between them, and it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of this storyline continues. Like this season of The Flash, the future of the West family is looking glowingly positive.

Additional Notes

• Cisco was absolutely on fire tonight, with his highlight being his spot-on impression of Dr. Stein.
• There wasn’t a song that featured the word “cold” when Barry and Snart meet in the diner, but Snart did make Barry pay for his meal, because he’s a dick.
• Stein flares up as Firestorm at the end, and the shift from red to blue flame can’t be good at all…
• Team Flash manages to create a portal between Earth-1 and Earth-2 in STAR Labs, and the first person to use that portal is … Earth-2’s Harrison Wells?! Uh-oh.
• Patty and Barry’s banter was less on the nose this time, but man, they’re really trying to get us to ship them.
• Patty: “Thought I stepped on an ear. I didn’t. If I did, I’d be hearing things.” Joe: “Oh, hell no.”
• Caitlin: “Does it physically pain your family not to rob people?”

The Flash continues Tuesdays on the CW Network.