The Flash Review: “Rogue Time”


Above: Some of The Flash‘s cast sing the theme from Firefly.

The Flash has managed a fine balancing act between Silver Age Superhero Comic and twenty-first century television. This week it stumbles.

Title: “Rogue Time”

Directed by John Behring
Written by Grainne Godfree, Brooke Eikemeier, Kai Yu Wu

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash
Candice Patton as Iris West
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells
Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West
Wentworth Miller as Len Snart / Captain Cold
Dominic Purcell as Heat Wave
Liam McIntyre as Mark Mardon / Weather Wizard
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow
Rick Cosnet as Detective Eddie Thawne
Patrick Sabongui as Captain David Singh
Malese Jow as Linda Park
Roger Howarth as Mason Bridge
Chad Rook as Clyde Mardon
Nicholas Gonzalez as Dante Ramon
Peyton List as Lisa Snart / Golden Glider

Premise

High Points

The replayed scenes varied from amusing (Barry’s instant capturing of the Weather Wizard) to annoying (the Iris scenes) to engagingly dramatic (the very different Wells/Ramon interaction).

Although I did not entirely buy the Flash/Cold version of the FBI/Mafia truce, I at least like the comic-inspired relationship dynamic it establishes.

Low Point

Where do I begin?

I expected the Flash’s reliving of his day to hit the reset button but have unforeseen consequences, but, sheesh, couldn’t the consequences make sense? I’ll accept the Comic Book Physics that allow Barry to move that fast without causing mass destruction, but then why is there not a second Flash when he arrives in the past? And while his actions should lead to different effects, and maybe some sort of Butterfly Effects, but why do entirely different, unrelated things (like the Rogues’ invasion of Central City) occur?
How does Ramon build the Gold Gun so quickly? Because even if that’s not real gold, he should be as rich as Bill Gates by now.

I’ve enjoyed the comic-book highs of this series, but please, turn down a bit.

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6

Effects: 5/6

Acting: 4/6 The cast was not helped by the rather 2-D characterization this week—though Wentworth Miller has a good deal of fun with his menacing yet ambiguously immoral villain. He’s got the part Cold.

Story: 3/6 At least they didn’t just reset, but added a few new dynamics. But I would have found it far more interesting if they had been able to build on last week’s developments, instead of erasing them all.

Emotional Response: 4/6

Production: 6/6

Overall: 4/6

In total, “Rogue Time” receives 29/42

2 replies on “The Flash Review: “Rogue Time””

  1. I was so disappointed by this episode. I could see the Iris thing coming a mile away. The really weird scientific excuse for Barry’s behaviour was really bad. Where did the other flash go while the new one had arrived? If this is how they are trying to deal with Time Travel this is not looking good.

  2. I assumed the lack of a second Barry was due to his creating a new timeline that diverged from the old. The other Barry went on in his own timeline, this Barry continued from this point forward.

    I may be alone in this, but I liked how they handled it. They had to make it hurt and be unpredictable because otherwise it would be overused/abused.

    Part of Barry’s problem was that he was overconfident given his knowledge of the previous day’s events and so he assumed things would play out the same despite major circumstances being changed.

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