Captain Cold! Sure, we saw the Weather Wizard in the pilot but now The Rogues are beginning to show up! Other heroes have rogues galleries but The Flash has “The Rogues.” Capital “R.” Rather than act as solo acts that are sometimes forced to work together, The Rogues are friends, well, “friendly” at least. In the comics, they see themselves as a group with a common enemy who work stronger as a team. They have each other’s backs at all times even if they sometimes get on each other’s nerves.
Cold is almost always the leader. He’s the man with the plan who lays down a few ground rules; they do their best not to kill anyone, unless they get in the way. For the Rogues, it’s all about the score and squaring off against the fastest man alive. By and large, The Rogues are normal, powerless people who use gadgets to gain an advantage over the Flash. I am delighted to find that idea in this series. Captain Cold has his Cold Gun and it’s just perfect.
Wentworth Miller was excellent as Leonard Snart, just the right amount of cool and rotten. Snart’s demeanor is just as cold as the gun he uses. He’s the perfect foil for Flash, his cold gun slows everything down to absolute zero. Deal with that, Scarlet Speedster!
This episode wasn’t just about the awesomeness that is Captain Cold, it really focused on unrequited love. Ugh. Flash, buddy, look… Iris is great and all and I realize that you have a whole pseudo brother/sister, forbidden love thing going on but… Felicity Smoak is uber-hot, waaaaay more interesting, funny, smart, and knows that you are the Flash so you won’t have to lie to her to make your relationship work. Wise up, the both of you! Ollie isn’t going to give you the time of day, Felicity. Time to run in the fast lane.
Again, Iris’s role was completely defined by men that she was trying to please. Getting old fast. Being an object of desire is a lousy motivation for a character. There has been some movement with Iris’s Streak blog and I’m glad of that, but it feels like powers that be are too timid to give her anything else to do. Iris West is Lois Lane to Barry’s Clark Kent. Whether she’s a journalist or a blogger, she should be driven to find the truth, not trying to hide her feelings or being too obtuse to recognize Barry’s feelings for her. It makes her look ignorant. I’m not down with that.
So, Cold’s gun was built by Cisco as an anti-Barry weapon, eh? I like this little wrinkle, it makes Cisco a bit more realistic and proves that he’s a man who likes to be prepared. Thus far, Cisco has been a goof, a haunted man, a miracle worker and a protector. He’s the most well-rounded character on the show.
The treadmill. Can’t get enough of that treadmill. As silly as it was, I enjoyed watching Barry derp it into the wall. That was pretty funny. I’d also like to point out how great the effects were as Barry was running the treadmill. His body leans forward, pushing himself away from gravity and his limbs are a blur. There is a disconnect with those motions when the show Barry in close –up. He just doesn’t look right.
As for Barry himself, Grant Gustin is doing a fine job. I can’t really point to anything that I dislike about his performance nor can I point to specific things that make me go, “Wow.” I don’t want that to sound harsh, though. I’m pleased with his performance and I believe him as Barry Allen.
Two great things to point out at the end of the episode: Barry and Felicity’s kiss. More believability and passion than any of the other characters on the show yet. Cold recruits Heat. Looks like Heatwave will be making an appearance on the show, giving us the core of the Rogues! Looking on IMDB, I can see that we that we’re in for a Prison Break reunion.