The Flash: The New Rogues
October 26, 2016 7:48 PM - Season 3, Episode 4 - Subscribe

Two fan-favourites return, a new speedster is formally introduced and one of Barry's main rogues finally shows up.

I don't really have a lot of coherent, deep thoughts about this episode, just some random observations, so here goes:

I know it's canon, but I still think the name "Jesse Quick" is really dumb.

We're all sure that HR (the new Harry) is going to be evil or at least a problem, right?

Joe seems to be the audience surrogate here: yes, Barry and Iris making out is off-putting because they're essentially siblings.

I thought maybe we'd get some clues as to how Snart is going to return to his villainous ways in Legends but that didn't pan out.

I really hated Mirror Master's outfits--if they want to make him stylish, that's very much appreciated, but those suits were way too tight, and the pants way too short, especially when worn without socks and mated with aggressively long shoes.

Caitlyn needs to come clean with the team if she's having trouble controlling her powers. They are there to help after all
posted by sardonyx (13 comments total)
 
I must not have been sitting close enough to the television at the beginning of the episode, because I spent the first half hour mistakenly thinking that the Mirror Master's girlfriend was Caitlin in a blonde wig. I was expecting Flashpoint Caitlin to have some secret past as a gangster's moll (or, better yet, as Killer Frost!), so you can imagine my disappointment when I realized the actresses just kinda looked alike.

Hipster Harry looks just godawful to me, like some slam poet who minored in Tom Waits Appreciation and Pickup Artist. I can't imagine why Cisco and Caitlin thought adopting him was a good idea. I hope that he's at least funny.

I was completely floored that Barry and Iris are going all House Lannister at the same time that Wally turned down Jesse because she's...from...Earth-2? What...what the fuck? That doesn't even make sense! But then I guess he changed his mind, as any right-thinking person in his position would do. I mean, Jesse, right? Jesse. High five, Wally.

Julian dropped off the face of the earth this week, and was not missed at all.

I liked the SFX for the Mirror Master, but found the character himself very disappointing. Harry namedropped the Scottish Mirror Master from the comics as MM's Earth-2 counterpart, so there's still hope.

As much as I really, really, REALLY object to Barry and Iris as a couple, this episode was on the whole the first time this season I felt like the show was getting its groove back. I do think a lot of that comes down to Harry and Jesse, so I'm hoping that they won't be gone long.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:27 PM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


We're all sure that HR (the new Harry) is going to be evil or at least a problem, right?

That hat's going to be a fucking problem alright.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:17 AM on October 27, 2016 [2 favorites]


Are the many different incarnations of Harrison Wells mostly a reason to keep actor Tom Cavanagh around by challenging him with different takes on the same character?

I'm also not a fan of the name "Jesse Quick" despite its comics history. It's as if Barry Allen became a speedster and decided to go with the name Barry Fast (because he's very fast). It just doesn't work.
posted by Servo5678 at 8:00 AM on October 27, 2016 [5 favorites]


As for the Top (another stupid name) I kept thinking she was a rogue from season one or two that I was supposed to remember but actually forgot about. I guess the actress just has a look that's very familiar--either that or the casting people on this show have a certain look in mind when picking people.
posted by sardonyx at 8:22 AM on October 27, 2016


I was unfamiliar with the Top, but helpfully the Wikipedia is here:

Top is able to spin at incredible speeds. The spinning for some reason also gave him increased intelligence. The Top’s spinning eventually gives him powerful telekinetic and telepathic powers due to the stimulation of his brain cells. Since his soul returned from hell, he has developed a new mental ability that allows him to induce severe disorientation and vertigo in his victims. Top also uses spinning tops with gimmicks to them such as glue, explosives, oil and gases. He once built a massive "Atomic grenade top" that could have destroyed half of the world.

Oh comics.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:31 AM on October 27, 2016 [4 favorites]


Started watching again because of Harrison Wells and Jesse, who are as fun as ever. Tom Cavanaugh always brings it. (I now want a Council of Wellses, like the Council of Reeds or the Council of Ricks. Cowboy Wells can be their treasurer, Mime Wells can be their executioner, and so on.)

They'll need to be back soon, although I'm curious exactly *how* Hipster Wells won't work out.

It's as if Barry Allen became a speedster and decided to go with the name Barry Fast (because he's very fast).

On the contrary, I now move we start referring to him as Barry Fast forever. (You almost owed me a new keyboard.)

Are the many different incarnations of Harrison Wells mostly a reason to keep actor Tom Cavanagh around by challenging him with different takes on the same character?

I think that may be the case. I know he turned down the role initially - they had to let him in on 'PS Harrison Wells is actually Eobard Thawne' for him to sign on in S1, so we know he doesn't want to be relegated to Mr. Exposition. Can't blame him - he's much too talented to be a background character spouting nonsense about tachyons.

Other stuff:
* The pseudo-incest stuff is intolerable, gah. Having Iris not be aware of and sensitive about the implications goes back to how they were writing her as an idiot in S1. Not cool, writers. They *could* make this relationship non-squicky by making all parties mature, but of course they won't.

* I like Caitlin's current Killer Frost problem, because she's handling it the way I would actually expect someone to. Makes sense for her to be hiding it and profoundly uncomfortable, after meeting her Earth-2 doppelganger.

* So happy to see Cisco back to his old self. It's funny how fast he became the heart of the show. Also, his chemistry with Wells makes me sorry the show doesn't actually star them, with Barry in more of a secondary role. (It's a testament to how good the show *can* be that I was touched by the line, "I care about you too, you jackwagon.")

* Wally's totally signing on with Doctor Alchemy down the line, right?
posted by mordax at 8:54 AM on October 27, 2016 [2 favorites]


So happy to see Cisco back to his old self. It's funny how fast he became the heart of the show.

Yes! I hated him for like two episodes and then it was like the actor just figured it out and has been indispensable since. I would also watch him and Lisa Snart forever.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:56 AM on October 27, 2016 [3 favorites]


at the same time that Wally turned down Jesse because she's...from...Earth-2? What...what the fuck? That doesn't even make sense!

It made perfect sense to me - I mean, long-distance relationships are a pain in the ass even when the "long distance" means like, across state lines, let alone across-the-cosmic-boundaries-separating-parallel-universes.

Though so far this season people don't seem to have any trouble just bopping back and forth from one universe to the other so, I dunno, maybe it shouldn't be such a big deal. Maybe they should just set up a permanently-open bridge between the two universes, like they did on Fringe.
posted by mstokes650 at 11:41 AM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


Wally turned down Jesse because she's...from...Earth-2? What...what the fuck? That doesn't even make sense!

New Yorkers will forgo dating someone because they're too many subway stops away, but you're about to fuck off to another universe seems like a pretty straightforward reason not to start a relationship with someone.

I don't get why they couldn't have let Joe be the audience surrogate and have both Barry and Iris insensitive to their discomfort - that might have had some humor and opportunity for character development that this nonsense didn't. But then I guess there's some sort of writer quota for having Barry and Joe not be entirely straightforward with Iris.

I am a big comics nerd and like Jessie Quick as a superhero name.

and mark me as totally down with the idea of a rotating cadre of Wellses. Wellsi?
posted by phearlez at 12:25 PM on October 27, 2016


Harrisons Wells, surely.
posted by mordax at 2:26 PM on October 27, 2016 [4 favorites]


Council of Wells needs to happen. And I need to rewatch that episode of Rick and Morty.

* Wally's totally signing on with Doctor Alchemy down the line, right?

I called it since we first learned of Alchemy. It'll be the climax of the season. He'll be indebted and have to start doing stuff for Alchemy and Jessie will have to take him down/talk him back somehow.

I'm actually ok with Barry and Iris, since they're all adults and even if they don't talk about that they still know their past and if they're ok with it then sure, I don't care. I still do enjoy Joe wigging out because nobody likes watching their child making out with anyone, aside from a quick kiss at the wedding.
posted by numaner at 4:30 PM on October 27, 2016


I was amused at the variations of H(notG)Wells from universe to universe.

I think they will have to set up an easy universe bridge, at least so Supergirl can fly over periodically.

Barry and Iris still have no sexual chemistry and I wish they'd just get over this. Maybe Iris married some other guy named Allen in the future, folks?
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:57 PM on October 30, 2016


Who is to say that Iris even has to be married to somebody named Allen in the future? I mean it's not as if the future is set and nobody has ever monkeyed around with the timeline and changed things they shouldn't have.
posted by sardonyx at 8:29 AM on October 31, 2016 [3 favorites]


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