THE FLASH Catches Air and Flies
Episode 122 “Rogue Air”
[Photos: Diyah Pera & Dean Buscher/The CW]
Hal Jordan exists in the FlashArrowVerse!
OK. It’s a pretty straightforward episode, and it again demonstrates why The Flash is one of the best superhero shows on television right now. Because 1) Leonard Snart, 2) Cisco Ramon, and 3) Easter Eggs. One in particular being rather huge and obvious.
The setup this week comes in the form of ThawneWells monologuing to Eddie. And it’s ironic that ThawneWells is complaining about the very thing he’s doing to Eddie — taking away his future, ruining the chance he has at a happy life. Eddie’s new life moving forward isn’t going to include Iris; at least, not according to the holographic newspaper. Which of course Eddie should take as 100% gospel and one of these Fixed Points in Time. Right? Because the future’s already set in place, right?
It’s a flaw in the story, and Iris calls him out on it later after Team Flash finds him under the particle accelerator and she’s found the ring he was going to give her. I get that we’re setting Eddie on a path to become somewhat slightly a villain, maybe, but we’ve got a known liar and murderer telling Eddie about the future. Anyone who’s seen Back to the Future (and that movie exists in this universe) knows that the future isn’t written. If it’s been changed for ThawneWells, it could change for Eddie. But he’s not even willing to fight for it, because he already figures he’s lost to Barry long ago.
It’s the only story beat that feels off in this episode, which is mostly firing on all cylinders.
Now, to the main part of the hour. But first: Hal Jordan exists in the Flash/ArrowVerse!
(ahem)
The bulk of the episode deals with Team Flash responding to the sudden reactivation of the particle accelerator. Given what it did to Ronnie Raymond when it fired up, the concern is that all of the metahumans being held prisoner there will get fried. So Team Flash has to figure out a way to transport them to another location. Barry suggests Lian Yu, the island where Oliver Queen grew up was stranded.
Joe’s reaction: “So we’re going to move them from one illegal black site to another.” He clearly is starting to have some issues with how much rule-bending he’s had to do over the past year. (Might be why Commissioner Gordon continues to smoke?) Even when he tries to get the District Attorney to help him clear a path for the transfer, she’s all over him with advice to get as far away from the situation as possible. She’s already thinking about what charges could be brought against him, and she warns him off before it comes to that. She’s definitely in “plausible deniability” mode right now.
So Team Flash is on their own. Cisco has been futzing around with Wells’ wheelchair, trying to figure out why a speedster would pretend to be lame, outside the obvious sympathy play and to deflect attention. He’s found a little future-tech power supply in the base of the chair, figures it’s how Wells was able to amplify his speed to be faster than Barry. Cisco figures he can use the super-battery to power a stasis field that will dampen the metahumans’ powers long enough to get them to an ARGUS plane at the abandoned Ferris Air field.
But since they got no love from the D.A. on this, Barry turns to the only other resource he thinks will care if these guys get loose: Leonard Snart.
Now here’s where we get into one of the more interesting aspects of the Flash comics: his relationship to the Rogues. More than with any other hero, Flash has always had a little Mutual Admiration Society thing going with his villains. And we’ve seen that play out in various media — one animated instance in particular had the Rogues lamenting the demise of Barry Allen and feeling the loss of a worthy adversary. There’s always been more of a “gentleman’s agreement” between the two sides, and that plays out here in these moments with Snart. Remember, he’s already made a deal with Flash to keep his identity secret and not kill anyone in exchange for staying out of Hotel Accelerator.
Snart agrees in exchange for Barry wiping out every record of Leonard Snart off the net. Captain Cold wants to disappear. Barry agrees, reluctantly, but ultimately it’s part of who he is that he’s more concerned with saving the lives of his enemies than following a couple of rules. Of course, Joe is there with the very good question, “At what point do we become no different from the people we’re fighting?”
Getting the metahumans out of the accelerator and onto the eighteen wheeler Cisco borrowed from his uncle, the team gets everyone out of the city and out to the Ferris Air field — probably the same one they were using for speed trials earlier in the season. And this is where we get the best Easter Egg of the episode:
Snart: “I thought they shut this place down.”
Barry: “They did. One of their test pilots disappeared.”
Fans, of course, recognize this as a reference to Hal Jordan. Test pilot extraordinaire, boyfriend to Carol Ferris of Ferris Air, and the man selected to be the new Green Lantern of sector 2814. Which means Hal Jordan exists in the Flash/ArrowVerse! Between this and the mentions of Coast City over on Arrow, it’s like the shows are waving a big green flag and saying, “Guess what’s coming next!”
Snart, of course, has his own plan. With the help of his sister Lisa — who apparently has a real case of the crushes for Cisco — they devise a plan to release the metahumans a little early, leading to a little back-and-forth battle between Flash and the Rogues, who are now of the understanding that they owe Snart a favor for breaking them out. It’s a fun scene to watch:
Snart: “My name is Leonard Snart.”
Marden: “I know who you are.”
Snart: “Always pleased to meet a fan. Just remember who it was who made sure you didn’t get thrown on that plane bound for nowhere.”
Marden: “You’re just letting us go. Why’d you shoot that guy (Deathbolt)?”
Snart: “He owed me money.”
Marden: “What? You want a ‘thank you’?”
Snart: “Who doesn’t like a ‘thank you’?”
Bivolo: “Thank you?”
Snart: “You are so very welcome.”
Who doesn’t like a “thank you”, right?
The one bit about this that bothers me is Caitlin’s Bivolo-induced rage at Cisco because “he killed Ronnie”. It would be more understandable if Ronnie hadn’t already shown up very much alive — even though he now catches fire — but we’ve already seen Ronnie, Caitlin’s interacted with him, and everything seems like it’s all good. So where is this rage coming from? Could this be something buried deep inside Caitlin? Something that will eventually fuel her transformation to Killer Frost?
Speaking of Ronnie, he and Oliver Queen drop in for the showdown with Wells after the particle accelerator comes fully online. Wells takes it in stride, pretty confident he can take all three of them. And then this happens:
That’s our first in-show visual of a speedster’s suit coming out of the ring, something that’s been a staple of the Flash mythology for decades. And the visual effects team pulls it off quite well, methinks.
The battle, of course, is intense and short. Oliver hits Wells with a nanite arrow, tech from Ray Palmer. The nanites inhibit Wells’ access to the Speed Force and slow him down enough for a few punches to land. But Wells does the same thing Barry did when hit with the tranquilizer — vibrates them out of his system. Ultimately, it’s a combination of Barry as bait, Firestorm as blaster cannon, and Oliver as clean-up that brings Wells down.
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Other fun bits: Lisa Snart flirting with Cisco and asking him to give her a code name. It seems like the crushing might be going both ways a little. “Golden Glider” is not really practical, is it? Kind of romanticized a bit? Of course, Cisco completely understands the dynamics of good guy vs. bad guy, which is why he’s so ambivalent about Lisa’s affections.
Cisco: “Oh, hey, Captain Cold’s evil sister…”
Lisa: “I’ve been thinking about you.”
Cisco: “Well, stop… because this right here? It ain’t gonna happen.”
Lisa: “A girl can hope.”
Cisco: “Really not enjoying being one of the good guys this week.”
Next episode, we get the beginnings of the unraveling of everything as Barry makes his big time travel play to save his mother. What repercussions will that have across the FlashArrowVerse?
