The Flash S1 E4 - 'Going Rogue' Review

First Time For Everything.
The Flash rectifies one of its early flaws by developing the villain of the week to create a more engrossing conflict and tell the origins of one of our hero's most iconic villains - Captain Cold.
Played by veteran actor Wentworth Miller, Leonard Snart a.k.a. Captain Cold is certainly the best foe Barry has faced so far in his debut season. Combining a menacing demeanour with a crafty personality to match, Miller really does justice to this classic DC character. I hoped his origin would give more viable explanation as to why he chose the cold gun, but it seems it served as a means to an end more than anything else.
The plot itself followed Barry as he attempted to first track down and then lock up Snart and his crew of ne'er-do-wells. It was a relatively straightforward journey, although at least we now have our first villain to escape both death and imprisonment in The Flash, leaving the door open for Captain Cold to return and harrass the Scarlet Speedster in the future.
Other plot threads this week involved Felicity travelling to Central City to meet Barry. It more or less tied up the love interest story-line between the characters in series one, by essentially retconning the whole thing and moving on. I had actually forgotten all about the Barry/Felicity romantic interaction before I started this Arrowverse challenge and now I realise why - the two characters seem to experience complete u-turns and decide they'd rather pine after people who don't want them back, before Barry gives Felicity a kiss which felt right but also confusing and disappears into the sunset. Generally, it seemed Felicity's character provided some comic relief more than anything else and served as the show reminding its audience that these shows are connected. We get it okay? The Arrowverse has arrived.
The other thread this week involved Joe overcoming his phobia of going out in the field with his daughter's boyfriend. At first I was irritated with Joe being weird and rude to Eddie, but his later explanation actually made a lot of sense and again the show handled the emotional fallout of this arc very well.
Overall, 'Going Rogue' is I believe the strongest episode of The Flash to date. With a great villain, awesome action and strong emotional arcs, the series seems to be finding its groove.

STARRING: Captain Cold

AWESOME MOMENTS:

• A fun start to this week's episode - seeing Barry flex his speed by multitasking made for a humorous intro
• When Barry rescued everyone from that crashing train!! - this was the first time this season that the CGI didn't look shabby too
• Captain Cold's full look felt a bit gimmicky, but did match the comic book portrayal of the character just as Miller did with his performance
• Basically EVERY time Snart fired his cold gun!
• That final reveal - Heatwave is joining the party very soon baby!! (With an epic weapon to match!)

EASTER EGGS:

- The title of tonight's episode is a reference to the Rogues, a loose gang of superpowered criminals that regularly oppose the Flash. The Rogues are known for following a strict code of conduct, enforced by their leader Captain Cold, and for being as much a tight knit social group that supports one another as it is a criminal crew. The Rogues were first formed by Gorilla Grodd to distract the Flash from one of his plots to take over Central City.  While Grodd's plan failed, the Rogues remained together and are typically led by Captain Cold. While there have been several iterations of the Rogues, the group most commonly includes Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, the Trickster, and Weather Wizard.  The Top, Golden Glider, Captain Boomerang and the Pied Piper all have been past members of the Rogues as well.

- The Khandaq Diamond is named after the fictional country of Khandaq, home of the Shazam villain Black Adam.  Khandaq was first mentioned in the season two Arrow episode "Suicide Squad".  The Arrow Season 2.5 digital comic book recently introduced a Khandaqi terrorist named Teth Adam who may (or may not) be the Arrowverse's version of Black Adam.

- The Khandaqi diamond was being transported into Central City in a Blackhawk armored vehicle.  Created by comics legend Will Eisner, The Blackhawks were a World War II squadron of international fighter pilots that fought Nazis in a long running comic series that ran until 1968. The Blackhawks were previously featured in the season one Arrow episode "Trust But Verify".

- The armored truck was attacked on 4th and Kolins.  Scott Kolins is a comic book illustrator who worked on several runs of The Flash comic series that focused heavily on the Rogues.

- This week's villain, Leonard Snart, is best known as Captain Cold, one of the Flash's greatest villains.  Introduced in Showcase #8 and created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Captain Cold was the second villain to face Barry Allen.  In the comics, Leonard Snart was a common criminal who accidentally created a gun that could freeze anything it hits.  Having already been incarcerated by the Flash once, Cold tried to use his gun to defeat the Flash, but is eventually defeated. Snart became a constant thorn in the Flash's side, and eventually organized other Flash villains into the Rogues.  Among the Rogues' members was his sister, Golden Glider, who was eventually killed by the villain Chillbaine using one of Snart's cold guns.  After Barry Allen died during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Snart briefly joined the Suicide Squad, became a bounty hunter, before eventually rejoining the Rogues as its leader. In the New 52, Snart briefly had the ability to generate freeze rays from his bare hands, having gained his gun's abilities through an unknown process.  Snart lost these powers in Forever Evil, but he rebuilt his cold gun to help Batman and Lex Luthor defeat the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, an evil version of the Justice League from an alternate world.  Afterwards, both Snart and Lex Luthor joined the Justice League and are currently still on the roster. Snart's costume includes a distinctive pair of glasses with narrow slits to protect his eyes from the light of his gun (later updated to shaded goggles) and a fur lined hooded parka, both of which were incorporated into the show's version of Snart. Snart's first live action appearance was in the 1990 Flash TV show, where he was played by Michael Champion.  In that series, Captain Cold was an albino hitman with a freeze gun.  Captain Cold also made appearances on several animated DC shows, including The Super-Friends, Justice League Unlimited and Young Justice. Wentworth Miller portrays Snart this episode.  Miller is best known for starring in the Fox TV series Prison Break.  He also voiced Deathstroke in the Young Justice cartoon series

- One of the mug shots appearing next to Leonard Snart's is labelled Bob Levesque.  Levesque is a member of the Flash's art department.

- Another one of the mug shots next to Snart's belongs to Lorenzo Furlan, the transportation captain for The Flash's crew

- Felicity Smoak is one of the main characters of The Flash's sister series, Arrow.  First introduced in Firestorm #23, the comic book version of Smoak had several unpleasant run-ins with the superhero Firestorm, and even went as far as to sue the superhero after he transformed her clothes into soap suds.  Smoak also dated and eventually married Ed Raymond, the father of Firestorm's (half) alter-ego, Ronnie Raymond.  Smoak was created by Gerry Conway.

- "You lost your cool" - Snart lectured one of his co-conspirators about shooting a cop and losing his cool. Not only is this a rather obvious reference to Snart's future as Captain Cold, it's also a reference to Cold's strict code of honor, which includes not killing unless absolutely necessary.

- "If he runs too fast, does he turn into dust in a red costume?" - Felicity posits this question to the STAR Lab team when asking how much they know about Barry's powers.  In Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry's body disintegrated while trying to save the world, leaving only behind some dust in a red costume.

- The weapons dealer who gives Snart his cold gun in the show is named Basil Nurblin.  In the comics, Nurblin is a minor Flash villain named Colonel Computron.  Nurblin was the inventor of the Captain Computron toys and attacked his former employer after the toys were released.  When the Flash tried to intervene, he was briefly transported into a video game controlled by Nurblin.  Nurblin's daughter later became Colonel Computron while working for an international crime cartel. Nurbin was created by Cary Bates and Carmine Infantino.

- The museum manager who alerts Detective West to Snart is named Dexter Myles.  In the comics, Myles is the curator of the Flash Museum.  Myles is played by Bruce Harwood, who's best known for playing John Fitzgerald Byers, one of the Lone Gunmen, in X-Files.

- The host of the Jitters' trivia night is named Oswald Loomis.  In the comics, Loomis is better known as the Prankster, a minor villain of Superman.  The Prankster is a joke themed villain and uses a variety of practical jokes to help facilitate his various crime sprees.  In the New 52, Loomis becomes a recurring foe of Nightwing.  Loomis was created by Jerry Siegel and John Sikela. Loomis is played by Jesse Reid, who had a minor role in the Watchmen movie as the teenager reading the Tales of the Black Freighter comic book.

- Snart's cold gun was stolen from storage unit 52-3.  There's your 52 reference of the week.

- While speaking to Felicity on her way back to Starling City, Barry tells her that train travel is still one of the safest ways to travel, to which Felicity replies "I thought that was airplanes." That's a reference to the 1978 Superman movie when Superman tells Lois that flying is still statistically one of the safest ways to travel after saving her from a crashing helicopter.  This scene is later referenced in Superman Returns, when Superman saves Lois and the president when Air Force One crashes. 

- In the last scene of the episode, Snart is seen talking with another criminal with a seeming obsession with flames.  That's Heat Wave, another well known Flash Rogue

- When Detective West reads out Leonard Snart's name from the mugshot book, Barry says "Leonard? That's almost as bad as Bartholomew." Bartholomew is Barry's full first name

- At one point, Joe mentions that Leonard Snart "showed up every six months." It turns out that Captain Cold appears in every sixth episode in season one (aside from a small cameo in the finale). Also each time Captain Cold is in a Episode in season one Rogue is in the title.

- When one of Snart's cohorts refers to Barry as the Blur, this is possibly a nod to one of the longest running comic book inspired TV shows Smallville (2001)

- Barry and Felicity mis-identify a portrait during the trivia competition as "Erdel." Saul Erdel, in the DC universe, is a scientist who works to find life on other planets

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RATING: 8/10