FLASHBACK: Rogue Time (s01e16)

Time travel can be a real problem, even if you are The Flash. Take a trip back with us to see what happened in the latest episode of The Flash.

TIME TRAVEL

The Holy S and What The F moments from last week should have had your jaw on the floor, if only time travel wasn’t involved. As predicted, with Barry traveling back in time, Cisco’s death, the giant tidal wave and the big Iris reveal were all completely undone.

Tricky thing time travel, you never know when you are going to mess something up, and when you will be doomed to repeat the same day over and over again until you get it right.

“Oh, boy”

The writers looked like they were making a nod to the Quantum Leap television series, by having Barry utter those words when he realized he had travelled back in time a full day.  Of course with so many pop culture references appearing in the show, this could simply indicate that Sam Beckett’s adventures are well known to the citizens of the Arrowverse.

The nice part about the time travel element as relevant to the last two episodes of the show is that it gave viewers a chance to get to the “will they or won’t they” hook-up/reveal question, and it also gave everyone a chance to see what would happen to Cisco and Caitlin if they ever found out Harrison Wells wasn’t the good guy. And lets face it, the Iris/Barry love thing is getting kind of played out. Perhaps it is time for Barry to set it all aside, and let Eddie Thawne and Iris have a good time together.

That’s not to say The Reverse Flash didn’t get a chance to kill anyone this week…

Mason Trollbridge, We Hardly Knew Ye

Mason Bridge doesn’t even get the chance to push anyone on the connection between Simon Stagg and Harrison Wells this week, because… you know… time travel (way to go Barry). That’s okay as Bridge (or Trollbride as he is known in the comics) was more of a Wally West supporting cast member, rather than a Barry Allen character. Trollbridge first appeared in Flash Vol. 2 #15 (August, 1989).

Linda Park, Our Hearts Do Not Ache For Thee

The other Wally West character the creators essentially wrote out of the series this week (though she may be back, because… you know… Wally and Linda decided to be “friends”) is Linda Park. With the time travel reverse break-up going on, there is little reason for Linda to stick around.  For those not keeping track of such things, Linda Park was played by Malese Jow.

DANTE RAMONE

This week, we finally got to meet Dante Ramone, Cisco’s brother.  Dante does have his roots in comics, appearing first Justice League of America’s Vibe #1 (April 2013).  The character was created by Andrew Kreisbert, Geoff Johns, and Pete Woods, and has appeared 10 times in the New 52 universe.  In Vibe’s origin story, Dante is the middle brother of three, who witnessed his older brother, Armando, die while trying to rescue his younger brother, Cisco, from one of Darkseid’s Boom Tubes.

FAMILIAR FACES

This week is all about Captain Cold and Heat Wave making their return to Central City. The last time we saw the dastardly duo, they were making their escape from the law thanks to Leonard Snart’s sister, Lisa, aka Golden Glider.

Lisa Snart

In comics, Lisa Snart is a figure skater, whose claim to fame was the ability to spin really quickly. She fell in love with Roscoe Dillon (aka The Top), and when he was killed fighting The Flash, she became a villain.

Lisa Snart was creatived by Cary Bates and Irv Novick and first appeared in Flash #250 (June, 1977).

Here’s how Lisa (played by “The Tomorrow People” actress Peyton List) is described in the television series (via Access Hollywood):

While Leonard is cold and calculating, Lisa is a wild child and anxious to prove to her older brother she’s got what it takes to be in his criminal gang. She is sly, charming, and even a little sadistic. She’s also not afraid to use her sexuality to get what she wants, which will put her on a collision course with S.T.A.R. Labs employee and friend of The Flash — Cisco Ramon

You can read all about Heat Wave and Captain Cold in our last writeup of the duo.

ROGUES GALLERY

The Rogues Gallery gets name checked this week, and Captain Cold seems to like it a lot.

The Rogues, compared to similar collections of supervillains in the DC Universe, are an unusually social group, maintaining a code of conduct as well as high standards for acceptance. No Rogue may inherit another Rogue’s identity (a “legacy” villain, for example) while the original still lives. Also, simply acquiring a former Rogue’s costume, gear, or abilities is not sufficient to become a Rogue, even if the previous member is already dead. – Wiki

Though it does say no legacy villains, we have seen Boomerang join the crew in later years. Of course there have only been references to Boomerang in past episodes of this series. Since Barry Allen is the Flash, it might be a good idea to rundown the list of Silver Age enemies who were in the Rogues Gallery, and who has made it to the small screen.

Arrowverse Rogues Gallery

• Captain Cold
• Heat Wave
• Golden Glider
• The Pied Piper
• Weather Wizard
• The Trickster (coming up next week!)
• Captain Boomerang (via Arrow)

Still waiting for their moment in the spotlight

• The Top
• Abra Kadabra (I’m still betting big on this one)
• Mirror Master

 You’ve Got All the Gold in the World, Right?

Did Cisco really create a gun that shoots gold? Why in the heck would Rouges need to continue to rob people? They could simply fire off a shot or two and go to the gold exchange to cash it all in.

ALL THE LITTLE THINGS

I’ve been paying close attention to the backgrounds and decor in Central City since the first episode, and there were a couple of things that popped up this week that we may want to pay attention to:

• Plastic Man
  Several times in the series, the background has had a very familiar red with yellow and black lined pattern to it. While that is something that is seen in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco decor styles, it is also the same pattern we’ve seen in one stretchy character.
• Cosmic Treadmill
  While Barry tests out his speed, he is once again on a familiar looking treadmill that could eventually help him travel to the past (or future)
• Mercury Labs
  STAR Labs rival, Mercury Labs gets a name check this week. If Mercury Labs and STAR Labs are so at odds with one another, Cisco should have known something was up when the name popped up, right?
• All Alone
  When Iris turns Barry down, did you notice that the song playing the background was Benediction by Luke Sital-Singh? Maybe not… and don’t try to use Shazam, because that is a different DC Character that didn’t even help this week.

IT’S CALLED A SECRET IDENTITY FOR A REASON!

After this week’s episode, it is time once again to update the list of everyone who knows Barry’s secret.

• Dr. Harrison Wells
• Dr. Caitlin Snow
• Dr. Cisco Ramon
• Detective Joe West
• Ronnie Raymond
• Dr. Martin Stein
• Mrs. Clarissa Stein
• Hartley Rathaway (Pied Piper)
• Felicity Smoak
• General Wade Eiling
• Oliver Queen (Green Arrow)
• John Diggle
• Bette Sans Souci (deceased)
• Mr. Henry Allen (assumed)
• Iris West (in another timeline)
• Captain Cold

FLASHBACK: THE PODCAST

Want to hear Matthew Peterson and I sit down to discuss this episode in detail? If you are a Major Spoilers VIP, look for theFlashback Podcast hitting the VIP site Thursday evening this week!