Flashback: Rogue Air (S1E22)

This week it all comes to a head, and there’s still one more episode to go! Major Spoilers brings you a rundown of the ins and outs and the things you may have missed in this week’s episode of The Flash.

As Wells once again gets the upper hand on the S.T.A.R. Labs team, Barry realizes he needs to make a big move and reaches out to an old foe, Captain Cold, for help. Joe and Caitlin warn Barry that Cold can’t be trusted. True to form, Cold has his own agenda that involves the meta-humans trapped in the containment cells. As things seem to be going from bad to worse, The Flash gets reinforcements – Arrow and Firestorm.

FLASH POWERS

The Flash’s Costume Ring

Though it isn’t a Flash power yet, Eobard Thawne shows off his Reverse Flash Costume Ring that contains his suit.

The Flash’s Costume Ring first appeared in Showcase #4 (October, 1956). Barry Allen uses the ring to compress and conceal his suit while he walks around in his normal everyday clothes. The costume has been chemically treated to shrink, but when exposed to air, it expands.

THE VILLAINS

This episode featured nearly all of the villains Barry has come up against this season (except for Heatwave for some reason…)

• The Reverse Flash (first appeared in The Man in The Yellow Suit)
• Captain Cold (first appeared in Going Rogue)
• Weather Wizard (first appeared in Out of Time) – Orders Thai food everyday
• Rainbow Raider (first appeared in Flash vs. Arrow)
• The Mist (first appeared in Things You Can’t Outrun)
• Deathbolt (first appeared in Broken Arrow – It’s an Arrow episode) – is Vegan
• Golden Glider (first appeared in Rogue Time)
• Peek-a-Boo (first appeared in Crazy for You) – Loves enchiladas

THE HEROES

Fortunately, Barry didn’t have to fight the fight by himself as a couple of heroes popped up.

• Arrow (first appeared in the Pilot episode of the series)
• Firestorm (first appeared in The Nuclear Man)
• Ray Palmer (mentioned this week as the inventor of the nanotech that brought Wells down first appeared in All Star Team Up)

Plastic Man
For those who are paying attention to the potential Plastic Man appearances, there was a scene where Barry and Joe discussed the legality of moving the prisoners to the airport, and behind them was a very interesting yellow/dark gold pattern that looked surprisingly like Plastic Man’s belt.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Let’s get to the big one shall we?

Ferris Air

The first mention of Coast City in The Flash television series happened in the pilot episode of the series. In the episode, Barry and the team from STAR Labs used the abandoned airfield to test Barry’s speed. The airfield has appeared a couple of times since, and this week, we learn why the airfield was shut down. Turns out a test pilot went missing there some time back.

A F’ING GREEN LANTERN REFERENCE!

Pow! Wouldn’t it be great if another green hero made it to the Arrow-verse next season? There could be some great interactions between Ollie and Hal as they travel the roads of America trying to get Oliver to be a more sane hero again.

Lian Yu

Is an island in the North China Sea where Oliver Queen first washed ashore in the pilot episode of Arrow. There, Oliver spent five years learning all the secrets he could, and also trained to be the hero that Starling City needed.  Currently, the island is being used by ARGUS as a supermax prison.  Interestingly, Supermax was the name of a proposed Green Arrow movie, that featured Green Arrow trying to break out of the prison.  It obviously has not gone anywhere.

Saints and Sinners “bar”

The bar that Barry and Leonard Snart meet up in this episode is called Saints and Sinner. There was an arc of Manhunter that ran from issue 17-23 that went by that name. Sinners and Saints is also the title of the collected Deathblow trade.

In Saints and Sinners, author Lawrence Wright talks about religion in America, and there is an interesting passage about Anton LeVey and his view on heroes and villains.

In LaVey’s world, women still wear bright red lipstick and the music swings softly and sex is there but not there in the teasing, exaggerated fashion of the DC comic books that he used to read and save and still has inside plastic envelopes, and men had undreamed-of powers just like the film noir antiheroes he grew up on: the Green Hornet, the Shadow, the Avengers. “Batman,” he says, “is the perfect manifestation of the satanic ethic. These are heroes who work in the shadows, doing what officials cannot do or will not do.” Good and evil for him are not very interesting concepts.

“The villain becomes the hero, eventually,” LaVey once observed.

This passage came up on the first page of the search engine results for Saints and Sinners DC Comics. Seems to fit the tone and nature of both Barry and Leonard as they walk that line between light and dark this week.

IT’S CALLED A SECRET IDENTITY FOR A REASON!

It’s becoming a staple of this column, and even though Leonard Snart says he hasn’t told anyone, it’s a good idea to just refresh who is in the know.

• Dr. Harrison Wells (deceased)
• Eobard Thawne (as 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)
• Dr. Henry Allen
• Iris West (in another timeline)
• Iris West-Allen (in the future)
• Iris West (via spark touch)
• Leonard Snart (Captain Cold)
• Detective Eddie Thawne
• Ray Palmer (The Atom)
• Brie Larvan
• Laurel Lance (Black Canary)
• Hannibal Bates (Everyman) (deceased)
• Gorilla Grodd
• Lyla Diggle (Harbinger)

ALL THE EXTRAS

Probably the biggest extra for this week, comes from last week’s deleted scene that answers the question, “How do they take care of the prisoners?”

– YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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 the Flashback Podcast hitting the VIP site.

THAT’S ALL FOLKS

There were lots of numbers popping up in the episode, and we’ve either touched on them before, or they are just random numbers. What did you catch this week, that we didn’t? Use the comment section below to share your thoughts!