The Flash S9 Ep. 3 Personal Highlights

"Rouges of War"

Despite a couple of nitpicks here and there (one resulting in an unnecessarily long rant that I'll get to later), I can satisfyingly say that I quite enjoyed this episode overall. Season 9 is certainly delivering in fulfilling a couple of personal longtime wishlist items from seasons past (a Rogues centric season arc and an ending to the Caitlin-Frost story), but it’s also disappointing in other areas. Areas such as the Chester-Allegra romantic-drama stuff which still ends up being one of the weaker points in the series is still present here. However, I will admit that it's not as highly distracting as it was before due to not enough time being questionably given to it. 

There's also the fact that, for a final season of a visual FX heavy series, they’re really not doing too much to elevate the production aspects as much as I would’ve expected. Sure, there's a couple of noteworthy scenes here and there with an occasional effort to bring in some cinematic aesthetics, but the quality of action itself seems to look...well the same. The same can be said for our new season big bad's costume work which looks like a repeat of Season 7 coming across more as a Power Rangers villain of the week than a noteworthy DC Comics adaptation. Either way, there is much to enjoy in this week's episode central plot line involving a heist mission and a battle between rogues. So, without further ado, these are my personal highlights of Episode 3 entitled "Rogues of War".

War of the Rogues

If you were to ask me what Season 9's highlight point has been so far, without a second thought, I would immediately direct you to Episode 3. This is primarily due to the central storyline being arguably one of the show’s most exciting and alluring yet on paper; a battle between the Flash’s rogues gallery. Well, of course we're not treated to the entire rogues gallery and certainly not the best candidates that could've been chosen, but the spirit of the idea is worth celebrating. With Barry now realizing what these frequently appearing new villains are building behind the scenes (a cosmic treadmill), one particular object of interest becomes the center piece to what essentially becomes a heist episode.

Now what’s enticing about this heist story isn’t just the fact that Barry has to team up with a criminal to steal a special item. Remember that we've already done this with Captain Cold in a previous season, so the idea of Flash teaming up with an established villain isn't necessarily a fresh one. However, this time he has to team up with multiple recurring side villains in order to beat another team of villains to the target prize. This foundation creates an assortment of fun opportunities for hero-villain team up conflicts and interactions to play with for the majority of the runtime. Now the actual team in question isn’t one that I was necessarily excited to see, but I completely understood the logic behind having these particular criminals for the DOD’s unique security measures involved.

And fulfilling some of those aforementioned fun opportunities, we have some pretty entertaining bits during both the recruitment process, planning phase, and actual heist operation. First off, I love the fact that Barry's “Chemist” moniker is referenced here during the recruitment of Goldface bringing that recurring history back for one final season. General Eiling is also referenced as a member of the DOD who likely won’t support Team Flash’s mission due to a past conflict (multiple Season 1 episode conflicts). There's also Godspeed being name dropped as using also a cosmic treadmill like Red Death is apparently building which is as much of a tie-in to that season as I'll allow. It's nice to see this season bring back as many elements from its past as it can for its final run much like what Arrow did. Hopefully we get some surprise guest appearances before or during the finale.

Later on, we have the typical quick heated tension moments between the villains not trusting each other on the team then later turning on Barry which is exactly what one would've expected to happen. However, I was pleased to see that the betrayal didn't happen in the middle of the mission itself but instead the planning stage as a response to Barry's lack of appealing to their interests. I just loved the fact that they embraced him in the heist later on as a team member once he realized how to speak their language with a fair reward. It would've been so easy for the writers to drag out that whole dramatic angle, and would've simultaneously been a tedious chore to watch. Also, on a side note, I thought it was funny yet questionable how Goldface and the Hotness finds out Barry's secret identity. I think at this point in the series, the Flash's so-called secret ought to be public knowledge by now. 

Getting to the real spotlight of the episode being the heist itself Barry directs everyone to use their unique capabilities to take down the DOD’s meta dampeners which allows him to steal the prized engine. However the dampener switches back on immediately after he retrieves it with the predictable reveal of Chill-lame betraying everyone. If you guys remember in my previous episode review, I basically called this possibility out. Funny enough, my predicated response to said reveal was also accurate which can basically be summed up as ”not caring in the slightest”. Fortunately, what comes as a result is the episode’s big hook factor being Red Death’s team taking on Barry’s. 

Captain Boomerang, the Fiddler, and a new Post-Crisis rewrite version of Murmur shows up to fight Goldface, Pied Piper, and…yes...the Hotness. We get to watch this showdown of villains take place which is a pretty rare and entertaining sight in any live action comic book property. And although the action isn’t necessarily epic or celebration worthy in scope, it is quite fun to see certain matchups of personalities and power sets clash between criminals with their own offscreen history. Goldface seemed to have known Mercer which makes me wonder if they had any run-ins in the past. Murmur tries to recruit Hartley after researching him which is an interesting detail as it introduces the idea of Red Death being open for expansion with their team.

Speaking on Murmur, I thought Hartley’s sign language exchange with her was a cool little unexpected detail in addition to his sonic blast being ineffective against her. Now the old Earth-1 Murmur (Arrow Seasons 3-4) was just a gang leader and professional thief with no special equipment or meta powers. This new Crisis version seems to be a little bit more adept at fighting, has a full on costume and mask, is now a female (Michelle Amar instead of Michael), and now has a special blade made with nano-circuitry. Hmmm. Did I miss something in regards to why Hartley's powers wouldn't affect her? Is it the blade or something else that hasn't been established yet?

The bigger question for me in this regard is whether these new post Crisis rebooted villains are upgraded primarily because of Red Death or were they already "leveled up" to some degree before being enhanced by their new benefactor? Either way, from a design perspective, I can’t really say that Murmur's mask is working for me as it looks a bit "Party City store clearance item" in quality. On the other end, I absolutely love the idea of The Flash series taking an old Arrow side villain and working them into their Earth-Prime storytelling (same can be said for Boomerang). If Season 9 is indeed the end of the Arrowverse as a whole then I say bring in as many elements from the other shows that would make sense as you can. 

As for the other villain fights, I would’ve loved to have seen more of the Goldface vs Boomerang battle which I’m sure we will later on. Even the Hotness-Fiddler confrontation which was basically just a quirky side gag being thrown in to keep things light hearted is something that I wouldn't mind seeing be followed up somehow. Altogether, it was easily the most fun that I've had all season, and if Barry's final plea with his rogues team is of any indication, we'll get to see these villains back in action perhaps in an even larger stakes battle. Honestly, with everything that's been seeded so far, this is probably the most alluring thing that Season 9 has to offer.

My Unnecessarily Long Red Death Rant

And BOOM!!….just like that! All of my excitement for The Flash adapting the Red Death villain from the comics just flew right out of the window. Come on guys, seriously? Ryan Wilder is the Red Death? You couldn’t have done some version of the Dark Multiverse’s Bruce Wayne showing up with a similar backstory to the comics but slightly reworked for the show? That “I am vengeance” line delivery at the end of the episode was utterly cringe inducing and tying in the Batwoman series in this way does absolutely nothing for me. If it's not obvious already, I had high hopes with this being the final season of the show thinking that they’d do something truly remarkable with their season villain. If this is the type of note what we’re ending things on then consider me not excited going forward.

Now, I do have to confess that I have yet to finish Season 3 of Batwoman (it’s been quite the daunting task considering the passable at best quality of that show), so maybe this does tie into that show’s final season perfectly. I have absolutely no clue whatsoever. However, I have little to no interest in seeing this particular character doppelgänger(?) play this specific villain whose comic book source material’s origins ties are with an enticingly terrifying Bruce Wayne. So, for anyone who doesn't know who Red Death is in the comics, I'll break down a little of the research that I did in the past to give a little context as to why I was so excited initially.

In the Dark Nights comics, the Red Death was a version of Batman from the Dark Multiverse who became an extremist after witnessing his sidekicks die in the line of duty psychologically forcing him down a dark path. Realizing that the Flash had the perfectly suited superpower to enact swift and effective justice, Bruce decided to murder all of the Flash’s rogues so that he can better equip himself with anti-Flash gadgetry. With this arsenal, he was able to strategically defeat Barry and hijack his powers through a makeshift cosmic treadmill connection forging himself a new monicker, "the Red Death". With this new rebranded symbol of vengeance and justice, Batman brutally slaughters his very own rogues gallery in Gotham all before eventually being recruited by another Dark Multiverse doppelgänger.

Now I'll stop right there because this is the point in which the show could've easily bring him over and play around with the character agenda just enough to match with our series since they obviously can't entirely adapt the comics storyline. Considering that we’ve never gotten a chance to fully see Batman in all of his glory in the Arrowverse (unless I’m missing something from Batwoman Season 3), this would’ve been an awesomely profound way to bring him into the fold somehow before the franchise ends. We know from Season 2 of Batwoman that Earth-Prime’s Bruce Wayne is played by Warren Christie who is a great actor that I personally enjoyed in another superhero show called Alphas. I always loved the idea of him being a part of the Arrowverse as arguably DC’s most prized character of all time.

So having him appear as the Red Death would've been amazing with the inclusion of adapting the general idea of a "Dark Multiverse" for the Arrowverse to tackle. This is why I was super excited for this final season's big bad even if the costume wasn't exactly cheer worthy to look at. And now….now that dream is crushed. CW yet again disappoints me in their approach with certain Batman related comic book mythos via questionable creative decisions made. That goes for the way the Batwoman series has handled certain Batman lore elements as well (again I must reiterate the lack of Season 3 knowledge).  

And with a deep breath taken, I can say that this rant is officially over. Now, it's time for some optimism. So I said the suit design was pretty awful and looks like a Power Rangers villain of the week in addition to the identity reveal being a complete bummer for me. However, all is not lost my friends. What if, and hear me out now, what if Javicia Leslie ends up delivering the villainous performance of a lifetime. What if what we saw here was nothing compared to what’s about to be shown in both the character and even the suit's presentation. It’s just one line (albeit an iconic one that sounded beyond cheesy coming out of her), but let's not judge her solely on that laughable "I am vengeance" delivery .

Let’s give her a chance and see what she can do in this type of role when given more time to shine. Also, yes I’m still super disappointed that I won’t get to see Warren Christie return in the Arrowverse in some awesome fashion as a terrifying version of Batman. But maybe, just maybe, there’s more to Red Death than meets the eye here and I’ll indeed get to see his Bruce Wayne in a flashback somehow with this Batwoman’s origins. There’s still hope that Bruce will play a major role in this somehow. Also, maybe this Ryan Wilder’s story is a compelling one and will end up being one of the show’s greatest villain backstories to date. We still have Season 8's finale tease with what appeared to be a glowing blue stone in a lab (which I thought was a Cobalt Blue tease somehow) as well as Barry linking Red Death to a Negative Speed Force avatar.

This is me being open minded despite being utterly crushed twice over (costume and casting). With this being the final season, I expected a lot more going into the production values and creative decisions being made, and so far, the Red Death has reached far below those expectations. But we’re only 3 episodes in so I’ll still try my best to patiently wait things out for the reward. I mean…there will be some rewarding prize for this change, right? An epic speedster battle like never before or plot twist that makes us celebrate Batwoman's direct involvement? I'm gonna try to stay optimistic even if I've lost my excitement.

Episode Rating: 8/10