“Revenge of the Rogues” is episode ten of season one of The Flash.
In the previous episode, “The Man in the Yellow Suit”, Barry encountered the man who killed his mother, someone who could also run really fast, faster than Barry could in fact. Barry kept coming off second best in their encounters, finally being saved by Firestorm, Caitlin’s fiancée Ronnie. One battle made Cisco realise that, going by Barry’s description of the night his mother had died, there had to have been two speedsters present.
A trap had been set for the anti-Flash, with the help of S.T.A.R. Labs and a piece of tech that the man had wanted to steal. He managed to escape however. St the end of the episode, Dr. Wells opened up a secret room off his secret room, using a ring bearing the Flash insignia – revealing the yellow suit. To which Wells added the stolen tachyon prototype whilst saying Merry Christmas in the voice of Reverse Flash.
All of this looks as if what Wells has been hiding is the fact that he is a meta-human too, and not a nice one. Yet there are more questions raised than answered. Wells and the anti-Flash were in the same room together, so how could he be both? Anti-Flash also made out that he knew Barry and had been battling him for some time. Which doesn’t appear to be true. Could some sort of time travel be involved, perhaps by travelling really fast using the tachyon prototype?
Barry is being chased by a drone that is shooting at him. He says that he isn’t the fastest man alive, as that’s the man who killed his mother – but that he will be. The drone firing at him is part of his training. Although Caitlin says that the intent is to make Barry faster, not make him dead. Then the drone fires a missile at Barry. Dr. Wells wants to train Barry to be even faster, but it’s not yet enough, so that when Reverse Flash – Cisco is still naming people – returns, Barry will be ready. Wells seems to genuinely want to improve Barry’s abilities. Which, if he is Reverse Flash, seems a little odd. Unless the whole reason for Reverse Flash existing is to make Barry better. If so, some of the methods are a little brutal.
Elsewhere, a wall of a warehouse freezes then a car drives through it. Out of the car steps Leonard Snert – Captain Cold – accompanied by another man. At the end of “Going Rogue” Snert had recruited someone else to help him, someone with an interest in fire. The warehouse is a customs warehouse full of imported cars. However, Snert doesn’t want to steal the cars – he wants to stop the Flash. So, when Barry doesn’t turn up and the cops are on their way, he leaves.
When Barry is at the warehouse with Joe and Eddie – the latter now knows about the existence of meta-humans – he recognises the signature of the cold gun that Snert acquired. He and Joe realise that the point of the break-in was to set a trap for the Flash, not to steal the cars.
With his first plan not working, Snert has another, to steal a $25 million piece of artwork that is arriving in the country. Dr. Wells points out to Barry that he can either train, or stop Snert, not both, and that the last time the Flash fought Snert, a train got derailed and Barry was lucky to save everyone on it. So, Wells and Cisco are going to work with the police to stop Snert whilst Barry concentrates on his training. However, they don’t know about the fire-loving ally that Snert has recruited, so the attempt to stop Snert doesn’t go to plan, and Barry has to get involved.
Caitlin is looking into the word that Ronnie said ‘firestorm’ to see what it means, and this brings up a potential new plot thread. One which may (okay, probably will) be dangerous. Iris is getting ready to move in with Eddie. Things are a bit awkward between her and Barry at the moment, as he finally revealed how he really felt about her.