Last week we lost [REDACTED], and not only that we lost [REDACTED] as well.  It was a terrible week for Team Flash, and this week they have to deal with the fallout.  Oh, did I mention “Fallout”? Yes, they have do deal with THAT as well! Add to that a visit from Citizen Cold and you have the makings of Season 4, Episode 19, “Fury Rogue”! Want to know more? Follow us after the jump!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Note: This review is posting prior to the airing of THE FLASH in the Pacific Time Zone USA. If you haven’t seen the show yet, STOP HERE and come back afterward. You’ll be glad you did!

The theme of this episode is dealing with loss.  Everyone seems to have lost something. It’s not simply Ralph’s death (and having his body taken over by DeVoe). Caitlin has lost her alter ego Killer Frost. Cisco is losing his trust in Harry…who is hiding the fact that his exposure to dark matter is taking away his intelligence. Yes, you read that right – Harry is slowly losing his intellect, and he can’t deal with that.  In fact, no one is dealing well with their losses.

Enter Dr. Finkel – this recurring character is a real treat for me.  Iris is willing to talk, but Barry is determined to pretend that all is well…an approach you know won’t work in the end. The session doesn’t really resolve anything, at least for now.

Meanwhile, Cisco is missing Ralph – and he has an idea. What if Cisco could use the thinking cap? Harry and Cisco go back and forth through much of the episode before Harry can confess what’s going on.  Eventually, Cisco vows to help him find a way to save his intelligence.

And in that strange pocket universe, Marlize is trying unsuccessfully to emotionally reconnect with her husband.  Cliff is colder than ever, condescending, and generally an all-around jerk. He is single-minded about the “enlightenment”, and we see Marlize slowly realizing that Cliff will never be the person she loved.

While all of this is going on, DeVoe’s target has become obvious – Neil Borman, aka Fallout.  He wants to absorb this nuclear power…and he has a plan with all the variables figured out.

Somehow, DeVoe figures out ahead of time that Barry will go to Earth-X and get Citizen Cold’s help. He knows that Siren-X, the Black Canary of Earth-X (the last of the now-defeated Nazi regime of that world) will follow them back. And, he knows that Siren-X will attack the transport that is to take Fallout to A.R.G.U.S. for protection.  

What DeVoe doesn’t know? He doesn’t know that Flash will freeze when Siren-X grabs Citizen Cold’s gun (no pun intended). DeVoe didn’t take into account the emotional impact on Barry of Ralph’s death. Marlize points that out, but DeVoe will hear nothing of it.

Eventually, with Cold’s counsel, Barry has to face his feelings and push past them enough to defeat Siren-X before she can use Fallout to blow up the CCPD and a large chunk of Central City with them.  

Barry then returns to counseling with Iris, finally willing to face his loss.  Caitlin (who was in on the save against Siren-X) finds that she may yet be able to bring Killer Frost back. And, Harry accepts Cisco’s help to try and save his intellect.  The only unresolved issue? That would be the lack of emotional connection between Cilfford DeVoe and Marlize…more on that possibly next week.

NOTES:

• Before we go to more specifics in the show, I’d like to take a moment for Dr. Finkel…more specifically, the actor who portrays Dr. Finkel, Donna Pescow. Donna started out in soap operas (General Hospital and One Life to Live), then hit the big screen as Annette in “Saturday Night Fever”. She has had numerous roles in TV and movies over the years, including major roles in series like “Angie”, “Out of This World” and “Even Stevens”.  In other words, this is a highly accomplished actor who is nailing the cameo role of Dr. Finkel. I have always admired her work, and it is a true treat to see her in this show.
• It was great to see Wentworth Miller as Citizen Cold. Even though this is likely his swan song as the character, there was still an open door left behind for this character to return down the road.  We get a great send-off for Citizen Cold as he returns with plans to propose to his significant other, The Ray. The long goodbye at the end with a speech to almost every character was a little over the top, but otherwise this was a great appearance. (I did half expect Cold to go full Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and say to someone “I think I’ll miss you most of all.”)  Cold was used in this episode as the means to push the rest of the cast forward, to get them to deal with their feelings. And, for the most part this worked well.
• I’m not sure how I feel about the “I’m losing my smarts” storyline for Harry.  We can guess that there will be a “cure” for him, just as we can expect to see Caitlin revive her Killer Frost persona.  But, this part seems a little forced, as if we have to find some major issue for every character just before the season ends.  Don’t get me wrong, Tom Cavenagh is still an amazing actor – I’m just not sure I’m a fan of this particular thread in the show.
• Siren-X gives us an excuse to see Katie Cassidy as a version of Black Canary, and that was great. But, they didn’t give us much of her other than to have her look ominous and attack a lot.  With so many characters in the episode I can understand that…but at the same time she was the “villain of the week”, and I would have liked to see more from her, especially since this was a rare treat.

Overall I’ll give this one a 7/10.  A good episode, and one that needed to be given to us after the emotional peak of last week.  But, I’m hoping to see the series gather more momentum before the season’s end. That’s just my opinion, though – what do YOU think? Leave your comments here!

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