THE FLASH: "REVENGE OF THE ROGUES" REVIEW 

The Flash wrapped up 2014 with a bang, as Barry Allen collided with the mysterious Reverse-Flash for the first time and realized he really isn\'t the fastest man alive. That encounter played heavily into the show\'s mid-season premiere tonight. Even though it\'ll probably be some time before the Reverse-Flash resurfaces, Barry struggled throughout "Revenge of the Rogues" to come to grips with his defeat. Can he push himself to become as fast and as capable as he needs to overcome this enemy? And can he afford any distractions along the way? It was a fitting note on which to kick off this leg of the season.

If there wasn\'t a Reverse-Flash on hand, there were still two big guns (pun intended) in play this week as Wentworth Miller returned as Captain Cold and Dominic Purcell debuted as Heat Wave. All we need is for William Fichtner to be cast as the warden of Iron Heights and we\'ll have a full-blown Prison Break reunion on our hands.

This villainous team-up was a big moment for the show. One of the major elements that distinguishes Flash\'s rogues gallery from, say, Batman or Spider-Man\'s is that many of them are united into this de facto team and bound by a certain set of rules and a code. "Revenge of the Rogues" was a key step in establishing the Rogues as a functional unit opposing Flash. And really, as Barry\'s abilities continue to grow, one man with a gun is no longer an adequate threat. You need teamwork to overcome the Scarlet Speedster. Thus the episode culminated with a cool showdown between Barry and "the flame and the frost." The show is doing a surprisingly good job of capturing these superhuman characters and their abilities within the limitations of a network TV show. Plus, any excuse to make a Ghostbusters reference is a good one.

With his debut in "Going Rogue" last year, Cold became the first real, compelling villain the show offered after a string of two-dimensional foes. Unfortunately, the pairing of Cold with Heat Wave wasn\'t quite as successful as I hoped. Both Miller and Purcell\'s performances were too over the top for my tastes. Purcell in particular seemed determine to chew as much scenery as humanly possible. His deep, booming, almost Christian Bale-esque voice was a little much for the character.

No longer brothers, but still fugitives from the law.

Obviously both actors were having a lot of fun with their characters, and I can\'t fault them too much for that. At least Cold and Heat Wave had charisma to spare. And it was interesting to see how the characters\' personalities clashed just as their weapons. Cold is methodical and precise to the point of being robotic, while Heat Wave is all bluster and manic energy and chaos. But at the end of the day, the villains were played a little too campy to match the tone of this series. I\'d like to see both actors dial it back a notch when they return next.

One other thing regarding the Flash/Cold/Heat Wave showdown. Did anyone else find it bizarre how spectacularly unhelpful the police were during the climax? How difficult would it have been for a SWAT crew to snipe the two villains while they were busy shooting at the Flash? For that matter, why were there so many cars parked on the side of the road? When a supervillain goes on live television and announces the exact time and location he\'s going to do battle with his sworn enemy, that\'s your cue to move your car to a different street.

Barry\'s character arc proved the most satisfying element of the episode. Grant Gustin expertly conveyed the new sense of hardship and dread Barry is carrying with him in the aftermath of the Reverse-Flash battle. The tragedy that defined his life now has a face, but that revelation has brought him no peace. It was especially interesting to see how that tension played into his relationships with the two father figures in his life - Joe and Dr. Wells. The former wants Barry to keep moving forward and defending the people of Starling City, while the latter is pushing Barry on a relentless quest to become a faster, better hero. I\'ve speculated before that Wells has elements of the villain Zoom in him. Zoom\'s ultimate goal is to torment heroes as a way of making them better, and Wells with his conspiracies and secrets seems to be pursuing much the same end. On the other hand, we saw him nearly expose his secrets in the opening of this episode as he started to rise out of his chair to aid Barry. Whatever his true motivations, there does seem to be genuine concern for Barry mixed up in there.

We saw the seeds of a rivalry form between Joe and Dr. Wells this week. Joe clearly isn\'t sold on Wells as the altruistic man of science he paints himself as, and he can sense some of Wells\' ruthless pragmatism rubbing off on Barry. The Joe/Wells dynamic is one I\'m very keen to see explored in the coming weeks.

But as Barry himself pointed out, he\'s an adult, and he makes his own decisions. So it was good to see the character rise out of his funk by the end and decide that defeating the Reverse-Flash and protecting the innocents of Central City aren\'t mutually exclusive goals. The showdown with Cold and Heat Wave brought about another key moment for the evolution of the Flash. Now his existence has revealed to the general public. Central City\'s protector is more than a mysterious, unverified blur. The Flash is a hero of the people - much more Superman than Batman in that regard - so this was another important step for the show. And even though public adoration is nice, you have to wonder what new problems will arise now that the Flash is a public figure.

The writers also focused some attention on the growing mystery behind Ronnie Raymond\'s reappearance. That element was a sticking point in the previous episode. The Firestorm material just felt out of place alongside the Reverse-Flash conflict. You could argue the same thing for this episode, but at least this time the battle with Captain Cold and Heatwave wasn\'t as big or all-consuming. It was nice to get a get a closer glimpse of Project F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. and how the character will factor into the show. Another concern I had regarding Ronnie in the wake of his previous appearances is that he\'d be re-imagined into a poor man\'s Human Torch. But this episode introduced us to Jason Rusch (capably played by Luc Roderique), and made it clear that the concept of elemental transmutation is still very much at the heart of Firestorm\'s abilities.

Finally, it\'s worth noting that Carlos Valdes enjoyed some strong material as Cisco tonight. His banter with the rest of the STAR Labs crew was enjoyable as he cooked up new supervillain names, especially as it became apparent that his geekery is rubbing off on Wells. Cisco also enjoyed a rare moment in the sun as he mended fences with the police and earned a little redemption for his team a year after the particle accelerator accident nearly ruined STAR Labs. Between that and Caitlin\'s investigation, these characters are coming into their own outside of Barry\'s immediate shadow.

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Even though the Captain Cold/Heat Wave team-up wasn\'t everything it could have been, this episode was still a solid way to kick off the new year and the second half of Season 1. Barry enjoyed a strong character arc that built from his ill-fated battle with Reverse-Flash and explored his relationships with his two father figures. Meanwhile, there was further momentum on the Firestorm front and a cameo appearance by the third member of the growing Flash Rogues lineup. Things are shaping up well for the next few months to come.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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The Flash started out 2015 on solid footing as Barry dealt with his first supervillain team-up.  RT

– but Miller and Purcell were a little over-the-top.

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