I’m sad that, after such an amazing run, the Arrowverse is going away, with just a few episodes of The Flash left and neither Superman & Lois nor Gotham Knights being connected in any meaningful way. At the same time, it’s hard to root for Barry Allen’s adventures to continue when the show’s final season is already stumbling more than running. Spoilers follow for The Flash Season 9, Episode 03, “Rogues of War.”
“Rogues of War”
Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) start to put together the pieces of what’s happening in Central City and believe they know what the Rogues are after. Team Flash works together and recruits some unlikely allies to help, and the plan does not go as Team Flash expects. Meanwhile, Allegra (Kayla Compton) does her best to avoid having a conversation with Chester (Brandon McKnight).
The first time I wrote the episode number down for this episode, I wrote 3×09 instead of 9×03. And as I look back at the episode, that feels right–this episode harkens back to some of my least favorite sections of The Flash throughout its nine-year run.
While the villains are more accurate to their comic-book counterparts than in the past, the episode in general feels like a throwback in the worst possible way. Obnoxious will-they-won’t-they drama, unimpressive costumes and fights, and a questionable speedster villain that the show thinks we’re way more invested in than we actually are make up the bulk of the story.
Relationship Drama
In the show’s defense, they’re working hard on trying to actually tell some stories about Barry and Iris after putting entire dimensions of spacetime between them for two full seasons, but it always feels like too little, too late. When the episode opens, the happy couple is in France (they could be eating pasta in Italy) taking a cooking class. It’s a fun start to the episode, but it gives way to more Barry-Iris drama.
The couple is actively trying to get pregnant, and in the meantime trying to check off all their bucket list stuff. At the same time, Iris is worried she won’t get the chance to break one more big story before she has a family to take care of, and the episode spends a good amount of time on that while the team is trying to literally protect time itself from a vengeful villain.
While that’s going on, the show sprinkles awkward scenes between Allegra and Chester throughout, with Chester trying awkwardly to make headway with Allegra while she awkwardly avoids it because having feelings is hard. While I like Brandon Knight and Kayla Compton, the two don’t have quite enough chemistry for the show to spend as much time on it as it does. With the show almost in the rear-view mirror, it feels like time wasted.
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