This week, The Flash delivered us an episode about fathers and their children in “Family of Rogues.†It just goes to show that parents, fathers in particular, have a huge impact on how their children grow into adults. It’s always a treat to have the Snart family back, and we got to meet Leonard and Lisa’s father, Lewis; that family sure does like “L†names. As we saw last week, Iris’s mother is actually alive and well, but Iris has always believed that her mother died when she was a child. This led to a tough conversation between Joe and Iris.
Let’s start with the Snarts. Lisa and Leonard Snart are back. Lisa finds Cisco, and since Cisco has a soft spot for her, he entertains her plea for help. Lisa is convinced that her brother, Leonard, has been kidnapped. Even though Barry and Team Flash don’t want to help Captain Cold, Barry does owe him. Remembering back to last season, Captain Cold not only knows the identity of The Flash, but they made a deal. The Flash wouldn’t get in his way as long as innocent lives weren’t harmed.
The Flash finds out that Leonard Snart is not kidnapped, but he is working a job with his father. Lisa is convinced that Lenny wouldn’t work with their father unless he were being properly motivated. And can we please acknowledge the fact that she continuously calls him Lenny in this episode? Priceless. Even though the Flash team is skeptical, they agree to help Captain Cold.
Once they realize that Lenny’s motivation is his sister, they see that Lewis implanted a tiny bomb in Lisa’s neck. Cisco is convinced that he can get the bomb out without harming Lisa, but they have to do it before Lewis and Lenny harm anyone. Trusting Cisco completely, Lisa lets him use a crazy contraption to extract the bomb. Luckily, they do this in the knick of time before Lewis has a chance to detonate it and kill Lisa. Once Leonard knows that his sister is safe, he turns his cold gun on his father, killing him. I sure hope that was worth it, since Leonard ends up in Iron Heights for killing Lewis. Â
Joe West had a great episode this week. Joe has convinced everyone, including his daughter, that his wife passed away years ago. But now, she is back in Central City and wants to see her daughter. Joe knows that Iris is finally enjoying her life and doesn’t want to rock the boat, but he knows that Iris deserves the truth. He has tried to protect Iris and Barry their whole lives, and he hopes that she can understand.
Joe and Iris sit down to talk where he explains that her mother was a drug addict. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when Joe was a beat cop, he answered a 911 call coming from his house. The call came from a very young Iris saying that her mother took some pills and was non responsive. After that, Joe did everything he could to help her mother, but in the end, nothing worked. Joe sent her away and convinced everyone she was dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic10Mpsxd2c
For once, Iris seems to have a logical reaction to her father’s confession. Even though she is confused, she completely understands his decision. She understands that she had a great childhood because of her father even if he lied to her. She’s a successful young woman with a career she loves and a support system in her family and friends. It was another great father/daughter moment, and the emotion from Jesse L. Martin as Joe West continues to tug at the heart strings. I will be curious to see if she finds some time to have a face to face meeting with her mother. How will she react to the few things that her father has told her about her mother?
The only frustrating part of this episode was the portal, or speed cannon, that the team created to get Jay Garrick back to Earth 2. Caitlyn was more than happy to help Jay perfect the speed cannon to allow him to return to his home. Once they finally perfect it, Professor Stein eagerly throws something through the speed cannon, yelling “Excelsior!†When it doesn’t get rejected back to them, they rejoice. But, I guess they didn’t think of the other side of this equation. If they can get something through to the other side, what is to stop something from coming through to their Earth? The answer is nothing since Earth 2’s Harrison Wells walks through the speed cannon in the last scene.
Jay agrees to stay on Earth 1 until they catch Zoom. It’s clear that Caitlyn is infatuated with Jay. Assuming that Ronnie will be back at some point, I wonder how that will go. And speaking of Ronnie, am I the only one who thinks he is just on Earth 2? Has it not crossed any of their minds? C’mon people! Sadly, we only got a few short scenes with newcomer Patty Spivot. She’s very obviously got a crush on Barry, who couldn’t be more oblivious. He even makes poor Patty feel silly when she gives him her number, which he wasn’t expecting. I’m seeing a romance in their future. They are so adorably awkward together.
