In ‘The Flash’ recap, Barry goes up against the Mirror Master, Harry tries to find the team some new help and Jesse finds out it’s not easy to be a hero…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Dr. Alchemy might be the new big bad in Central City, but he took a backseat this week on ‘The Flash’ as a new set of rogues showed up in the form of the Mirror Master and his girlfriend Top.
Much like past seasons where the Reverse Flash and Zoom disappeared for a couple of weeks, this time around Alchemy gets a mention in the form of further investigation into the video where Edward Clariss is seeing tossed across his cell by an invisible force just before his death while shouting “Alchemy” but that’s as far as things go for now.
It’s clear Dr. Alchemy is going to be a huge thorn in Barry’s side this season, but it was nice to see the rogues get a little extra play in the new episode. Hopefully over time, Barry will face off with a full force of rogues now that he has at least one speedster to back him up — hello Jesse Quick — and over time he might get another partner as well — Kid Flash anyone?
This week also gave us a much deeper hint about the reverberations felt from Barry’s timeline reset known as ‘Flashpoint’ after Caitlin once again showed off her cold shoulder with some Killer Frost action that should make her story very interesting for the rest of the season.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘The Flash’ titled ‘New Rogues’….
The Mirror Master
Flashback to three years ago and Leonard Snart is having a falling out with some of his partners — namely Sam Scudder and his girlfriend Rosalind — over their inability to stop spending the money they’ve stolen on jobs with him. Snart doesn’t want attention being brought on him so when the Bonnie and Clyde duo refuse to stop spending, he decides to take them both out.
Just as Snart sends Scudder crashing through a mirror, the particle accelerator at STAR Labs explodes and sends out that nasty wave of energy throughout the city. Snart escapes, but both Scudder and Rosalind are caught in the middle.
It seems Scudder was transformed into a metahuman with the ability to travel between any reflective surface like it’s a wormhole, but he didn’t reappear until now. Once he re-emerges, Scudder is only thing about two things — finding his girl and getting revenge on Leonard Snart. It leads Scudder to tracking down one of his old gang, who he then tosses through a mirror before he falls two stories down to the concrete below.
Meanwhile back at STAR Labs, Barry is teaching Jesse how to use her speed — while noting that he sounds a lot like Oliver while giving lessons — as he begins her full transformation into Jesse Quick.
At the police station, Joe and Barry hear about this attack from Scudder’s old crew member and they start to figure out that this must be another metahuman, but he won’t get revenge on Snart because he’s not around (he’s “traveling” with the Legends of Tomorrow). Along with some help from his friend Cecille at the District Attorney’s office, Joe tracks down one more member of Scudder’s old crew — his girlfriend Rosalind, who is current occupying a cell at Iron Heights Prison.
When Joe arrives and starts to question her, Rosalind stone walls him but a moment later Scudder appears from out of nowhere, grabs his girl and they escape back through another mirror. So far it’s Mirror Master 1, good guys zero.
Digging for Wells
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco and Caitlin can’t help but feel like their team is more complete with Harry around, but he insists that this trip is temporary and he has work to do back on his home world at Earth-2. But Harry comes up with a new idea — how about beaming out a signal across the multi-verse with a riddle hidden inside that only another Harrison Wells could decode. If a worthy candidate contacts them back interesting in taking the job, they could bring that version of Harrison Wells through a breach and he could join Team Flash.
The search results in several candidates — a British Wells, a French mime Wells and a hipster Wells. The hipster seems to be the best possible person for the job and he’s excited to join the team on Earth-One but Harry isn’t so sure about him. His gut instinct is that this guy is wrong, but the reality is he’s just feeling bummed that someone will replace him so easily after he’s kind of gotten used to being on this team.
While the search is ongoing, Wells and the others figure out the power that the Mirror Master is using — Harry mentions a similar villain on Earth-2 who uses a gun, which is a nod to the comic book version of the character — and now the job is stopping him. It doesn’t take long for a chance to arise after Scudder and Rosalind break into a bank in Central City.
The Flash gives chase but he has back up as Jesse joins him for her first mission.
The two of them find out that Scudder and Rosalind have given up on finding Snart and decide with him gone, they can run the city’s underworld instead. They engage in a fight with the Flash, but he tells Jesse to stay put because she’s not quite ready for this battle.
Rather than listen, Jesse goes after the criminals right alongside him but she soon finds out that Scudder’s girlfriend didn’t escape the particle accelerator explosion without some powers of her own. Rosalind can zap anybody and give them vertigo — which earns her the nickname ‘Top’ — and she hits Jesse with it before she falls off the top of a building to her certain death.
That forces Barry to stop chasing Scudder so he can save her instead. After catching Jesse and returning to the ground floor, Scudder re-appears and tosses Barry into a mirror before zapping away again. Now Barry is trapped in a mirror with no way out.
Freezer Burned
With Barry trapped in a mirror, Jesse is beating herself up about not listening to him and ultimately getting him put in an impossible position with no way out.
Thankfully, Harry, Cisco and Caitlin come up with a plan to break Barry free by slowing down the rapid moving molecules in the mirror by freezing it, which will then allow him to “phase” through the material back into the real world. Unfortunately, Cisco and Harry’s device can’t get the mirror cold enough to allow Barry to phase through.
Cisco suggest sending the problem out to another Harrison Wells from the multi-verse, but Harry shoots down the idea. Finally, Caitlin decides to intervene when no one is around as she exhibits her new Killer Frost powers and freezes the mirror enough that Barry can escape. When he gets out of the mirror, Barry doesn’t spot anyone around so he doesn’t question it but clearly Caitlin is starting to get control of her powers.
Now it’s time to go after the Mirror Master and Top and he’s going to need some back up.
The Droste Effect
Barry comes up with a plan to trap the Mirror Master by invoking the voice and image of Leonard Snart to draw him out. Scudder falls for it because he’s blinded by his own hatred of Snart but what he doesn’t expect is to show up in a maze of mirrors set up by Barry and the gang.
Meanwhile, Rosalind is there to help out her boyfriend, but Jesse shows up and she’s prepared to deal with the vertigo problem this time. Rosalind zaps her but Jesse decides to run in circles and turn things around on the metahuman. With Rosalind spinning, Jesse knocks her out with one punch.
Scudder also gets dealt with after he gets trapped in a series of mirrors with no escape, just constantly bouncing from one image to the next like he’s in an eternal loop. It’s called the Droste Effect — essentially a reflective image that continues to repeat itself forever.
After capturing Rosalind and putting Scudder in a cell with zero reflective surfaces so he can’t escape, Barry and Jesse return to STAR Labs to put a bow on this case.
It’s time for Harry and Jesse to go home but not before completing one more mission. Harry decides that it’s time to send out the signal to bring over the other Harrison Wells from Earth-19 to take his place. When the other Wells arrives he announces himself as H.R. and he’s very much a happy, hipster version of Harry but he’s happy to join the team.
Harry and Jesse head back to Earth-2, much to the chagrin of Wally (more on that in a moment) and now Team Flash is complete again with the entire squad all together. Whether or not this new Harrison Wells will be trustworthy remains a mystery, but his first request is a Big Belly Burger so that’s at least one thing he has in common with all his other doppelgangers.
Flash-Bits
A big part of the episode is spent delving deeper into Barry and Iris’ relationship and the lack of intimacy they can enjoy whenever Joe is around. It’s understandably odd — Joe is Iris’ father and he was a surrogate dad to Barry ever since he was a kid. Thankfully in the end, Joe gives the relationship his blessing while also suggesting that Barry get his own place so things won’t get really weird while he spends time with Iris.
Wally and Jesse also make a connection this episode with a couple of kisses. While Jesse is back on Earth-2 for now, there’s little chance she stays gone for too long.
Joe also might have some romance in the air after some flirtation with his friend Cecille from the D.A.’s office, although he turns down a date due to some nervousness when she asks him out.
Finally, Caitlin goes home to take a shower but midway through, she accidentally freezes the water mid-stream. When she steps out, Caitlin’s lips have turned iced blue and she has a big streak of white in her hair — just like Killer Frost from Earth-2.
‘The Flash’ returns next Tuesday night at 8pm ET on the CW.
