Later, Ray decides to create an organization in Chester's father's name that will help new start-ups and leaves. Cecile Horton confirms that Despero was telling the truth. Ray suits up as The Atom and sends him away. He attempts to kill Barry, stating that he is responsible for the end of the world. Suddenly, Despero arrives and attacks the tech convention. Runk surprises him with a group of tech start-ups, but Ray turns them down, much to his embarrassment. Meanwhile, Ray Palmer arrives in Central City for a tech convention, and Chester P. Iris also promotes Allegra Garcia, who initially struggles to control her new staff, but is eventually able to shift their focuses to the voice of the people. She interviews Kristen Kramer, who recently disbanded the meta-task force. Iris West-Allen now heads the larger and stronger Central City Citizen Media. After stopping a train collision in record time, he apprehends the Royal Flush Gang during a cryptocurrency heist. Six months after the Godspeed war, Barry Allen's skills have gradually improved. In 2031 Central City, psychic alien Despero witnesses the end of the world. Nothing is fundamentally broken with this show (ok, fine, I still think Killer Frost is completely broken and Cicada doesn’t count), and once again, this cast is able to power through all but the very worst episodes.Main article: List of The Flash episodes The Flash season 8 episodes No. “The Book of Ralph” having an almost cult-y self-help effect on Cisco is really inspired and genuinely funny, as was Ralph and Caitlin’s “heart to heart” on their side mission. There were just enough bright spots to keep “Going Rogue” from slipping completely into oblivion. There’s little that happens here that could have been done via dialogue in another episode. None of the “Young Rogues” are compelling (although I do appreciate Rag Doll seemingly taking on some more of his Secret Six ways of speaking at times), there’s no chemistry between any of them or Nora, and instead we’re left with an episode that is scenes of Nora doing things that we know she shouldn’t, punctuated with more Barry/Iris drama (although thankfully this appears to have been resolved), and not enough genuine forward motion. And while the Thawne mystery has absolutely been a season highlight, I worry that we’re in for a whole lot of talking/explaining in these last two episodes rather than showing/revealing as this all unfolds.Īnd even though a handful of important things happen in it, “Going Rogue” is endlessly predictable and feels like a filler episode. They missed an opportunity for a cool dramatic reveal, and once we knew more than the team, there was little doubt where Nora’s loyalties would be at the end of the episode. It might have been even cooler if there had been a break from Nora at some point (or if this season had ended with Barry stranding her in the future), and the episode kept the audience in the dark as to who was pulling those heists just as Team Flash was early on. It’s never a good sign when you can plug and play characters in an episode for the same effect.ĭespite this, Nora using the Negative Speed Force to return to 2019 without being detected by Barry, with her intentions having been corrupted is a neat trick. Although, perhaps that generally un-irritating-ness has more to do with the fact that “Going Rogue” is so flatly written that you could have substituted just about any other minor villain here and the effect would be the same. But there’s a small handful who make me long for the sweet release of death at the very mention of their name ( Arrow’s Cupid comes to mind), and another name on this wall of shame is last season’s Insect Queen, who makes a surprisingly inoffensive return in this episode. Sometimes you luck out, and end up with someone like Rag Doll, who made his debut earlier this season in “All Doll’d Up.” While not a classic, it was about as solid as you could hope from a semi-throwaway instalment, and Ragdoll himself is an eerie, occasionally genuinely scary presence, and it’s nice to see him return in “Going Rogue.” In the pantheon of Arrowverse throwaway villains, most are forgettable or bland. Well, they’re necessary inasmuch as these shows refuse to abandon their 22 episode seasons (the upcoming, abbreviated final season of Arrow notwithstanding), or barring that, treating each half of the long season as a more focused “mini-season.” But anyway, from time to time you’re gonna end up with a villain of the week. Within the Arrowverse, villains of the week are a necessary evil.