The Flash season 9, episode 3 review: Rogues of War

“Game over, Barry Allen.” Spoilers for The Flash season 9, episode 3 follows.

The new Rogues steal another item and Team Flash realize what they’re planning on building: A Cosmic Treadmill.

So to try and stop them, Team Flash must build a surprising team.

Here’s what went down in The Flash season 9 episode 3, “War of Rogues”.

The Flash season 9 episode 3 review

Gathering the band

In order to stop these new Rogues that Red Death has been building up, Flash gathers a team of his old Rogues and fight fire with fire. And well, it goes exactly as well as you might expect it to go. Terribly.

It’s fun to see Barry actually trying to use his brain as Barry Allen to convince his Rogues to help him stop this plan. Each interaction is different and it’s fun to see Barry bumbling through his words to try and convince these guys to join up with him on his plan.

It’s too bad that the Rogues gathered are some of the most annoying villains that the show has had. The Hotness, Goldface, and, obviously, Chillblaine. So, now that they’re all in the same room, it’s pretty much insufferable to watch. I’M MAINLY LOOKING AT YOU CHILLBLAINE (I can no longer look at him impartially. I am firmly against him.). So, of course, it’s the least shocking thing when it’s revealed that Chillblaine is working for Red Death. The annoying villain with a vendetta does the most obvious thing imaginable. It’s one of the least shocking twists that the show has had. And they’ve had a decent amount of non-shocking twists.

There’s also the lesson that Barry needs to trust these guys, and that he took the easy way out by not trusting them, which is insane. They’ve done nothing worthy of earning his trust in the situation that they’re about to be in, so it’s genuinely frustrating to act like Barry was in the wrong for not trusting them. Plus, the fact that Jaco figured out that Barry is The Flash because of his coffee order…I can’t with this show anymore.

The finale showdown is incredibly contrived as well. From the aforementioned betrayal by Chillblaine to Jaco and Fiddler getting attracted to each other because they both like Nine Inch Nails, this show seems like it can’t help itself from being the worst it can be at this point.

https://twitter.com/CW_TheFlash/status/1628605573842317313?s=20

Relationship drama

On top of all of this, there’s the relationship drama happening in this episode which really, What is the point? Iris feeling conflicted over her future and Barry trying to lift her up feels like a storyline we should have seen before now, and it feels disconnected to much what’s happening in this episode. It’s drama for the sake of drama by now. To be fully honest, Grant Gustin is too good for this show at this point. He’s consistently great, even when the material he gets isn’t up to scratch.

But even worse, the constant teasing of Chuck and Allegra’s relationship is so frustrating. There’s no chemistry between the two. And it’s really hard to care about whatever contrived relationship drama that the show is now doing, yet again.

Done dirty

After last episode, nothing else’s can be said other than that Caitlin got done dirty and Khione is just a random introduction that feels worthless and throws away any potentially interesting conflict that last season set-up. There’s little new to this new version Caitlin/Frost that is interesting and it is a constant reminder that there was an interesting story set-up at the end of last season that is completely gone now.

So far, three episodes in, The Flash is on track to have a, let’s just say, lackluster at best final season.

If you’re a fan of The Flash and would like regular news, announcements, and updates about season 9, listen to The CW Spiral Podcast. Subscribe to their YouTube channel here.

What did you think of The Flash season 9 episode 3? Let us know in the comments below?