Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The Flash 2x03 "Family of Rogues" (Having Someone To Love Is Family) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

"Family of Rogues"
Original Airdate: October 20, 2015 

There are two things that I found interesting in this episode: The first thing was the focus on two very different family dynamics –– one good, one bad –– and the other was the focus on characters other than Barry. It would be easy for The Flash to make all the stories about Barry (especially in stories with a family theme, considering Barry's past problems) but it chooses to explore other characters –– even the villains –– on occasion to make things more interesting. This is not only a great way to keep episodes fresh and new, but also a great way to expand the world of The Flash and make the characters more real, more sympathetic, and better developed. By exploring not only the problems in the family lives of main characters, that is to say, Joe and Iris West, but also the problems in the lives of truly peripheral characters –– Leonard and Lisa Snart, who are mostly just villains and not even main ones –– the writers are able to make the world of the show seem more than some flat universe that merely exists to revolve around Barry Allen.

It also takes some strong writing to make sure that we, the audience, aren't going "Get back to the main character!" whenever other people are on screen. The Flash writers manage to make a plot about the family difficulties of two of its villains into good television by carefully connecting the story to one of the main characters. In this case, it's Cisco whose concern for Lisa (a.k.a, Golden Glider, a.k.a., Captain Cold's little sister) guides the viewers into concern for the Snart siblings and, well, Lisa's life.

Lisa and Leonard Snart's father is, as Lisa puts it, "a bad guy." He abused both of them when they were younger, but it looks like Lisa got the brunt of it until Leonard started protecting her from him. Leonard and Lisa are devoted siblings, and when Lisa finds out that her brother has been working with their father, she doesn't believe it. There's no way that her brother would go near Lewis Snart (what's up with this family and L-names?), she tells everyone, because there's no forgiving what her dad used to do to them. She thinks her brother has to be in serious trouble for him to work with their dad, and she implores the team –– or rather Cisco –– to figure out what's going on and help him out. It's only later that Team Flash realizes that Captain Cold isn't working with his dad out of greed or fear for his own life, but out of fear for Lisa's. Because Lewis Snart implanted a bomb in his daughter's head and had been holding that over Leonard in order to get him –– and his cold gun –– onto his team to steal something. Father of the year award, everybody.

In the end, Leonard Snart kills Lewis Snart for "breaking [his] sister’s heart," which is important because it's something that parallels the other storyline in "Family of Rogues," which involves Joe, Iris, and the re-appearance of Iris's mother in Central City.

Although Joe does try to tell Iris earlier in the episode about Francine West showing up, he's interrupted and postpones their discussion because he’s clearly terrified of what Iris will think of him as a result. Most of the backstory on (the former?) Mrs. West comes out during an extremely well-done scene of Joe explaining why he told Iris her mother was dead. Iris's mom had been a drug addict and dangerously neglectful of young Iris. As a beat cop, Joe even got a call that led him to find Francine West passed out on the couch and Iris standing close to the stove –– which was on and aflame.

This motivated Joe to get Francine into rehab, but when he checked up on his wife later, Francine was gone without a trace. Joe decided that telling Iris her mother was dead was a better option than telling his daughter she'd been abandoned. He made up good stories about a loving, caring mother who had died tragically, rather than let Iris know the truth and possibly feel guilty about Francine leaving.

"The mother you thought you remembered, the perfect mother –– the stories I made up for you. That is mother you deserve, and I knew Francine couldn’t be like that. She would only break your heart," Joe tells Iris. And he apologizes and she forgives him because she knows he was only trying to keep her safe.

Joe had to "kill" Francine West –– in Iris's memories and their lives –– so that Francine’s absence couldn't break his daughter's heart. Protecting Iris from the pain of having a parent abandon her was his first concern, and although he feels guilty about lying to Iris (and everyone) he thought it was the right thing to do. Here we have parallel themes of two characters –– Joe West and Leonard Snart –– destroying something in order to protect the person they love the most. It's just that, you know, Snart took it a bit too far by actually killing his dad right in front of Barry. Yeeeah, that’s probably... not good.

But anyway, the things explored in this episode are the things that make for a well-developed and interesting world of television. Family problems. Family solutions. Confessions, concern, protectiveness, forgiveness... By including them, the writers make sure that we know this fictional universe is full of characters who are meant to be human, even when they're metahuman and even when they're villains. Barry doesn't change all the lives or cure all the ills in the world and the writers don't try to connect absolutely everything back to him. Yes, he plays the hero in the A-plot of Leonard and Lisa Snart dealing with their father, but he's not going to save them from the pain that Lewis Snart caused. Even when Barry's talking to Snart in jail and theorizes that "Captain Cold" has more to him than just villainy and greed, we can't assume that Barry will magically convert all his opponents over to the side of heroism. He can't change everyone just a really good person or because he believes in them. It’s important to remember that.

I'm not saying that Barry had no part in this episode, of course. His (super)name's in the title for a reason and he played a key role in both stories: as a confidante for Joe in the story of the Wests, and as The Flash, trying to save the two Snart children from their father. But in general, the focus of the episode was not on Barry. It was on the people Barry knew, and how family difficulties can arise in all lives –– even the lives of people who aren't superheroes. Even in the lives of people who are villains instead. Overall, it's nice of The Flash writers to take the time to expand the universe we visit every week beyond the big comic book ideas of Earth One and Earth Two, or metahumans, or massive evil plots that could destroy the world.

Oh but, you know. We still get one of those when WELLS SHOWS UP THROUGH THE SPEED CANNON FROM EARTH TWO, DUN DUN DUUUUNNN.



Other Things:
  • The opening sequence was really well done and nice. See how lovely things can be when Iris knows stuff?
  • "We need a name for it." "It's not a pet, Cisco." Cisco just really loves naming stuff.
  • Cisco's Professor Stein impression was A+.
  • I actually love the flirty friendship between Cisco and Lisa.
  • So Lisa didn't recognize Barry with his mask on? After seeing him at the cafe? And EVERYONE from the cafe following them to the lab except for that one, vaguely Flash-shaped young man? Uh...
  • Joe's "Oh, hell no" at Patty's pun was MARVELOUS. Joe's not here for your crime scene punnery!
  • In related news: Barry and Patty are still pretty cute.
  • Also cute: Whatever's happening between Caitlin and Jay.
  • Love, love, LOVED the scene between Iris and Joe. Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin completely knocked it out of the park.
  • But hey, The Flash editors? Maybe try a cut-to-black buffer between the highly emotional scene and the commercial break next time?
  • "You're gonna pretend to be a criminal?" "How hard can it be?" Barry you are a puppy. You can't be a criminal. Unless the law decides that being adorable is a crime.
  • "Draycon's my jam." ADORABLE PUPPY.
  • I like the little delay between Barry catching the bullet shot at him and then falling over. Like, "What? He shot me? Oh, right, he shot me. (thud)"
  • "Okay, son, make me proud." "Like I care." Thanksgivings at the Snart house must've been awful.
  • "It's not funny." "Yeah, but I like it when you smile." Seriously so on board with Cisco/Lisa.
  • "You're a good son, Barry." "I know." The Flash still gets top marks for adoptive parent/child relationships.
  • Cisco gets a kiss! Hurray!
  • "Excelsior!" No one tell Marvel they used that.
  • They just left the portal to other worlds unattended? Mistaaaaaake!


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