In the aftermath of Barry's crushing defeat at the hands of the Reverse-Flash, Leonard Snart/Captain Cold returns to Central City with his new ally Mick Rory to once again challenge the Scarlet Speedster.
Tropes:
- Antagonist Title: The titular Rogues are Leonard Snart/Captain Cold and Mick Rory/Heat Wave.
- Appropriated Appellation:
- Cisco finally names the man in yellow the Reverse-Flash. Caitlin is indifferent to it, but Harrison likes it well enough.
- Snart tells everyone they can call him "Cold", showing that he's adopted the moniker Cisco gave him last time around.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Zig-Zagged. When Cisco demonstrates the modified ice-resistant riot shields, he walks around with a freezing device resembling a rifle with a backpack attached. Right when he walks up to a group of officers with the barrel pointed to the side, the captain immediately reaches out and guides the barrel end to point towards the ground. However, Cisco proceeds to demonstrate the shield on a dummy, where several officers are standing in near proximity of an ice stream.
- Bound and Gagged: Caitlin is bound to a chair after she is kidnapped by Cold and Heat Wave, and then gagged so she can't warn any potential rescuers that there is a bomb under the chair she is tied to.
- Basement-Dweller: Barry returns to Joe's house because his apartment made it hard to conceal his secret identity.
- The Bus Came Back: Captain Cold.
- Call-Back: Snart knows that the Flash has friends, so he decides to lure the Flash out by kidnapping one of them.
- Catch and Return: After outrunning a missile during training doesn't help much, Barry grabs the next one and throws it back at the drone. This foreshadows how he defeats the Rogues later; raw speed doesn't help, so he needs to fight smarter, not harder.
- *Click* Hello: How Captain Cold and Heat Wave reveal themselves to Caitlin: Cold freezes her car door shut.
- Clothes Make the Superman:
- Averted for Cold. Even without his freeze gun, Cold is still a very dangerous foe.
- Played straight for Mick Rory/Heat Wave, who appears to lose most of his threatening nature once his heat gun is taken away.
- Convection, Schmonvection:
- Averted when Heat Wave first uses his heat gun against a line of cops equipped with shields designed to block Captain Cold's Freeze Ray. It protects them from the flames, but they still get burned from the intense heat.
- Later, Eddie protects himself and the Flash from the heat gun with one of the same shields, but Captain Cold is also firing on the shield at the same time, which helps explain why he doesn't get burned.
- Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Said by Captain Cold when he threatens to kill Caitlin.
- Continuity Nod:
- With Captain Cold back in town, Cisco feels a little down; probably because he laments about Cold using his cold gun.
- Meeting with Jason Rusch, he thought that Caitlin was trying to recruit him, which he tries to rebuff since has already accepted a post at Mercury Labs.
- Crazy-Prepared: Snart insists that Mick learn every piece of his heat gun, so that he can repair it if something goes wrong. Presumably, he did the same with his cold gun. Also hinting at the possibility they can recreate the weapon if they are taken.
- Damsel in Distress: It wouldn't be a superhero show without one of these. This week it's Caitlin's turn to be in distress, as she's kidnapped by the Rogues to lure out the Flash.
- Deliberate Injury Gambit: How Flash defeats the Rogues. He deliberately slows down so both rays hit him, then speeds up, crossing the streams and negating both guns' ammo.
- Dramatic Irony: Wells says to Barry, "I hope we're not enemies."
- Easily Forgiven: In "Flash vs. Arrow" the Flash nearly kills Eddie and Eddie is given a task force to capture him. In the next episode he saves Eddie's life. In this one, Eddie rushes in to save the Flash and they part on good terms.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After Caitlin shares a story about a time that Ronnie took her scuba diving, Barry remembers that SCUBA is an acronym, which makes them wonder if Firestorm is too.
- Event Title: Overlaps with Antagonist Title above.
- Foreshadowing: The dignitaries Captain Cold and Heat Wave steal a painting from are the "Rathaways" — they're the parents of Hartley Rathaway, a.k.a. the Pied Piper. They even clearly are not on good terms, as the father says I Have No Son!.
- Fun with Acronyms: Firestorm is turned into one. As expected, it's a mouthful, namely "Fusion, Ignition, Research Experiment and Science of Transmutation Originating RNA and Molecular Structures". However, though a mouthful, it does explain his powers better than people would think is all he can do.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: (haha) Pause when Caitlin does a web search for "Firestorm" and you'll see the synopsis for the fictional 2011 film Firestorm starring Jim James, Bob Roberts, Bill Williams, and Frank Francis.
- Godzilla Threshold: When it looks like Barry is about to get blown up by a missile during training, Wells very slowly starts to get up out of his wheelchair, ready to save him if need be. There would be no hiding his secret after that, but Barry's life is more important. Luckily for him, Barry has other plans.
- I Have No Son!: When the Rathaways are getting off the plane, after being told their son Hartley called, the father says they don't have a son anymore, and his wife doesn't disagree.
- I Have Your Wife: Snart kidnaps Caitlin after two unsuccessful attempts to lure the Flash out.
- Internal Reveal: Central City learns that the Flash is real.
- Lampshade Hanging: The episode openly acknowledges that the "crossing the streams" bit is ripping off the ending of Ghostbusters, with Cisco calling the movie "surprisingly scientifically accurate."
- Mexican Standoff: After their theft of the Rathaways' painting, Snart and Rory stare each other down with their weapons poised; Snart is angry that Rory got "out of control" again.
- Mundane Utility: Barry uses his speed to organize Iris's mess, since she is unlikely to clean it. Barry would later use his speed to bring his stuff from his former apartment.
- Mythology Gag:
- The old comic books in Barry's backpack; Barry in the comics is a comic book fan, and was even inspired by comic stories of Jay Garrick, Flash I.
- Captain Cold finally christens The Flash with his most famous Red Baron, the Scarlet Speedster.
- An obscure one: Iris's stuffed turtle, McSnurtle, is named after the secret identity of an old DC "funny animal" superhero, The Terrific Whatsit, a speedster turtle that wore the costume of the original Flash, Jay Garrick.
- Captain Cold blasted ice on Caitlin's (Killer Frost) car.
- As noted on the main page, the shot of Barry getting hit by the beams of both guns at the same time bears a strong resemblance to the cover of The Flash #140.
- Never Found the Body: Mick Rory escaped from the ambulance that was transporting him to the hospital for third degree burns and disappeared.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Once again, Cold is well aware of how the Flash's presence shakes up the game.Snart: Now everyone knows he's real, which changes everything. Again.
- Not So Above It All: Several more cracks are made here at Wells' usually serious demeanor: he likes Cisco's nickname for the "Man in Yellow", he made (and lampshaded) an Accidental Pun regarding Captain Cold, and he apparently enjoys Ghostbusters.
- Odd Friendship: The hammy, impulsive Pyromaniac Mick Rory is partnered with cool, suave Clock King Leonard Snart.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The audience isn't given the privilege of seeing Lisa Snart curb-stomp all the policemen escorting Snart and Rory. Probably to keep her "contribution" to the Rogues a secret until their next appearance.
- Oh, Crap!: Joe speaks for the cops when they realize at the airport that Cold has a partner with his own special weapon.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Joe notices how serious Barry is in becoming stronger when the latter refuses to show up as The Flash. At the same time, Joe also starts noticing Wells' influence/manipulation because "Barry sounded more like Wells."
- The Real Heroes: Once they get properly equipped, the police does a decent job at facing the Rogues; at the very least, there's no casualties, and a cop actually manages to damage Mick's weapon. Later, at the climax, Eddie grabs a shield and protects the Flash from both Cold and Heat Wave, giving him time to recover.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Heat Wave and Captain Cold respectively, complete with color-coded attires, "Elemental Powers" and personalities.
- Shout-Out:
- Cisco figures that the cold gun and the flamethrower can cancel each other out, so, to defeat them, Barry has to "cross the streams". And Barry knows exactly which film the phrase came from.
- Barry's comic book isn't about an alternate universe Flash, but rather that of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, specifically this one
.
- Staring Down Cthulhu: Caitlin staring down Heat Wave as he's threatening to burn her.
- The Stinger: Captain Cold and Heat Wave are being transported to prison, only for the van to get hijacked by Snart's unseen sister (Golden Glider).
- Subverted Catchphrase: The Opening Narration of each episode starts with "My name is Barry Allen and I am the Fastest Man Alive." Except this one which comes on the heels of his defeat at the hands of Reverse-Flash:Barry: My name is Barry Allen. I am not the Fastest Man Alive. That title belongs to the man who killed my mother. But not for long.
- Super-Speed Reading: Barry breezes through an 800-page F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. thesis, but he nearly gets cross-eyed in the process.
- The Unmasked World: After a long street fight between the Flash and the Rogues, the Flash is revealed to be a real person to the general populace of Central City.
- Villainous Rescue: Snart stops Mick from frying Caitlin to show "her true self".
- Xanatos Gambit: Snart isn't too bothered about being arrested, since he already has plans in place to escape, and is actually counting on the Flash revealing himself to stop them anyway.
