The Flash Review: Fury Rogue (Season 4 Episode 19)

We’re four episodes away from the end of The Flash Season 4. Theoretically, this means the show should feel as though it’s building toward something, or at least like there’s a grand plan of some sort at work.

Yet, The Flash Season 4 Episode 19, “Fury Rogue,” does very little in the way of moving the arc of the season’s narrative forward. We still have no idea what The Thinker’s ultimate endgame is or why he needed to specifically engineer the bus metas and their powers. We don’t know what our Big Bad really wants.

Instead of facts, “Fury Rogue” deals primarily in emotion. The bulk of its plot centers on Barry’s inability to process Ralph’s death. Despite his repeated assertions to the contrary, his guilt and grief are not only obvious, they’re negatively impacting his ability to be an effective leader and hero.

This episode somehow even manages to squander a return by Wentworth Miller as Earth-X’s Citizen Cold, wasting him on repeated hero lessons for a mopey Barry who can’t come to terms with Ralph’s death.

To be honest, Barry’s utter paralysis over Ralph’s fate might ring more true if he didn’t have such a history of loss in his own past. It sounds cruel to say, perhaps, but it’s not like this season has really spent a lot of time building up the relationship between the two men. As a result, his over-the-top grief feels largely unearned.

Yes, Ralph’s fate is a tragedy. But how well did these two men really know one another?

Barry and Ralph seemed to spend most of the season at odds with one another. They share what feel like endless scenes in which Barry explains heroism to Ralph or extols the magic of friendship, but that’s not the same thing as the two actually being friends.

Furthermore, this late in the season, The Flash’s decision to halt the entire forward motion of the season’s narrative so Barry can have (another) existential crisis feels like a waste of time.

As do large portions of this episode, come to that.

Generally speaking, the plot of “Fury Rogue” is almost paper thin. The Thinker wants the nuclear-powered metahuman Fallout, because reasons. Barry and the gang must shepherd his transfer from one ARGUS facility to another, because reasons. Conflict ensues.

The only real bonus of this plot is that it necessitates a return for Leo Snart. Miller, as usual, manages to elevate even the dumbest of material and Leo’s speech about how he manages his own pain by remembering each individual he’s lost is genuinely moving.

However, group cheerleader is not a role that fits any version of Snart well, and by the time we get to the part where Leo’s basically hollering self help tips at Barry during the final battle it’s hard not to roll your eyes.

(Or maybe I’m a heartless monster, I’m not really sure.)

This episode also introduces us to the Earth-X version of Black Siren, who seems both a lot more powerful and lot more awful than her Earth-2 counterpart.

Unfortunately, The Flash almost completely wastes Katie Cassidy’s guest spot, paying her so little attention it’s almost like she’s not there. (Seriously, Siren-X gets maybe seven lines?)

The dark versions of Laurel Lance have always been some of the Arrowverse’s most entertaining doppelgangers, so it’s extra-disappointing that Siren-X is brought on here for so little reason. (Other than to establish that some soundwaves can still harm DeVoe.)

However, there is an important bright spot in this week’s episode. The Flash finally takes the time to address — at least in some small way — Caitlin’s connection to Killer Frost.

The Flash hasn’t done the greatest job in Season 4 of focusing on Caitlin’s struggle to sort out her relationship with her icy alter ego. So the fact that “Fury Rogue” spends any time at all allowing Caitlin to talk about their growing closeness feels like a gift that’s been way too long coming.

It’s not quite enough to explain how we got from a Caitlin willing to do anything to banish Killer Frost from her life to one that desperately wants her back, but I’m willing to take it for the olive branch it so clearly is.

Since Caitlin determines that the anomaly in her DNA means she’s technically born to be Killer Frost, it almost seems as though The Flash is setting both characters up for something of a fresh start.

After all, there’s no reason to believe the rules of their interactions have to be the same the second time around. Perhaps it’s naïve to hope, but Caitlin’s growing acceptance of her dark side certainly feels as though The Flash is moving both characters toward a more connected future. (Here’s hoping, anyway.)

In the end, “Fury Rogue’s” constant lampshading of the idea that emotions can often trump logic clunkily sets up the season’s final act. Feelings — love, friendship, loyalty — will almost certainly be what brings DeVoe down.

Hopefully, his end will be brought about by Marlize, as it’s become incredibly uncomfortable to watch him repeatedly lie to and abuse her week after week.

It’s unfortunate that The Thinker, a character who started out as such a complex villain at the beginning of Season 4, should turn out to be such a bland, one-note figure. But at this point, I think we’ll all just be glad to see the back of this character, no matter how it comes to pass.

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• I can’t possibly be the only one who no longer cares at all what “The Enlightenment” is? The Flash really left this particular endgame hanging for far too long.
• Did we actually find out what happened to Siren-X? Is she still on Earth-1? Does that mean we might see her again? Here’s hoping.
• Despite how much I disliked Barry’s extended grief session this week, his counseling visits with Iris were very sweet. And I love that they’re still seeing that therapist.
• This is the first episode in I can’t remember how long where Iris and Caitlin actually had two separate conversations and neither of them were about Barry. Miracles are real!

What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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