In nine season, The Flash has come across some dangerous and colorful foes. In “Rogues of War,” Barry (Grant Gustin) must learn to trust those he put away. Allegra (Kayla Compton) starts avoiding Chester (Brandon McKnight) after their passionate kiss last week. And Khione (Danielle Panabaker) is adjusting to her new life at STAR Labs.

Two weeks again, Barry caught Captain Boomerang aka Owen Mercer (Richard Harmon) stealing the Roemer accelerator battery. Last week, Andrea Wozzeck aka Fiddler (Magda Apanowicz) stole Hartley Rathaway, aka the Pied Piper’s (Andy Mientus) sonic gauntlets. They are obviously collecting tech for someone, but Barry and Team Flash haven’t encountered that person yet. We’ve seen them and they vowed to get revenge on the Flash. 

RELATED: The Flash Recap: (S09E02) Hear No Evil

ROGUES OF WAR

The Red Death has their army of rogues. They are becoming pretty good at stealing the tech they need. They have a new team member, a meta named Michelle Amar, aka Murmur (Alexandria Wailes). She’s a former med student, turned serial killer and she’s deaf. Their latest break is at Corbin Taft Industries. Like Mercer and Fiddler, Amar’s weapons have also been upgraded. Barry is able to find fragments of her knifes and says they are made of cutting edge nanocircuitry. Iris (Candice Patton) joins the investigation. She found out that a temporal scanner that measures radioactive half-lives is missing from the tech inventory. (It tells you what year you’re in.)

So far, Mercer stole the Roemer accelerator battery, Fiddler stole the Pied Piper’s sonic gauntlets and now they have the scanner. Barry explains to Captain Kramer (Carmen Moore) that they are building some kind of cosmic treadmill. This treadmill uses kinetic energy to open wormholes in space and time. Godspeed uses one in the future to return to the past. If they use the treadmill to go on a crime spree in the past, they could damage the timeline. They need a quantum vibration engine to make the treadmill work.  Barry doesn’t know where one is, but he knows someone who might.

Barry and Iris meet with Hartley. He is very interested in the engine so he can supercharge his new gauntlets. And he happens to know there is one engine close by. The DOD has one in a research facility, Fort L.U.K.A. outside of the city. The man in charge of that facility is General Eiling and he is not a fan of Team Flash. Hartley says the only way to stop the Rogues from stealing the engine is to steal it first. The Rogues have a team. Hartley suggestS they create a rogue team of their own. 

The engine is in a highly protected chamber. There is a meta dampener surrounding the chamber, so they have to cut the power first. The dampener is powered by four different generators – electrical, thermal fusion, hydro, and cold fusion. They all have to be disconnected simultaneously. The facility will be vulnerable the next day and it’s the best chance they have to get inside. They need four specialists to cut the power and one more to get the engine out of the vault.

FLASHY ROGUES

Chester contemplates a problem on The Flash

The Flash — “Rogues of War” — Image Number: FLA903a_0078r — Pictured: Brandon McKnight as Chester P. Runk — Photo: Shane Harvey/The CW — © 2023 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The plan is risky, but Barry knows exactly who to ask for help. Their worlds are in jeopardy too. Khione is confident their rogues will do the right thing. Barry and Hartley leave to find their team. Iris gets to work on finding out why the Rogues want to build the treadmill and who is running their show. First, she asks Chester to find a connection between the forensics that Barry collected at the crime scenes. She sends Allegra and Khione to the Starchives to make sure none of their tech is missing. 

The first person they go to is The Hotness, Jaco Birch (Max Adler). He’s working at Jitters and doesn’t hesitate to say yes. Next, they go to Mark Blaine, aka Chillblaine (Jon Cor). He’s still a little hurt that Team Flash won’t bring back Frost. He and Hartley almost start fighting, but Barry stops them. He says they need Mark more than ever now. Mark agrees only because it’s what Frost would have wanted.

The last recruit is Goldface (Damion Poitier). Goldface was in jail, but he turned states evidence against Amunet, his soul mate. His henchman, Carver (Anthony Joseph) reveals that Goldface spends his free time reading Doctor Zhivago and crying. Book Club is supposed to be a safe space! Barry explains that he’s undercover as the Chemist and needs Goldface’s help to prevent the rogues from destroying Central City. Goldface is in, but they are all unaware that there is a listening device on the wall next to their location. Red Death and their rogues can hear their entire plan. 

COMMON GROUND

Barry’s team meets back at STAR labs, but things get off to a rocky start. These guys have encountered each other before. They have to put their past run ins to the side for now. Meanwhile, Chester informs Iris that all of the bad rogues are carrying weapons designed by the same person. He can’t figure out who manufactured the weapons though. Chuck is a little preoccupied because Allegra is avoiding him. He tried to talk to her but she was too busy to even look at him. Now Iris gets frustrated with him for not giving her the answers she wants. She leaves to take a breather. 

Team Barry go over the plan, but they are most interested to find out who gets the engine once they steal it. Each of them want it for their own selfish reasons. Barry says no one gets it. He plans to give it back to the DOD once the Rogues are caught. The conversation gets heated and everyone squares up to start fighting. Barry stops them, changing the plan. Before they were going to split up, now Barry wants to keep an eye on every one of them. He doesn’t trust them.

Hartley says Barry shouldn’t be a part of the team if he can’t trust them. Barry reminds them that the fate of the timeline is at stake. They acknowledge his concern and decide to carry out the plan without Barry. Even Jaco leaves him behind. Jaco says they can’t trust him if he doesn’t trust them. 

ROGUE ONE

Barry tells Iris about what happened. His whole plan is falling apart. Iris is running into dead ends and they are out of time. Barry can tell that Iris is sad. She says they are focused on what’s to come. She’s worried that once they become parents, she won’t be able to get everything she wanted in life. Iris wanted one last big story before she got pregnant. Barry says she will have time, even after Nora comes. He will be there to help her. They just have to trust that they will continue to help each other grow. 

For now, Barry has to give his team a reason to trust him. Barry leaves and Chester runs in. He figured out where the weapons were made. They were made in Gotham City at Wayne Enterprises. Meanwhile, Khione and Allegra take a break. Khione picks up on Allegra’s distance and asks about it. Allegra says Frost was a good friend to her. Khione asks about Chester to which Allegra says she can’t get involved with him. 

Barry finds his team at Fort L.U.K.A. He apologies for not trusting them. He also made a decision about the engine. Hartley will get the engine but only if he uses it to keep his team safe. And pay the others a quarter of a million each as compensation. They all agree and then Goldface starts asking questions about how he got to the base so fast. Hartley and Mark give Barry a crazy look, curious about how he will explain this one. Jaco blurts out that Barry is the Flash. they have the same Jitters order. Goldface totally sees it. 

EASY, PEASY

Barry encounters trouble on The Flash

The Flash — “Rogues of War” — Image Number: FLA903b_0200r — Pictured: Grant Gustin as Barry Allen — Photo: Shane Harvey/The CW — © 2023 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Team Barry walk into the facility with ease and split up to their assigned generators. Barry goes to the vault and waits for them all to get into position. Everything goes exactly as planned and the power dampener is disabled. Barry gets his speed back and uses his vibrations to get the engine out of the vault. One of the generators powers back up. Everyone says their generator is still offline … everyone but Mark.

Mark made a deal with the Rogues just before Barry recruited him. He agreed to help them because they offered to bring back Frost. The Rogues show up just in time to take on Team Barry. Mark knocks out Barry and takes the engine. The rogues all back off except for Fiddler, who is flirting with Jaco. They find out that they both like Nine Inch Nails. Fiddler knocks him out and leaves to meet her team.

Barry wakes up, put on his Flash suit and gathers his team to face off with the Rogues before they take off. Just as they start their fight, a red streak runs in and knock Team Barry back. Red Death stands over Flash and he thinks it’s Thawne. Red Death taunts Flash because he lost his speed. Then he runs away with the Rogues before Team Barry can get back up. 

NEGATIVE FORCE

Team Barry debriefs with Iris. She is shocked that the Rogues’ benefactor is a speedster using negative speed. He asks Hartley, Goldface and Jaco to join his team to stop the Rogues. They are hesitant at first because they don’t know what they are up against. And yet, they all have something to lose. Hartley tells Barry to find out who the Rogue leader is, what his weakness is and then call them. 

After they leave, Barry tells Iris that the Rogue leader had a bat symbol on his armor. She tells him to talk to Chester immediately. Chester calls Luke Fox about the weapons and Luke says they all resemble WayneTech designs. but their nano tech foundations are beyond cutting edge. Luke couldn’t give any information on the big bad because they’ve never encountered the speedster. 

Chester also reveals that Batwoman, Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie) is missing. Is it a coincidence that there is a new speedster in a bat suite and Batwoman is missing? Barry says they have to find the new speedster and stop him. 

Mark gloats about getting the engine and gets teased by the Rogues. He wants what they promised him or he will; take the engine back to the Flash. Red Death stops him, saying he will help Mark after his mission is complete. Mark isn’t sure he can trust them, saying he doesn’t even know who is under the mask. Red Death takes off the mask and reveals that her face. She looks exactly like Ryan Wilder. Red Death stands over a very scared Mark Blaine and says she is is vengeance. 

RELATED: Catch up on all of The Flash recaps here

 

Follow me
Latest posts by Noetta Harjo (see all)