Spoilers The Flash - Season 5

[Christopher]

Nice episode. Interesting plot about rounding up past meta criminals and trying to help them. I never expected Norvok to get a redemptive arc. We did get another contrived escape for Cicada, though. He shouldn't even have been conscious after how the Flash went off on him.

It's unusual and cool to see an episode where the superheroes spend most of the hour in costume. All too often, it's only for a few brief scenes, but here, Flash, Elongated Man, and Killer Frost had to spend the whole time in costume while they were with the metas.

I wonder why they wrote Cisco out of this one. Maybe this was filming at the same time as "Elseworlds, Part 3" and Valdez was busy over on the Supergirl set playing "Mister Ramon." Can't have been Part 2, because Caitlin was in that one even more than Cisco.

 

[Finn]

Why didn't they use that breach tech to lead them to a parallel earth, one with no humans so they could lead out lives in a wild North America with ground sloths and mastodons?

 

[Romulan_spy]

I feel like this episode made great use of the supporting cast. Dibny, Cecil and Killer Frost were used effectively throughout the episode. But I was a little frustrated that they let Cicada get away again. Really Barry?! You couldn't wait a few more minutes to finish securing Cicada before going to Nora? It just seems very sloppy.

And I am so glad that Barry finally realized that the key to getting through to Cicada is to save his daughter. It is so nice when the characters finally catch up to what the viewers know.

 

[Christopher]

I said to myself a couple of times in this episode, "Cecille needs a costume." If her telepathy is a permanent superpower that she's using to help Team Flash on a regular basis, then for Beebo's sake, get that woman a mask and a code name!

 

[SAndrews10]

I'm guessing since the regular cast is so big and the show getting older, some regulars get "time off/episodes off" to offset costs. Ie Ralph visiting is mother for the holidays, Cisco being away in the ice lab...

 

[Christopher]

I'm guessing since the regular cast is so big and the show getting older, some regulars get "time off/episodes off" to offset costs. Ie Ralph visiting is mother for the holidays, Cisco being away in the ice lab...

That could be true in general, but as we saw last season, the actors featured in the crossovers also need time off to film their scenes in the other shows, so the episodes surrounding the crossovers tend to be structured to give them time off. Around Crisis on Earth-X, we had Supergirl's "Midvale" episode focusing mostly on teenage Kara and Alex so Benoist and Leigh could have time off; The Flash did several episodes where Barry was sidelined, e.g. an episode focusing mainly on the DeVoes with relatively little of the main cast; Legends put Sara in a coma for a week; etc. Since we're still right around this year's crossover, it stands to reason that the actor absences are for the same reason.

On the other hand, it's possible that this is a Jeremy Jordan situation -- maybe Valdez has other commitments that are pulling him away from the show, and it's conceivable that his current "I'm tired of being a superhero and want a cure for my powers" arc is setting up his departure from the show. But that's just conjecture. Given the timing, it seems more likely to be about the crossover.

 

[Kirk Prime]

It's still amazing to me that the main villain this year is the weakest part of the show. For me, the relationship between Nora and everyone is driving the show for me.

I wish they would just wrap Cicada up and move on instead of dragging a season arc out of a villain that in my opinion isn't worthy. That's a weakness of these CW shows--they feel the need for a villain to last an entire season. I don't think any villain should last more than half a season. I felt the same way about Devoe.

You would also think the characters might notice a pattern that every May, something climactic happens to them, leading to either 3 months of nothing or 3 months of the team broken up/Barry disappearing, and a new villain starts up every September.

I want to know what Nora's mission is. That is so much more interesting than "Cicada hates us. He stripes our powers and kicks our ass, repeat."

 

[SAndrews10]

That could be true in general, but as we saw last season, the actors featured in the crossovers also need time off to film their scenes in the other shows, so the episodes surrounding the crossovers tend to be structured to give them time off. Around Crisis on Earth-X, we had Supergirl's "Midvale" episode focusing mostly on teenage Kara and Alex so Benoist and Leigh could have time off; The Flash did several episodes where Barry was sidelined, e.g. an episode focusing mainly on the DeVoes with relatively little of the main cast; Legends put Sara in a coma for a week; etc. Since we're still right around this year's crossover, it stands to reason that the actor absences are for the same reason.

On the other hand, it's possible that this is a Jeremy Jordan situation -- maybe Valdez has other commitments that are pulling him away from the show, and it's conceivable that his current "I'm tired of being a superhero and want a cure for my powers" arc is setting up his departure from the show. But that's just conjecture. Given the timing, it seems more likely to be about the crossover.

Exactly it's either crossover related or the start of "Thea syndrome" on some of the Flash regulars

 

[Finn]

I'm a bit surprised it didn't occur to them that it might help if they tried helping out with treating Grace sooner.

Caitlin probably would be better equipped to help Grace than the doctors at that hospital. Probably why they let Star Labs pick up Barry....

 

[Christopher]

Caitlin probably would be better equipped to help Grace than the doctors at that hospital. Probably why they let Star Labs pick up Barry....

I think that was more about Thawne/Wells pulling strings.

 

[Finn]

Yeah. He probably mentioned having Caitlin- remember most of the staff let after the explosion. After all, she's a daughter of a big corporate honcho....

 

[Romulan_spy]

I wish they would just wrap Cicada up and move on instead of dragging a season arc out of a villain that in my opinion isn't worthy.

Agree. I was kinda hoping when Barry almost killed Cicada that they were going to catch him for good this time and it would be the beginning of the end of that arc. I am more interested in the Nora/Thawne arc.

 

[tomalak301]

Cicada is starting to ware thin for me, just like DeVoe last season. This arc should be over, so we can finally get to why the midseason finale was so compelling. The more they waste on Cicada, the more I worry they will rush the rest, which wouldn't be good. Barry could have easily put Cicada in the pipeline, or breached the Meta's to safety so they wouldn't be all in one place, but the writing in this episode was pretty sloppy. Also, would it have hurt had Nora been injured through multiple episodes? I get flash healing powers, but mix things up a bit and if you're going to keep Cicada around, raise the stakes.

 

[SAndrews10]

And it was also contrived for pretty much the first time ever he just punches a meta in the back when he had ample opportunity to stab her through the back

 

[Christopher]

And it was also contrived for pretty much the first time ever he just punches a meta in the back when he had ample opportunity to stab her through the back

I thought they'd managed to get his dagger away from him temporarily at that point.

 

[Kirk Prime]

Also, not for nothing, but just send Killer Frost after him. She is clearly immune to his anti-meta effect. Kara would be as well.

 

[dahj]

They're overplaying Cicada's menace, he works as a stalky serial killer taking out metas one by one, but directly assaulting a whole group of heroes, FBI people and metas... what was his plan there? Stab 20 people in an orderly fashion? Also, the team's over-reliance on powers and constant bewilderment that they don't work around him is wearing super-thin... c'mon, if he was a villain on Arrow, he'd be done before the intro title...

 

[Christopher]

what was his plan there? Stab 20 people in an orderly fashion?

Is that so implausible? He's a superstrong, flying meta in his own right and he has a telekinetically controlled, lethally sharp dagger. Remember, in the cliffhanger, he yanked the dagger back down from space in a matter of seconds. That means he can get it up to an incredibly high velocity. It would be easy for him to send it flying through the group of metas and slice them apart.

Still, I increasingly find myself thinking that the real archvillain here isn't Cicada, it's the meta-hating Dr. Ambres. She's the one who's been goading him on to kill metas, the one who got him the list of ex-con metas and practically ordered him to get out and start killing again. She's the true mastermind and the true monster here, and Cicada is just her instrument. Indeed, it just now occurs to me to wonder if she's been deliberately keeping Grace in a coma to manipulate Dwyer into killing metas for her.

 

[Finn]

I'm wondering about Dr. Ambres too. Something really bad must have happened to her for her to behave like this seeing how she's a doctor, perhaps by the bus metas or the original metas.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Indeed, it just now occurs to me to wonder if she's been deliberately keeping Grace in a coma to manipulate Dwyer into killing metas for her.

I'm wondering about Dr. Ambres too. Something really bad must have happened to her for her to behave like this seeing how she's a doctor, perhaps by the bus metas or the original metas.

Great ideas. I bet Cicada would be mighty angry if he finds out that Ambres has been keeping his daughter in a coma to use him. I wonder if Team Flash will actually turn Cicada to their side once they uncover that Ambres is behind it all? Maybe Ambres will be the main villain and Cicada is the one to take her down?