We’ve now been introduced to our big bad of the season, Cicada…but there are more surprises ahead. If the title of this episode doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what to say…except that there are even more twists ahead in what promises to be a very good season of THE FLASH! Want to know more? Follow us after the jump!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
NOTE: This review is being posted prior to THE FLASH airing in the Pacific Time Zone USA. If you haven’t seen the show yet, STOP HERE and come back after watching the show. You’ll be glad you did!
There is SO MUCH in this episode! There is action, amazing plot twists, a new character, new revelations…and oh yes, that “Death of Vibe” thing. Let’s get into it, shall we?
We begin with the Flash Museum of the future – which appears to be house in the S.T.A.R. Labs building…makes sense. There is that statue out front, and a lot of banners using the first season Flash symbol (the red one). We see a young Nora looking through the Hall of Villains, and we learn that no one ever found out who Cicada was…and everyone tried. Supergirl, Green Arrow, the Legends, the League (yes, you read that right), but no one could stop him or even find out his real name.
Problem is, Cicada is here “early” – a long time before he was supposed to show up. And, he didn’t kill Gridlock or Block in the other timeline. So….things are very different, and Nora is blaming herself. She does have an idea, though – in the future timeline, they never asked for help from a Wells. Why not try that? It might balance out things and help them find him.
We now see the new Wells of the season – Sherloque Wells!
This Wells is as arrogant as the Earth 2 version, as shifty as HR Wells, and of course as brilliant as any Wells we’ve seen. He insists on a French spelling of the name and puts on a French accent that at times slips back to regular English – and I think that may be on purpose, just to show how pretentious this Wells happens to be. But, while this Wells has Sherlock level deduction skills, he will try to take the easy way out whenever he can. And, he owes Team Flash a LOT of money after he scams them to start out his stay on the prime Earth.
Sherloque Wells thought he knew who Cicada was – because he was always one particular name on every Earth. This version of that name WAS a bad guy, but not OUR bad guy…because, again, the timeline changed. Think Nora is feeling the weight of the world by now?
Cicada has picked out Vibe to be his next victim, and he tries to get to him by finding the police detective who always seems to be around when Vibe shows up. That is, of course, Joe West. Cicada does not appear know at this point the secret identities of the metas, so it’s those pics that bring Joe into the fray. He tortures Joe, who won’t give up the team.
But, when Cecile comes up on them (or rather downstairs to see them), she calls for help. Cicso arrives first and Cicada pushes them both back into the breach and into a forest somewhere a distance away.
The battle is on, and Barry has arrived to save Cisco (after some impressive deductions by Wells and some great cross-referencing by Iris). But, Barry’s powers are instantly dampened and he is being beaten to a pulp. Nora is really feeling the heat. But, heeding Barry’s advice from earlier in the episode, she stops to think first…and she comes up with a plan.
Let’s leave it here that Nora finds a way to make Cicada think he killed Vibe. The plan works, and a slightly injured Cicada flies away….yes, flies away.
Now, Cisco will let the public think Vibe is dead – it’s the only way to get Cicada off his trail. That moment gives Nora a bit of confidence, and that’s a very good thing. Barry and Iris invite her to move into the loft, and she agrees. Iris is hoping that will give them a chance to be closer.
That brings us to finding out a bit of the motivation behind Cicada. He visits his daughter at Central City Hospital. The child is in a coma, and things do not look good for her. The doctor seems to know what Cicada is doing, and she asks to see the glowing wound he has on his chest, near his right shoulder. From the conversation, that’s been there a while and isn’t a result of the recent skirmish with Barry and Cisco. The doctor tries to get him to stop…but he won’t stop, not yet.
NOTES:
- Caitlin and Ralph have a separate storyline in which they get her father’s file out of her mom’s company. There is a supposed suicide note…but also a coded message using a game she and her dad used to play. The coded message? “Caitlin come find me”!
- Sherloque and Nora have a very interesting conversation near the end of the episode. Sherloque has figured out that Nora did a LOT of visiting her parents’ timeline without ever interfering in events…until that satellite was crashing at the end of last season. Did she come to that decision on her own? From the look on her face, Wells may be on to something.
- I liked out the “death” of Vibe was handled. Yes, there was a lot of comic book physics involved here. But, the heroic persona has to remain “dead” for now, and the way he “died” was convincing enough to fool everyone for at least a moment…and good enough to get Cicada to leave the trail. Having Nora come up with the clever way to make that happened was icing on the cake. I liked how they did that without making it a cheap trick – there was some real drama in how this came off.
SUMMARY:I’ve said this before, but the character of Nora is breathing fresh life into an already excellent series. Her character development is being handled perfectly by the writers…and Jessica Parker Kennedy is playing this role to perfection. Add to that another stellar version of Wells by Tom Cavenagh and you have a terrific show going on here. My only (minor) complaint? The voice of Cicada in uniform…it’s that typical “I’m growling slowly so you’ll be scared” voice that gets overused with bad guys. Other than that, this was a fantastic episode. I’ll give this a 9/10 – but of course that’s just my opinion. What do YOU think? How did you like the new Wells? How did you feel about the way Vibe’s “death” was handled? Leave your comments below!