And…we are back! It’s the mid-season premiere for Season 5 of THE FLASH, and we pick up with Nora’s conversation in 2049 with none other than Eobard Thawne! The theme of this episode seems to center around two questions: “Do you trust me?” and “Who deserves a second chance?”. There is a lot going on in an episode that surprisingly has little of Barry Allen…but does have a lot of intrigue. Want to know more? Follow us after the jump!
SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
NOTE: This review is posting before THE FLASH airs in the Pacific Time Zone USA. If you haven’t seen the show yet, STOP NOW and come back after watching. You’ll be glad you did!
Let’s talk about trust, and how that plays out in the episode:
- Nora no longer trusts Thawne at all after learning how he killed her grandmother. Thawne is the one who taught her to time travel, and that’s exactly what she does, returning to present day Central City. For most of the episode, she is no longer willing to believe anyone can change. That plays out in how she treats Weather Witch…a “villain” who is now very remorseful and who wants to make things right.
- Weather Witch is on trial, and Cecile is the prosecutor back at work after maternity leave. She wants to go easy on Weather Witch…but Nora (who ends up testifying…and we’ll get to that) goes off from the stand. It prompts Weather Witch to plead guilty…but on the way to prison she is “saved” by this week’s villain, Silver Ghost.
- Nora believes that the two are in cahoots, that Weather Witch planned for Silver Ghost to break her free. It’s not until much later in the episode that Nora realizes (thanks to a talk with Iris and later with Barry) that there are people who deserve a second chance.
- This also plays out between Cisco and Caitlin. Cisco just wants to be “normal” again, and thinks he can find a “meta-human cure”. Caitlin at first argues against it, and as Killer Frost she sabotages Cisco’s work. By episode’s end, they have found a compromise – work on the “cure” but don’t force anyone to take the cure against their will. This “cure” may be the key to stopping Cicada…but how else could it be used? We will probably revisit this again in future episodes.
- And finally, it plays out in how Sherloque views Nora. Probably with good reason. Nora has been hiding a lot…and present day Team Flash has no idea how deep that goes. Sherloque is still trying to translate Nora’s diary…and when he goes to Gideon he finds that Nora has deleted all files on herself!
Silver Ghost actually breaks Weather Witch out two times from the police. The second time, the two of them raid A.R.G.U.S. for a stealth vehicle that took 10 years and $24 million to create…possibly from Wayne Tech? Even though it looks like a classic Chevy Camaro SS, it backs HUGE bells and whistles, including the ability to phase and to turn invisible!
In the end, Weather Witch saves Nora from a potentially fatal attack, proving that she has some hope for change. Still, she and Silver Ghost get away…leaving the stealth vehicle behind.
All this has Nora thinking about Thawne…does he deserve a second chance? She returns to 2049 to speak to him again. She isn’t truly ready to give a second chance…but she is willing to listen to him again. Thawne is glad because…
…There is a countdown clock, presumably showing all the time his has left. Is he due for execution? Possibly, but we will have to see more here. This promises to have some VERY important plot twists coming up very soon.
SUMMARY: Nora’s character keeps giving us new twists – just when you think you really know her, something new is revealed. I like how this is playing out, and I’m glad we aren’t learning everything just yet. All in good time… It was interesting to see an episode of THE FLASH with such little amounts of Barry Allen, but it gave the rest of the characters (minus Joe West and Ralph Dibny, who weren’t in this episode) to shine. All in all, a solid episode and a welcome return for the series. I’ll give this one an 8/10 – but that’s just my opinion. What do YOU think? Leave your comments below!