The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 22 - Legacy

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

The Reverse Flash has been freed thanks to his indirect manipulation of the timeline. Now, Barry Allen and his allies must face his greatest enemy once again.


Influences

The Flash comics of Geoff Johns


Goofs

Cecile's powers are now described as being emphatic rather than telepathic. (She could be both, but she's always been shown as more of a mind-reader before.)

How does Iron Heights acquire Cicada's dagger in 2049 when Cicada had never been captured or identified in the original timeline Nora came from?

Why isn't Orlin Dwyer restored to life after Cicada II is made to have never existed? Logically, if she never existed, she never could have killed him. (Come to that, killing Dwyer should have made that version of Grace Gibbons stop existing, since she said that he trained her and mentored her to become the new Cicada in her timeline.)

Why does the dagger not disappear until just before Thawne is to be executed? Logically, if the dagger was destroyed decades earlier, it never would have been there to keep Thawne imprisoned in the first place.

It isn't made precisely clear why the destruction of Cicada's dagger causes Nora to stop existing. It could be either because Nora never felt the need to come to the past to fight the one enemy her father never beat or because Thawne wasn't around to teach her how to use her powers.


Performances

Again, Jessica Parker Kennedy steals the show with her speeches and the earnestness with which she handles Nora's death scene.


Flash Facts

When Thawne escapes, he tells Barry he will see him at their next crisis. This is almost certainly a nod to the 2019 Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover event.

In the closing montage, Ralph is seen in his office looking at a file labeled Dearbon. In the classic DC Comics, Ralph married an heiress named Sue Dearbon, who became Sue Dibny and eventually a member of the Justice League. She was the only non-powered person with no codename to do this.


Technobabble

Upon examining Ralph after he is shot with the mirror gun, Caitlin says that his cells have become kinetically inverted.

Caitlin says that the last time Ralph lost control of his body, they created a stabilizing enzyme that reset his body back to its original form using vulcanization and muscle memory.

Sherloque says a vibrational jolt should help Ralph to reassert himself.

Swiss Ash is one species of the flowering ash trees indigenous to Europe, but also makes up a sizable amount of the Kollins Woods - the closest forested area to Central City.

A speedster with a connection to the Negative Speed Force can use it to negate a paradox that would cause them not to exist. This is apparently how Thawne has managed to survive in some form despite being erased from existence twice.


Dialogue Triumphs

Nora: (V/O) I always wanted to be a hero, to use my extraordinary abilities to help people. That's why I came here. To meet my family, to stop Cicada, help fix the Flash's legacy, and save him from disappearing in the future. I believed I could do the impossible, but I never imagined it would turn out like this.

Barry: Sometimes in life, all we can do is just live with the consequences. So what you have to ask yourself is what kind of hero are you gonna be? One who takes a do-over after every mistake? Or one who lives with it and moves forward?

Killer Frost: What a bunch of sentimental crap. You two sound like a friggin' Hallmark movie. (This is doubly funny given Danielle Panabaker has been in a few Hallmark movies.)

(The Cicada Dagger disappears. Thawne regards the guards preparing him for execution.)
Thawne: Gentlemen. I hate to inform you... but you're all dead.

(Thawne stares down all of Team Flash)

Thawne: Isn't this nice? Team Flash, back together again with a new guy. (nods to Ralph) Ralph Dibny. Welcome. You should be dead.

Ralph: Yeah, I guess we have that in common.

Thawne: (chuckling) We'll take care of that in a moment.

Nora: Hi, Mom and Dad. If you're watching this, it means that something went wrong. But I don't want you guys to be sad. I'm not. I always wanted to be a hero, to use my extraordinary abilities to help people. That's why I came here: to meet my family, stop Cicada, help fix the Flash's legacy, and save him from disappearing in the future. I believed I could do the impossible, but I never imagined it would turn out like this. I'm glad it did. I wouldn't change anything about my time with you, my sweet parents, the most important people to me in the world. I wish I could be there to celebrate every new chapter, to witness every success. Just know that no matter where I go in my life, you'll always be my side. Because of you, I know I will never, ever, truly be alone, and I will feel your love and support like a warm hug comforting me, wishing me to be the best person I can be. Thank you for everything For making me a hero and for loving me even if I wasn't perfect. Please remember that I love you both and I always will, no matter what the future brings.

Continuity

Ralph throws himself in front of the mirror gun blast. This causes him to turn into something resembling a man-size geode.

All of the metahumans not cured in 521 are sent to a secure CCPD facility.

Barry and Nora discover a wood fragment at CCPD they think might lead them to Cicada.

Sherloque figures out what Ralph deduced - that Thawne was helping Nora to stop Cicada, because Cicada's dagger is being used in the future to negate Thawne's powers and keep him imprisoned.

Cisco reveals that he works at STAR Labs and is Vibe to Kamilla. She is cool with it and says she has no trouble with him trying to date her and be a hero.

Caitlin makes reference to 404 and the first time Ralph lost control of his body.

Cisco makes reference to how he was playing Lady Gaga when Barry first woke from his coma in the Pilot.

Ralph is left unable to speak straight for a short time after being vibrated back to normal.

The wood fragment Nora and Barry found is revealed to be Swiss Ash and is traced to Kollins Woods, which is 12 miles from Central City.

Cecile is used as an early-warning system, being able to sense Cicada's hatred.

The team breach Cicada II into Cisco's force-field at STAR Labs, giving Nora the time she needs to help the child Grace Gibbons get out of her coma and convince her to take the metahuman cure.

The shard of metal inside Grace Gibbon's head is soaked with enough dark matter it negates the metahuman cure. This means Team Flash still needs to destroy Cicada's dagger with the mirror gun in order to defeat Cicada II.

With her metahuman powers as a child neutralized, Cicada II ceases to exist.

In Iron Heights 2049, the Cicada dagger blinks out of existence just as Thawne is about to be executed.

Barry can now use his powers to briefly reverse time.

Nora vanishes from existence because with Cicada's dagger destroyed, there was no reason for her to ever come to the past.

Thawne says that Nora can save herself  by running into the Negative Speed Force, but she refuses to give herself over to it to save herself.

Sherloque returns to his Earth to be with Rene Adler.

Cisco removes his powers with the metahuman cure.

Grace Gibbons is set up with a nice foster family.

Captain Singh announces that he's been appointed the new Chief of the CCPD and is promoting Joe West to the rank of Captain.

Captain Singh reveals that he figured out that Barry was The Flash.

Cisco reveals that he made Caitlin and Killer Frost a new costume.

Nora's time diary and a video she made remain behind.

As the episode ends, time changes and the newspaper from the future which said Barry disappears in 2024 changes, with the date rolling back 5 years to show that Barry now disappears in 2019.


Location

Iron Heights - 2049


The Bottom Line

Nonsensical, painful and poorly explained on every level. Granting that the rules for time-travel have never been consistent and are driven by what is the most dramatic rather than any decent standard set of physical laws, the script for this episode needed a few rewrites.

It isn't clear, for instance, if Carlos Valdes is leaving the series or not now that he's removed his own Vibe powers. There were rumors he was leaving the show, but nothing that was confirmed with the same sense of certainty as Emily Bett Rickards leaving Arrow. We don't have a scene of him resigning his job from STAR Labs and there is no reason in the episode why he would need to do so.

Still, Nora gets a great ending to her story but the selling of it is due more toward Jessica Parker Kennedy's charisma than any craft in the writing or special effects. Both Cicadas are finally dead and gone. And it looks like we'll be getting Ralph and Sue together in Season 6, just in time for the end of the world.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 21 - The Girl with The Red Lightning

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

With Cicada plotting to unleash a biological weapon that will kill every metahuman in Central City, Team Flash goes on high alert. As Joe and Cecile organize an effort to distribute the metahuman cure that Caitlin is mass-producing, Barry, Iris, Ralph, Cisco and Nora focus their efforts on trying to catch Cicada. As Sherloque tries to see to the safety of the latest love of his life, Ralph wonders... why did The Reverse Flash have such an interest in stopping Cicada in the past?


Influences

The Flash comics of Geoff Johns and Doctor Who (Ralph makes a reference to "timey wimey crap.")


Goofs

Cisco is awfully indifferent to the question of where the mirror gun sends the material it zaps. That seems like a mighty important thing to determine since their hope was that the gun would disintegrate matter - not teleport it.

Why is everyone so down on Ralph wanting to figure out what Thawne's interest in stopping Cicada is? Especially Barry, who should be more paranoid than anyone about Thawne's angle! Granting that Ralph is a bit of a goofball, he's also the one who figured out a way to track Cicada before anyone else.

Barry chews Nora out for trying to see through Cicada II's eyes, saying that Cicada II could have done the same thing and pinpointed their location. It seems a safe bet that Cicada II already knows where to find them, given that the first time they fought Cicada II was when she came to STAR Labs to save her Uncle Orlin! (What makes this even more nonsensical is that Nora says she made sure there was nothing in her eye-line that said STAR Labs!)

This also begs the question of why Cicada II hadn't just come back to STAR Labs and finished them off, given that they can't fight back against her with the dagger neutralizing their powers.

Joe suddenly feeling incapable of taking command really doesn't ring true for his character.

Barry and Iris continue to be the worst and Nora finally gives them the "I am a grown-ass woman and can make my own decisions." speech that has been coming all season.


Performances

Tom Cavanagh's chemistry with Kimberly Williams-Paisley is such that you almost forget that the romance between Sherloque and Renee has taken place almost entirely off-camera and that she only appeared in one episode before now, nearly half a season ago!


Flash Facts

Sherloque claims that the average smartphone owner checks their phone 110 times per day on average. This is a fair average between various studies, which chart the average as being somewhere between 50-150 depending on the average age of the survey takers.


Technobabble

The cryo-atomizer.was originally developed by Tannhauser to combat large fires caused by droughts. It did this by dispersing cold air particles into the atmosphere, triggering focused, heavy rainfall.

With the cold particles replaced with the metahuman cure prototype, Cicada II could infect all of Central City, painfully killing every metahuman in the city.

The second piece of equipment Cicada II steals is a Quantum Tunnel Converter - the first prototype of its kind. The converter can transform dark matter energy to practical energy, allowing her to use her dagger to supercharge the atomizer - possibly boosting it to cover the whole of the USA rather than just Central City.

To connect the Quantum Tunnel Converter and the Cryo-Atomizer, Cicada II will also need a Hyper Conduit.

Sebastian Ollins is said Looks to be renting a warehouse he retrofitted it with fiber-joules technology to test out his experiments.This includes a cutting edge Hyper Conduit.

Hacking the cryo-atomizer requires a quantum computer. Connecting three nodes to the control processor inside will override the system.

Dialogue Triumphs

Barry: Hey, you find anything? 

Cisco: (testily) Confirmation that She-cada hasn't stolen everything she needs.So we have some time. 

Barry: Finally some good news.

Cisco: Except what she did steal was a Quantum Tunnel Converter. The first working prototype of its kind.

(Both Barry and Nora look stunned.)

Ralph: Yeah, that's the same face Cisco made when he heard.

Nora: Guys, listen. I saw Grace and I almost saw where she was. Right now she is putting her pieces together and when that is done, thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people are going to die.

I can't stand around and do nothing.

Barry: Yes, you can because that's what we're telling you to do.

Nora: When I first got here, I would rush in to fix things and by doing that, I always ended up making them worse. But I am not that person anymore because of you. You showed me how to use my powers. You taught me how to make the right choices. And right now, I am choosing to face this risk.

Iris: Nora, this is a terrible idea.

Nora: I know you feel that way. But I don't. I'm an adult capable of making my own decisions. I've made up my mind about this. So I am asking you, please, as my parents, stop trying to keep me away from this danger and start helping me face it.

Continuity

Eobard Thawne was incarcerated for 15 years before his death sentence was to be carried out.

The method of execution to be used on Thawne will somehow channel Thawne's own power to end his life.

Team Flash determines that Cicada II must need something else for her plan besides the cryo-atomizer - otherwise she already would have released the faulty metahuman cure.

The team elects to distribute the fully-functioning metahuman cure to as many people as possible, in case they can't stop Cicada II. That will save some people since, once cured, the anti-metahuman treatment shouldn't affect them.

It is agreed that the cure should be distributed at CCPD HQ.

Cisco tests the mirror gun on the STAR Labs satellite core, since it has a comparable level of dark matter to the gun and Cicada's dagger. It seems to either vaporize the core or send it somewhere else.

Captain Singh agrees to Joe and Cecile's plan to hand out the metahuman cure at CCPD HQ and places Joe in charge of the department and managing the distribution, while he goes to City Hall to argue in favor of the plan.

Sherloque approaches Renee Adler and tells her he knows that she's a metahuman, having seen her open a door without touching it in 513.

Cicada II arrives at Central City University while Sherloque is there.

As Nora approaches Cicada II, their psychic connection from 517 activates.

Nora's lighting turns red and purple again after her psychic connection activates.

Cicada II steals a Quantum Tunnel Converter from Central City University.

Renee Adler is revealed to be a magnokinetic - i.e. magnetism powers.

Nora says that her lightning turning red was a side-effect of Cicada II's rage channeling through her - not a sign that the Negative Speed Force is taking her over again. She says she can use that connection to find Cicada II, but Barry and Iris think it is too dangerous to risk.

Joe reopens the Cicada tip line and sets up police barricades 3 blocks around CCPD HQ.

Cicada has a psychic impression of panic and warns Joe that they are going to get slammed with panicking metahumans.

Cisco says that neither Staff Labs, Mercury Labs or Ivo Labs have a Hyper Conduit.

Ralph asks what interest Thawne has in stopping Cicada, but Barry dismisses this as unimportant.

Nora says the best place to find a Hyper Conduit in 2049 would be Ollins Laboratory.

According to Nora, Sebastian Ollins was a brilliant scientist in her time, who won a Nobel Prize for Quantum Engineering.

Sebastian Ollins was Cisco's college roommate.

Cisco claims Ollins couldn't stay awake through a single physics lecture and would have failed out of college had it not been for Cisco tutoring him.

Cicada II is able to steal the Hyper-Conduit before The Flash gets there and blows up the Ollins' warehouse.

Ralph points out there's a massive paradox involving Cicada II killing Cicada I and taking his dagger, because it doesn't explain where his dagger was in her future and how it could be used to kill future metahumans if Cicada II has it now. Again, Barry says this isn't as urgent a concern as finding Cicada II in the here and now.

Nora tries to use the Cerebral Inhibitor to block Cicada II's ability to read her mind while still being able to see through her eyes using their psychic connection.

Sherloque takes Renee Adler to CCPD HQ to get her powers removed.

Joe tells Cecile he's uncomfortable taking command in this situation, despite taking charge in the field countless times before.

Renee Adler decides that she wants to keep her powers.

Sherloque opens a portal to his Earth where friends of his can keep Renee safe while he helps Team Flash to stop Cicada II on Earth I.

Renee makes reference to the events of 515 and how the idea of multiple Earths isn't that strange compared to shark men and gorilla fighting.

Barry plans to use the Speedster-Proof Forcefield that Cisco built in Season One to contain Nora while she taps into her connection with Cicada II.

Joe stops a riot from breaking out at CCPD HQ, as the metahumans begin to panic.

Nora tracks Cicada II to the CCPD HQ.

Team Flash realizes that Cicada II is planning to use all the metahumans at CCPD HQ as a battery to super-charge the atomizer.

Barry asks Cisco to send the atomizer to Earth 15 - a dead Earth first mentioned in 410.

With the dagger plugged into the atomizer, Cisco has to disable the device rather than shooting it with the mirror gun or trying to vibe it away.

Cicada II confirms that she never had the power-negating dagger of her uncle before she came back in time to 2019.

Again, Ralph wonders what happened to the power-negating dagger if Cicada II didn't have it in her time.

Ralph realizes that the dagger must be what is being used to negate Thawne's powers while he is imprisoned and that destroying the Cicada dagger now will free him in the future.

The episode ends with Ralph shouting at Barry not to fire the mirror gun at the dagger, as Barry pulls the trigger.


Location

Iron Heights Prison - 2049


Untelevised Adventures

Most of Sherloque and Renee's romance has taken place almost entirely off camera.


The Fridge Factor

Renee Adler's entire purpose in this episode is keeping Sherloque occupied as he has to save her (and nobody else) from Cicada II. This wouldn't be that bad if she had shown up more than once before this season.


The Boomerang Factor

Honestly, the only thing saving Team Flash at this point is the fact that Cicada II didn't see fit to break into their base yet again and kill them all.


The Bottom Line

A badly-written, poorly-reasoned mess that wastes the show's best actors. The end of the season can't come fast enough, just so we can be guaranteed of never seeing Cicada ever again.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 20 - Gone Rogue

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here. 



Plot

XS is back in 2019 and she's gone bad, joining forces with the Weather Witch, Bug-Eyed Bandit and Ragdoll to form a new Rogues' Gallery. As Barry continues to cope with the fallout of his abandoning his daughter, Cisco makes a bold decision regarding his girlfriend.


Influences

Gail Simone's Secret Six (gang of mostly female villains, character of Rag Doll)


Goofs

Weather Witch is written with a completely different personality than she displayed in her last appearance. Before she was honestly remorseful for her crimes and reluctantly press-ganged into joining with Silver Ghost. This episode has her acting like an unrepentant villain who can't wait to double-cross the hero or kill people.

How are Rag Doll's powers supposed to function once he is inside The Forge? It's almost like the writers didn't know that the Arrowverse version of Rag Doll is a metahuman rather than a man whose body was surgically enhanced, as in the Secret Six comics.

Not that Barry and Iris have been consistently intelligent when it comes to Nora but their obliviousness hits new heights in this episode, where the two wonder why the daughter Barry literally abandoned in the future doesn't trust them anymore and wouldn't come to them for help in planning a robbery. They also repeat the same argument from last week regarding Barry being unwilling to compromise or consider that he might be wrong when it comes to Thawne's motivations.


Performances

Jessica Kennedy Parker does an amazing job selling some hokey dialogue.

One of the few bits of comedy in this episode that works without reservation is Grant Gustin's portrayal of Sherloque trying to sound like Barry Allen in full hero mode as The Flash.


Flash Facts

The architecture firm XS scopes out in the first scene of the show is G. Simone & Associates. This is a nod to Gail Simone - creator of the modern day version of Ragdoll and writer on Secret Six - a series which focused on a team of villains similar to the Rogues.

The plot of the episode centers around XS trying to steal a special "mirror gun" from McCulloch Technologies. In the modern day Flash comics, Evan McCulloch was the second super-criminal to use the name Mirror Master and use a variety of mirror-based gadgets to fight The Flash.

STAR Labs new satellites are named Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda after the main character of Sex in the City.

G. Simone & Associates is said to be on 34th and Williamson street. This is a nod to Joshua Williamson - the writer on The Flash's bi-monthly comic book when this episode aired.

The fake ID Nora makes for herself identifies her as Lt. Jenni Ognats.  In the comics, Jenni Ognats was the real name of the Legion of Super-Heroes member XS.

When escaping from his bonds, Sherloque says that he was trained in the art of escape by Thaddeus Brown of Earth-51. In the comics, Thaddeus Brown was the name of the first escape artist to use the name Mister Miracle. He trained both Scott Free and Shilo Norman, who both took up his name to continue his act and become costumed crime-fighters.


Technobabble

Gideon tells XS the chances of her breaking into McCulloch technologies on her own, successfully, are 3 million to 1.

Barry sets up tachyon scanners at half mile intervals across Central City in a bid to detect XS.

Caitlin programs STAR Labs seismometer to search for sonic booms in the hundred MHz range.

Barry notes that the hard drives in G. Simone & Associate's server room were fried from the inside, as if caught in a massive power surge.

A typical metal-oxide varistor protects against electrical charges up to one thousand joules.

A lighting bolt contains one billion joules.

Cisco detects a ton of background particle radiation at G. Simone & Associates and determines they are all Negative Tachyons.

Until now, Team Flash thought Negative Tachyons couldn't generate electricity. However, Cisco theorizes that instead of just offsetting Positive Tachyons, Negative Tachyons actually siphon energy from them, stealing power from the Speed Force like a parasite.

Intravenous electrolytes are used to treat coma patients.

The Forge is secured by a Montgomery 4000, 30-ton vault door. Once locked, it can only be opened from the inside.

The "mirror gun" Nora broke into McCulloch technologies to retrieve was made from the solar reflector panels of the original STAR Labs satellite. It has a prismatic battery supercharging its reflector panels. She says it is capable of atomizing anything and it is the only thing that Thawne knows of that might destroy Cicada's dagger.

Caitlin explains that the original metahuman cures Cisco developed hadn't been properly attuned to safely remove a metahuman's powers without killing them. Used in conjunction with the cryo-atomizer, they could kill anyone with a metagene in an incredibly painful manner.


Dialogue Triumphs

Rag Doll: (regarding crawling through a pipe into The Forge) This will be my aria.


Dialogue Disasters

Most of the episode, in all honesty. But a special shout-out for Caitlin's "Gross!" reaction to Ralph thinking she was flirting with him after talking about what a kind, compassionate man he is. You'd think she'd show a little more compassion after Ralph tried letting her down easy thinking she was trying to hint that she fancied him.


Continuity

XS breaks into the G. Simone architecture firm to find blue-prints for McCulloch Technologies.

Cisco programs the STAR Labs satellites to scan for XS' yellow-purple lightning signature.

Cisco says he is the Samantha of the STAR Labs team. Iris says he is the Miranda, in reference to the heroes of Sex in the City and a popular on-line personality test based on it.

Sherloque and Ralph have no leads on where the future Cicada has hidden her younger self or why she stole the Cryo-Atomizer.

Barry offers to let Caitlin take some time off to mourn her father but she says she'd rather keep working.

Ralph offers to help Caitlin with tracking down the Atomizer.

Barry is called out to a crime scene at G. Simone & Associates.

Caitlin and Ralph head to a her father's old lab in the Arctic after an alarm is tripped.

Sherloque does not understand emoji speech.

Cisco completes the program in The Book of Love, which Ralph gave him in 514. He gives the book to Sherloque.

Iris discovers that G. Simone & Associates spent most of the last year working for an anonymous client.

Barry figures out that Thawne taught Nora how to use Negative Tachyons to hide her movement.

Joslyn Jackam, The Weather Witch, was last seen in 510.

Brie Larvan, The Bug-Eyed Bandit, was last seen in A417.

Bug-Eyed Bandit gets angry when that name is applied to her and says it is "their name."

Bug-Eyed Bandit says she heard Weather Witch and Silver Ghost were in Bolivia.

Bug-Eyed-Bandit says she was approached by Silver Ghost about joining her team.

Ragdoll was last seen in 505. He apparently escaped from Iron Heights Prison, stuffed into a small crate.

XS refers to the events of 510 and how Weather Witch seemed to save her life because she didn't want to kill someone.

XS says that she wants to run a heist on McCulloch Technologies - the largest military-grade weapons manufacturer in the world.

McCullouch Technologies tests all their weapons in a facility known as The Forge, which has a metahuman power dampener more powerful than those employed by ARGUS. This is why XS needs Bug-Eyed Bandit and Weather Witch, as their powers are tech-based.

XS says that the weapons in The Forge could easily sell for $1 million each.

Caitlin says Killer Frost has been in hiding for the past few days. She thinks it is because Killer Frost has never really had to cope with the loss of someone she cared about before.

Ralph offers Caitlin another guide he wrote - Ralph's 27 Steps To A Better Mourning. #10 is to go see your dentist because you should be doing that at least twice a year anyway and it will distract you from your emotional pain.

Cecile discovers that G. Simone & Associate's mystery client is McCullough Technologies.

Cecile refers to the events of 513 and how Nora may be trying to break up an illegal arms deal like Barry and Ralph did.

Iris says she has a whistle-blower at the DOD who might be able to tell them about what McCullough Technologies is building.

Iris says she thinks there has to be another reason why Nora is committing this robbery and didn't come to Team Flash for help.

Nora steals Spencer Young's phone from 504 from the STAR-chives.

Rag Doll attacks Cisco and Sherloque in the elevator, after entering STAR Labs through the sewers.

Barry notes that Nora's lightning is now red and her eyes are glowing red, like Thawne's.

Iris gets an alarm from STAR Labs. She and Barry see Ragdoll and Weather Witch breaking in through a camera feed.

Sherloque deduces he and Cisco are being held in Keystone City based on the smell of barium in the air.

XS asked for the rest of the team to kidnap Cisco so he could reprogram Spencer Young's phone to work for someone else.

Sherloque apologies for outing XS' secret to the rest of Team Flash.

The rest of the Young Rogues learn XS is The Flash's daughter.

Caitlin and Ralph discover that Cicada has robbed the lab of all the intravenous electrolytes.

Ralph says his book has helped other people but never worked for him. He thinks he isn't built for love but is okay with that.

Caitlin says that is a Ralph is a kind, compassionate and intelligent man who deserves to be loved.

Ralph thinks Caitlin is flirting with him but tries to let her down easy. She says that he's being gross and that she wasn't trying to say that she fancied him.

Caitlin says that the prototypes for the metahuman cure were stolen from the lab as well.

Cisco recognizes that Sherloque is afraid to tell his girlfriend that he knows she is a metahuman, in the same way that Cisco is afraid to tell his girlfriend about that part of his life.

Sherloque also suggests that Cisco wants to stop being Vibe.

Cecile determines that Central City contracted McCullough Technologies to clean up the streets following The Enlightenment. This leads Team Flash to the conclusion that they must have acquired a ton of meta-tech scrap that is now being used to make new weapons.

Barry and Iris once again argue about whether or not Nora can be trusted. Barry wants to use Cisco's force-field or Ray Palmer's nanites to catch her.

Iris tells Barry that she honestly believes Thawne cares for Nora and that Thawne told Iris to go back to the present and try and work out her current issues with Barry before confronting Nora again. She also says she honestly thinks Thawne is trying to win some kind of redemption.

Nora plans to have everyone on her team except Rag Doll enter McCullough Technologies disguised as military VIPs.

Weather Witch ran away from her abusive mother once she turned 13.

Weather Witch, Bug-Eyed Bandit and Ragdoll are all of the opinion that you can't trust anyone and that family and mentors will let you down eventually.

Cisco hacks Spencer Young's phone so Bug-Eyed Bandit can use it. He also gives it unlimited data, but programs it to have spotty reception so he and Sherloque are able to win free of its mind-controlling effects once Bug-Eyed Bandit is far away.

Weather Witch says she abandoned Silver Ghost in Bolivia. It is unclear if she killed her or not, but she definitely betrayed her trust.

Iris, Joe and Barry sneak into The Forge using image-inducers to look like military officials.

Sherloque uses the STAR Labs hologram projector to pose as The Flash to act as a distraction.

Cisco hacks Bug-Eyed-Bandit's bees and shuts them down.

Barry convince Nora he truly has forgiven her after he takes a lightning bolt from Weather Witch for her.

Nora explains that she wasn't breaking into McCullouch Technologies looking for a weapon to kill Cicada - she was looking for a special gun that could atomize Cicada's dagger.

Caitlin has figured Cicada's plan - to kill every metahuman in Central City using the cryo-atomizer along with the imperfect metahuman cures Cisco developed.

The final scene reveals that Cicada hallucinates her Uncle Orlin being with her and encouraging her in her work.


Location

Dr. Thomas Snow's lab - Arctic Circle
McCullough Technologies Factory- Keystone City


Untelevised Adventures

Apparently Silver Ghost and Weather Witch had a falling out after escaping to Bolivia.


The Boomerang Factor

The biggest sign that we shouldn't take the villains in this episode seriously? Cisco and Sherloque argue about their love lives while in the middle of being held hostage.


The Bottom Line

A bit of a mess, thanks to a script that seems to have either been written by someone who hadn't been watching the show or hurriedly rewritten to account for missing characters or story lines that didn't get filmed. It tries too hard to be a tribute to Gail Simone's Secret Six, though Ragdoll is well-handled) and some of the comedic bits work well.  Still, too much of the episode is repetitive (Barry and Iris having the same argument from last week) and there's way too much out-of-character behavior.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 19 - Snow Pack

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

With Barry having stranded Nora in the future without consulting her, Iris takes matters into her own hands to retrieve her daughter using Eobard Thawne's time machine. Meanwhile, Caitlin must join forces with her estranged mother when her father, still dominated by his Icicle persona, returns to enact the next stage of his demented plan.


Influences

The Flash comics of Geoff Johns.


Goofs

Caitlin says she knows nothing about electrical engineering, yet she designed and constructed the delivery system for the metahuman cure earlier in Season 5. (Really, though, it did make more sense for Cisco to do that and for her to develop the cure...)


Performances

Harltley Sawyer delivers a powerful performance here. While he's mostly stuck being comic relief, Sawyer has nailed Ralph when it comes time to get serious, such as his telling off Sherloque and his confronting Iris in this episode. One wishes we got more scenes like this and less of him plastering himself to the inside of the Timesphere.


Flash Facts

The episode title may be a tribute to the supervillain group Mud Pack, which was made up of all four villains at the time who used the name Clayface.

With this episode, Eobard Thawne confirms that rather than tapping into the standard Speed Force, he draws upon the Negative Speed Force. First introduced in The Flash: Rebirth, the Negative Speed Force is, as the names suggests, an equal, opposite and darker power that counters The Speed Force.

Originally, the Negative Speed Force consumed any speedster it came into contact with and ate away at the Speed Force like a cancer. Following the New 52 revamp, it acted more as a dark mirror of The Speed Force, similar to the Dark Side and Light Side of The Force in Star Wars.

Much as Barry created the Speed Force in the comics and refuels it with every step he takes, so too did Eobard Thawne create the Negative Speed Force and empower it with his motions.

A Negative Speedster has most of the same powers that a regular Speed Force user has, including super-speed, accelerated healing, enhanced perception and mental processing, lighting generation, phasing and time/dimensional travel. However, most of these powers have a destructive flip-side to them. A Negative Speedster, for instance, must take care not to disintegrate what they phase through, as they generally make matter explosive when they pass through it.

The aura of a Negative Speedster protects them against more than friction and high-velocity wind-burn. It also vaporizes incoming projectiles. Their auras build up energy over time, however, and will eventually explode in order to release pent-up energy. Naturally this energy does not hurt the Negative Speedster.

Negative Speedsters have access to powers that regular Speed Force users do not. These include the ability to negate the powers of Speed Force users, the power to drain the Negative Speed Force from other Negative Speedsters to boost their own power, the ability to age or deage themselves and the power to erase a person's memories. Perhaps most impressively, Negative Speedsters have an easier time using their powers to travel in time and do not require an external device like the Cosmic Treadmill or a focus to act as their lightning rod. Presumably this is because attempting to alter time is an inherently destructive act.

The lightning of a Negative Speedster tends to be tinted red, black or purple. Their lightning does not follow the laws of physics in regards to energy output and does not act like normal electricity, causing objects to explode upon contact.

A Speed Force user exposed to the Negative Speed Force experiences great pain and may be rendered unable to use certain powers for a time.

The Negative Speed Force in the Arrowverse seems to operate on the same rules, save that the Speed Force in the Arrowverse doesn't have the same limitations regarding time travel. Beyond that, a person has to be in a dark state of mind to tap the Negative Speed Force, drawing upon their hate, fear and anger in the same way that Barry Allen draws upon the joy he feels while in motion and his sense of hope.


Technobabble

Judging by the thermal warping of the glass in Grace Gibbon's hospital room, Barry determines that an energy blast with a lot of heat broke the window. Of course he also points out it doesn't take a CSI to guess Cicada was responsible for abducting her younger self.

The prototype Cryo-Atomizer Icicle steals from Dr. Tannhauser was kept in a docking station lined with a carbon-filled Kapton polymide. This is the same material NASA uses to build probes meant for the coldest reaches of space.

The Cryo-Atomizer has the ability to disperse particles which slow down atoms' molecular motion into the atmosphere. Combined with Icicle's powers, he could use it to plunge Central City into a new Ice Age.

The Cryo-Atomizer can also be used to recreate the process that created Icicle and Killer Frost.

It is sais that the nano-cryoparticles inside the atomizer can be tracked by reprogramming an oscillating inversion scanner. Dr. Tannhauser suggests they use a modified field array instead.

Sherloque saves Barry's life by using the live wires in a piece of heavy-duty lab equipment to generate a current that heats up the copper wiring of his suit's circuitry and heat it up enough to warm Barry and let his speed-healing kick in.

Barry is able to remove Dr. Tannhauser from the Icicle's machine by phasing while holding a lightning bolt. This enables him to create an electronic bridge that gives him the heat he needs to survive a near Absolute Zero environment.

Caitlin develops an endothermic litmus test to determine if a person has Metahuman DNA or not. If they do, it creates a stoichiometric reaction that turns a green fluid white.


Dialogue Triumphs

Iris: That's how you feel, Barry. (sighs) What about asking how I feel?
Barry: I didn't think I had to!
Iris: Of course you didn't. Of course you didn't, Barry! You always see one way through a problem and damn what I think.
Barry: Wait, wait, what the hell does that mean?
Iris: You know, we have been through so much crap, we have been through so much therapy and you are still still making decisions based on your emotions!
Barry: 'Cause I'm right this time!
Iris: (incredulous) Flashpoint? Going to the Speed Force and leaving me? Were you right those times too?

Barry: You know, if this were anybody else, you'd back me. But because it's Nora, because it's our daughter, the person who finally stopped hating you, you refuse to see how dangerous this is. I mean, you talk about making decisions based on emotion? Look in the mirror.

Thawne: I used to idolize your father. I wanted to be just like him. But that was not my fate. I was to be the reverse. Opposite of him in every way. So instead of tapping into the Speed Force to access my powers, I created my own.
Nora: You created your own Speed Force?
Thawne: Yes, I did.
Nora: And I can access it to go back in time?
Thawne: That and more.
Nora: Can you teach me how to use it?
Thawne: Well, I... I have to warn you, Nora... It's a little bit negative.

Sherloque: I can deduce from your faces that you're upset, but you understand the truth need to be exposed?
Ralph: Yes, we understand that.What you don't understand is that this is a family. You didn't include anyone in this.

Dr. Tannhauser: Your father is trapped inside an ice monster, Caitlyn. What was I supposed to do? Split custody with him on the weekends?
Caitlin: I don't know. You could try telling me the truth. But why tell your daughter anything?
Dr. Tannhauser: Funny, I don't recall you telling me that you let the monster out of the prison.
Caitlin: Because you never told me he was in a prison! And now all these years that I could've been working on a cure for dad are gone! We may never get him back.
Dr. Tannhauser: (sarcastic) Well, at least you have someone to blame. Moms are always here for that.

(Iris is in the Time Vault, plotting to steal the Time Sphere. She turns around and Ralph is there.)
Ralph: Planning a trip?
Iris: How did you get in here?
Ralph: Followed you then stretched under the door. By the way, was anybody ever gonna tell me about this secret room? What else do we got in here? A bowling alley or something?
Iris: Ralph, I don't have time for this.
Ralph: Actually, it looks like you have all the time in the world.
Iris: You're not gonna stop me.
Ralph: Who said anything about stopping you?

(Caitlin and her mother are arguing over what equipment they should use to track Icicle.)
Barry: I'll get both. Might take my time.
Joe: (desperately) You need help?
Barry: No.

Nora: I did everything exactly like you told me! How come I can't do this?
Thawne: Listen, not harboring enough rage to fuel your trip is not something to be ashamed of. You're just like your father.Your light is your greatest strength.

Thawne: She's gone.
Iris: What the hell do you mean she's gone? Gone where?
Thawne: I don't know where. I only know when. 2019.
Iris: When Nora said you showed her a way back she meant your way.
Thawne:Yes. And I made a mistake. She wanted to go home, I tried to help her. But listen, Iris, you have to find her. She needs her family.
Iris: And that family does not include you.
Thawne: But it does include Barry. She needs you both united.
Iris: (angrily) I'm only going to say this once. You don't get to comment on us. You stay the hell out of our business or you won't even make it to the end of that timer.
Thawne: I like your anger, but don't let it drive Barry away. The only way for you to help Nora is by doing it as a family. Otherwise, you're simply leaving Barry the exact same way he left Nora.


Continuity

Barry and Iris fight over whether or not Barry should have dragged Nora to the future without giving Iris a chance to say goodbye.

Iris makes reference to Flashpoint (301) and Barry going into The Speed Force (323) in pointing out how Barry let's his emotions govern his decision-making.

Thawne confirms that he created a Negative Speed Force to empower himself.

Cisco is on Earth-47, asking Breacher for advice on tracking the new Cicada.

Cecile is watching after Jenna. Ralph says he will join her later at Joe's house to go through every file they have on the new Cicada.

Cicada kidnapped her younger self from the hospital. Thankfully, her coma was stable, so she should be fine so long as Cicada takes care of her.

Dr. Carla Tannhauser was last seen in 503.

Icicle was last seen in 506.

Icicle steals a prototype Cryo-Atomizer.

Nora's first attempt to tap into the Negative Speed Force fails. Thawne says this is because she's too much like her father when it comes to being positive and upbeat and that using the Negative Speed Force requires you to give yourself over to despair and anger.

Icicle kidnaps Caitlin and Dr. Tannhauser, nearly killing Barry in the process.

Sherloque is about to leave for another Earth when the alarms at STAR Labs regarding Barry's vitals in his Flash costume go off.

Sherloque elects to save Barry rather than just leaving.

Caitlin says that neither she or her mom know anything about electrical engineering.

Dr. Tannhauser never met Ronnie Raymond.

Snow Pack was Thomas Snow's pet name for his family.

It is revealed that Icicle's plan is to use the Cryo-Atomizer to change Dr. Tannhauser and give her an ice persona, creating an ice family for himself.

Iris confronts Nora at Thawne's cell. The fact that she came without Barry gives Nora the anger she needs to tap the Negative Speed Force.

Thawne says he can feel Nora in the Negative Speed Force but only knows she is going to 2019.

Caitlin is able to free herself by tricking Icicle into freezing the meta-control cuffs she is wearing.

Barry saves Dr. Tannhauser from the Icicle's machine.

Thomas Snow reasserts control from Icicle after Icicle almost kills Caitlin.

Caitlin fights Cicada and loses. She is saved only by her father throwing himself in between Cicada and Caitlin as Cicada throws a knife.

Cicada steals the Cryo-Atomizer.

Caitlin conducts a test to determine if her mother has metahuman powers. Though it initially comes up negative, it changes to a positive shortly after everyone leaves the room.

Ralph tells Sherloque that he's part of the Team Flash family now.

Barry admits he made a mistake about Nora.

Iris says that she honestly believes Thawne cares for Nora.

Nora is seen emerging in 2019, her eyes glowing red, now drawing fully on the Negative Speed Force.


Location

Wherever Dr. Tannhauser's lab is located - 2019
Iron Heights - 2049


Untelevised Adventures

Cisco goes to visit Breacher, who retired to ranch dragons on Earth 47 in 419.


The Bottom Line

A mostly-harmless filler episode that rushes the story of Caitlin's dad to a conclusion after not being touched for nearly two-thirds of the season. Cicada kidnapping herself is treated as an afterthought and most of the run-time is devoted to Iris' shaggy-dog time-travel story. At least this section has the benefit of being well-acted, but Danielle Panabaker is largely wasted in what should be a major episode for her character. Instead, she too feels like an afterthought and there's no punch to her father's death or her mother being revealed as a metahuman.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 18 - Godspeed

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

With Nora's relationship with the Reverse-Flash revealed, Team Flash is torn on whether or not Barry and Iris' future daughter can be trusted. As the team goes through her journal to learn just how she came to work with their greatest enemy, they learn the story of how Nora learned of her powers and how she faced her first villain - a vicious speedster who dubbed himself Godspeed.


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (character of Godspeed) and Cary Bates (Character of Detective Curtis) The film version of The Silence of the Lambs (Nora's first meeting with Thawne in prison is a tribute to the first appearance of Hannibal Lecter)


Goofs

Iris says that Sherloque didn't say anything about his suspicions about Nora. Yet Iris caught him spying on Nora in 511 and told him to stop after he said he thought she was up to something.

It seems a little weird that Team Flash shuns Sherloque for having the gall to spy on Nora behind her back and then goes along with Ralph's suggestion to read her whole journal without question.

No effort was put into Candice Patton's old age make-up beyond giving her some silver streaks in her hair.

The Reverse Flash display at The Flash Museum says he was sentenced to life in prison, yet the end of the episode reveals he just got his last meal and is about to be executed. (You'd think an event like that would be big news and that Nora would have heard about it. Then again, Iris apparently runs all the media in Central City now.)


Performances

Jessica Parker Kennedy has a fantatsic turn here, adding a whole never level of depth to Nora West-Allen.


Artistry

It's a small thing, but I do like that it is Ralph who suggests reading all of Nora's diary to figure out what she was feeling after Sherloque went through it just looking for facts. Too often Ralph has been treated as the comic relief and nothing but this season so it's gratifying that he gets to show his detective skills and his heart in one gesture.

The script is filled with a number of clever callbacks to the pilot episode of The Flash and other early moments from Barry's early days.

Danielle Panabaker does a fantastic job with the direction. It's hard to single out any one element, but the greatest may be the total disconnect between the loving Barry Allen we see leaving a message for the daughter he knows he may never see grow up and the hate in Barry's voice two minutes later as he is abandoning that same daughter in the future after telling her he doesn't trust her and can't have her around him.


Flash Facts

This episode was directed by Danielle Panabaker, who plays Caitlin Snow.

Godspeed first appeared in The Flash Rebirth #1 in August 2016.

In the comics, Godspeed was Detective August Heart - a colleague of Barry Allen's and his closest friend at the Central City Police Department. Five years after Barry became The Flash, August was struck by lightning and became one of several new speedsters to seek training under The Flash following a freak storm made up of Speed Force energy. August would later start killing the other newbie speedsters in a bid to steal their power and become faster. He had the unique ability to move so fast for brief periods that he could create a clone of Speed Force energy and briefly be in two places at once.

The Arrowverse version of Godspeed is named August Hart. He is identified by the CCPD as a bio-hacker, former Mercury Labs intern and former graduate student at CCU specializing in Tachyon Mechanics. He was expelled after he conducted illegal experiments testing tachyon stimulants on coma patients. He learned of existence of the super-speed drug Velocity-9 while working at Mercury Labs and began trying to find a way to replicate it make the effects of the drug permanent.

The first truck Nora is asked to inspect came from Dayton Labs. In the DC Comics Universe, Dayton Labs is one of many companies owned by Steve Dayton a.k.a. Mento, who was also the fifth-richest man in the world.

The detective at the Dayton Labs robbery is identified in the credits as Frankie Curtis, though her first name is never used. In Cary Bates' run on The Flash, Detective Frank Curtis was a friend of Barry Allen's on the CCPD. He first appeared in The Flash #274 in June 1979.

Nora's first attempt at assisting the police doesn't go well, and the two bank robbers she tries to stop, who are called Bug and Byte, escaping after Nora loses control of her powers. In the comics, Bug and Byte were a brother/sister super-villain duo, who first appeared in Fury of Firestorm # 23 (May 1984). Bug had the power to mentally connect to any computer system and transform people into electrical impulses he could then trap on the computer. Byte had the power to transform herself into a being of living energy and transmit herself through phone lines and power lines like a bolt of energy or data.

The Arrowverse version of Bug and Byte are a duo of bank robbers - one man and one woman. It is unknown if they are also brother and sister or if they have powers. Given their reaction to being confronted by armed police officers, it seems unlikely.

It is said that Nora's supervisor at the CCPD is named Captain Fyre. First appearing in The Flash #285 in May 1980, Darryl Fyre was the Chief of Police towards the end of the original run of The Flash comics.

Later, in the New 52 reality, Darryl Fyre would raise Barry Allen as his own son after Nora Allen's murder. Unbeknownst to Barry, Darryl Fyre and his mother had been having an affair and his father, Dr. Henry Allen, was served divorce papers just before she was killed by Eobard Thawne.

Nora and Lia attempt to stop Godspeed from robbing Stagg Industries. In the comics, this is the business owned and operated by continual Metamorpho nemesis Simon Stagg. The Arrowverse version of Simon Staff was killed by Eobard Thawne in the second episode of The Flash's first season.

One of the businesses Nora identifies in Central City is Choi Enterprises. This is likely a nod to Ryan Choi - the second man to become known as The Atom.


Technobabble

In the future, people will have AR glasses that project a screen in front of them.

The Dayton Labs trick is filled with Benzene Methanol residue. According to Nora it is a versatile element, used for everything from treating lice to making nanotech.

Halothane is an incapacitating agent.

The Affinity 4000 is a top-of-the-line security camera. When it is tampered with, its fail-safe releases Halothane. Lia says they also have a Trillion FPS and can capture light in motion.

According to Dr. Bonwit, the stolen chemicals would only be able to work together is being built into a structure like an extracellular matrix.

Godspeed stole a lot of Carbon Disulfide from Ollins Laboratories.

Nora was hit with over 5 billion joules of electricity. This is the same amount of energy contained in a lightning strike.

A 10-90 is the police 10 code for a bank heist in Central City. (In real life, 10-90 is the code for a bank alarm going off.)

Eobard Thawne's cell is equipped with enough power dampeners to negate the powers of 1000 metahumans. Should those fail, the walls, class, ceiling and floor of his cell are wired to generate a charge of 400 kilo-joules, making them phase-proof.

Nora says that Carbon Disulfide mixed with Benzene Methanol would be unstable and explosive without a third chemical to act as a binding agent with a plus-one oxidation state, like Dioxygen Diflouride. She later identifies this as the extracellular matrix for the Velocity-9 drug.

According to Thawne, a biometric converted requires constant fluorescent light. It is a kidney shaped object.

Thawne suggests that they can neutralize all the Velocity-9 in Godspeed's system by exposing him to the electro-magnetic radiation of a satellite dish, utilizing the short bursts of microwave energy that occur every hour when the dishes recalibrate.


Dialogue Triumphs

Dexter Myles: (over PA system) Thank you for visiting the Flash Museum today. The building will be closing in five minutes. All guests should make their way to the exit now. And Nora West-Allen, your mother called. Please, for your sake and mine, call her back.

Nora: Will you tell me how you were defeated?
Thawne: Why do you want to know that?
Nora: It'll help us with an investigation.
Thawne: You need to work on your lying. Nora. Your shoes are new. But your soles are worn. You have singe marks on your sleeves and singe marks on your pant legs, but most of all... your cheeks are flushed with windburn. (lovingly) Oh, I know that windburn. I can still feel it. (pauses) You're a speedster.

(Iris has just confessed that everyone in Nora's life knew that she was meant to have speed powers and that Iris used an implant to negate them.)
Nora: Why would you do that?!
Iris: Nora, I was trying to protect you.
Nora: From what?
Iris: From this city. From... from meta-humans. From... from yourself.
Nora: (laughing) Wow.
Iris: Nora, you don't understand -
Nora:  (sobbing) No, I don't understand! How did I get my powers?! What do you have against speedsters?!
Iris: Nora, I have already lost so much. I can't risk losing you too.
Nora: (shrugging) Well, you just did.
(Nora runs out of the room... in a flash.) 

(Nora is trying to outrun Godspeed)Nora: I can't lose him! Thawne! Did you hear me? I said I can't lose him!
Thawne: All right, Nora, do you see any walls near where you are? Preferably concrete?
Nora: Why?
Thawne: Because I want you to run into one. Or rather, through one.
Nora: I can't run through a concrete wall!
Thawne: Yes, you can. If you vibrate at the natural frequency of air, your body your cells will be in such a state that they will phase right through that wall.
Nora: I can't do this!
Thawne: Nora, listen to me. Listen to my voice. Breathe. Breathe. Feel the wind... on your face. The ground beneath your feet. And the lightning. Its electricity surging through your veins. To your nerve endings from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes like an electric shock you never want to end. You're part of something greater now, Nora. You are part of the Speed Force and its power, its power is yours to use. Now do it!

Nora: Here he comes!
Thawne: Then run, Nora. Run!


Nora: There's so much I wanted to ask you. So much that I still don't know. So much that my mom has lied to me about.
Thawne: You have no idea.
Nora:  What do you know? Thawne, please, you may be the only person left in my life who won't lie to me!
Thawne: Nora... how much do you really know about The Flash?

 
Dialogue Disasters

(Godspeed runs in and looks at Lia and Nora)
Nora: Oh my god!
Godspeed: Yes. I am a god. A god of speed!


Continuity

Sherloque says he senses something was strange about Nora from the first moment he met her.

Cecile says she never sensed that Nora was hiding anything in all the time they spent together.

Cisco points out that Thawne was also a master liar and he may have taught Nora how to do the same thing.

Ralph suggests reading Nora's diary to see what she was thinking and feeling beyond the fact that she had apparently been working with Thawne.

Like Barry, Nora was always running late before she got her speed.

Nora works with a Detective Curtis.

Nora is called to investigate the robbery of a Daytons Lab truck that was delivering chemicals.

Nora says that two labs and two transports were robbed earlier in the past week, with nobody seeing anything.

Nora theorizes that someone picked the lock on the transport, disable the camera and stole a chemical from the Dayton Labs truck before the incapacitating agent could do its job.She does not voice her only explanation for this - a speedster - to Detective Curtis.

Nora's best friend and co-CSI is a woman named Lia. She shares Nora's love of superheroes (especially speedsters) and thinks she would have been Jesse Quick's best friend had she ever met her.

Lia says there hasn't been a speedster seen in Central City since The Flash disappeared during the crisis Iris wrote about in 2014.

Lia says that The Flash, Kid Flash, Jay Garrick and "the purple speedster who showed up one day" have all vanished. (This last one seems to be a reference to Iris during the events of 416.)

Nora become a CSI to follow in the footsteps of the father she never knew.

Much as Barry was obsessed with proving his father's innocence on murder charges, Nora is obsessed with solving the one case Barry Allen couldn't  - the mystery of Cicada. She also has a case board in her office at CCPD.

Slowing down the security camera footage reveals streaks of white lightning inside the Dayton Labs truck.

Nora visits the Flash Museum to research speedster lightning.

The display of The Reverse Flash says that Eobard Thawne was finally captured and will spend the rest of his life in Iron Heights.

Nora confirms there is no record of a speedster who had white lightning.

Iris is in Coast City working on a story.

Lia gave a list of the stolen chemicals to a former teacher of hers, Dr. Bonwit, who now works at Ollins Laboratories. He says they might be part of a larger matrix, but he has no idea what might be made with only two chemicals.

Godspeed shows up as Lia and Nora are leaving.

Godspeed throws lightining at Nora, throwing her through a vat of chemicals and seemingly electrifying her.

When Nora wakes up, Lia is playing Lady Gaga's Pokerface. This is the same song Cisco played to get Barry to wake up when he lapsed into a coma.

Lia gets a minor burn from Godspeed's attack.

Dr. Bonwit is sent to the ICU after being attacked by Godspeed.

Nora says she feels good, apart from her fingers being a bit tingly, despite being struck by lightning.

Lia gives Nora a scrap of metal the paramedics found under a scar on her shoulder.

Nora first uses her powers trying to catch the vial with the metal scrap that Lia drops.  Nora runs out of control and crashes into the back of a Gambi & Sons laundry van. This is a shout-out to when Barry first got his powers in 101, when he landed in the back of a Gambi's Cleaners van.

In another nod to 101,Nora is unable to stop her hand from vibrating and looks at it in shock. This is the same thing Barry did when his powers first manifested (She says "What the hell?" whereas Barry said "What's happening to me?")

Nora tells Lia her secret.

Nora has a Flash bobble-head in her office.

Nora thinks her father was killed by metahumans, which is why she thinks Iris hates them. She doesn't understand why, since she knows Iris was the first person to write about The Flash when he first appeared.

The Flash Museum says that The Flash got his powers from being struck by lightning.

Nora's first attempt at stopping a bank robbery ends with the robbers getting away after Nora accidentally destroys three police cruisers. Thankfully, Bug and Byte were found 10 minutes later, hunched over with runner's cramps.

Nora's supervisor is named Captain Fyre.

Nora is the second person in 15 years to visit Eobard Thawne.

According to Nora, everything about the Reverse Flash in the CCPD files is cyber-locked and there's almost nothing about him in The Flash Museum except for his name the date of his incarceration.

Thawne is being tortured in his cell, electrocuted with some device that generates red lightning or which is drawing the Speed Force out of him.

Lia determines that the scrap in Nora's scar was the power-canceling microchip that Iris implanted in Nora as a child which we first learned of in 504.

According to Nora, the only place in Central City that has Dioxygen Diflouride is Stagg Industries, which previously appeared in 102.

Lia is killed by Godspeed, who puts his hand through her chest at super-speed.

Iris releases Nora from her cell in the present, after reading about Lia's death and realizing that Nora only went to Thawne after the one person she thought she could trust died in her arms.

The CCPD was able to identify Godspeed thanks to the DNA he left in the exit wound after he killed Lia. They identify him as a man named August Heart.

According to August Heart's record, he's a former employee of Stagg Industries (Janitor), Dayton Labs (Inventory Manager), Mercury Labs (Intern) and a barista at three different C.C. Jitters locations. Like his comic-book counterpart, he has a deceased brother.

Nora recognizes August Heart as a man she saw at the Flash Museum all the time.

Watching a video of Zoom (from 206) Nora remembers that Godspeed's lighting briefly shifted from white to blue when he killed Lia. Nora then remembers that Trajectory (the evil female speedster from 216) had worked at Mercury Labs and her lightning was also blue. This leads her to conclude that Godspeed must be using a Velocity 9 variant to get his powers.

Thawne agrees to help Nora after she talks about Lia's death.

Thawne teaches Nora how to create an electrical shock by rubbing her hands together and using it to short out electronics.

Thawne tries to teach Nora how to phase through a concrete wall, using a similar speech to the one he gave Barry in 117.

Thawne's advice allows Nora to beat Godspeed.

Thawne reveals to Nora that he's about to be executed in 1 hour and 19 minutes, when she comes to tell him about her victory over Godspeed.

Thawne's last meal is from Big Belly Burger.

Thawne tells Nora how to find the Time Vault in what was STAR Labs and is now the Flash Museum, using the ring from his Reverse Flash costume as a key.

Nora discovers several containers holding old versions of The Flash's costumes, including the one she takes that she gave to Barry in 501. There is also a rack holding several costumes, including Iris' jacket from when she briefly had super-speed. This one will go on to become Nora's costume.

Gideon activates when Nora West-Allen touches her podium in the Time Vault. She knows who Nora is and reveals that her father was The Flash.

Gideon has a message for Nora, which Barry recorded for her just before his apparent death during the Crisis where he disappeared.

Before Nora went back and altered the timeline, apparently Barry had no idea that his daughter would inherit his powers.

Barry runs Nora back to her time and warns her to never try and come back to the past again, because he does not trust her.

Barry confronts Thawne in prison. Thawne asks him not to hold what happened against Nora and asks him to consider that a condemned man's last request.

When Barry leaves, the countdown past 10 minutes to Thawne's execution has begun.


Location

Central City - 2049
Iron Heights Prison - 2049


The Bottom Line

A definite contender for one of the strongest episode in the show's history. Easily the best of Season 5 so far, thanks to some strong direction and strong performances. 

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 17 - Time Bomb

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

With the timeline having been changed unexpectedly and the future Eobard Thawne officially giving up hope of fixing things, Nora is urged to come clean to her parents in the past about who she's been working with. Unfortunately, Nora isn't the only time-traveler in Central City 2019, with an adult Grace Gibbons having taken up her uncle's mantle as Cicada now hunting down the metahuman responsible for killing her parents.


Influences

The Flash comics of Geoff Johns.


Goofs

Seriously, where has Ralph been for the last two weeks? Did it really take him that long to check in with all his local underworld contacts?

 The new Cicada is said to have the power to negate other metahuman's powers, but Barry and Cisco didn't seem to have any troubles last week in their first fight with the future Grace Gibbons.

Much as we hate to side with the villain, we do have to agree with future Grace Gibbons that the CCPD were rather negligent in investigating her parents murder. While putting out an APB for every woman wearing a hoodie would have been impractical, it seems like after an ATM blew up they might have checked the records to see who used the ATM immediately before it blew up on the off chance it might have been their bomber.

Vicki Bolen claims to have seen the ATM explode and money flying everywhere but says that nobody got hurt. This completely contradicts Cisco's Vibe vision. While she might be in denial about the damage she caused, it does raise the question of why Barry and Joe don't confront her over The Gibbons' deaths and arrest her for manslaughter. (Of course blinking future Cicada out of existence by having her parents' killer tried would be boring to watch...)

Vickie Bolen is somehow able to use her powers despite the presence of the new Cicada and Nora West-Allen saying she's lost her speed. (We know it can't be because Vickie is a non-dark matter meta since Cicada specifically tracked her by her dark matter signature.)

For some reason, Team Flash is still adhering to the policy of getting a person's permission before giving them the metahuman cure in the case of Grace Gibbons. While the principle is fine in theory, Grace is a minor and they already have the permission of her guardian to cure her. Legally, that should be all they need. (This is doubly vexing because after explaining that they aren't giving the cure to anyone without their permission, Barry explains that Caitlin says it isn't safe to inject a child with a cure that was designed with adults in mind and the whole thing is especially risky to chance it given Grace's particularly fragile state.)

While we're used to the rules of time travel and how quickly changes are made to the future when something in the past is changed being entirely dependent on the plot at this point, it seems like we should have seen an instant paradox take effect when Future Grace kills her uncle, whom she said trained her to become the new Cicada.

If Future Grace Gibbons was able to figure out that STAR Labs had a time machine and was able to steal it and go back in time to try and kill her parents killer... why not go back and stop her parents from using that ATM in the first place? Why not kill the killer before her parents died? (We can't even use the excuse that Future Grace is too crazy to have realized this or is too mad about killing to not want a peaceful resolution because she outright says that the fact that her parents are dead is the important thing to her - not whether or not their deaths were an accident. So why not stop those deaths?!)

Why doesn't Future Grace Gibbons kill The Flash after she kills her uncle Orlin?!


Performances

I've missed Jesse R. Martin's expressions when he deals with the madness around him.


Artistry

The effects work on the scene where Barry tries to outrun Cicada's dagger in a narrow hospital hallway while changing into costume does look fantastic.


Flash Facts

The Starchive site which Grace Gibbons breaks into is located in Kolins Woods. This is a nod to artist Scott Kolins, who was the artist that co-created Cicada along with Geoff Johns. (Kolins Woods previously appeared in 503.)

The party that the new Cicada crashes is being held at a Central City business called Crash Crawly's. This is the name of a real-world kid's party restaurant in British Columbia, similar to Chuck E. Cheese's in the United States and it uses the same logo.

Ralph makes reference to "Peter Parkering" Kamilla, getting her a job working for Iris' newspaper. This is of a course a nod to Spider-Man's secret identity and how Peter Parker paid his bills as a photographer for The Daily Bugle. Ralph goes on to say that maybe Kamilla will be bitten by something radioactive hanging around STAR Labs and become a spider-person.


Technobabble

One of the notes scribbled on the blueprints for the Time Sphere says "Neutron Flows Cannot Be Reversed." This is a reference to one of the most famous bits of technobabble ever - "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow." While used in countless works of science fiction, the line is frequently attributed to Jon Pertwee, the third actor to play The Doctor. While he did often say "reverse the polarity", he only ever specifically referred to a neutron flow twice and only once during his original run as The Doctor. (He did say the line in The Five Doctors reunion special)

Future Grace has a device in her costume that can track the unique dark matter signature of a particular metahuman, getting close to an exact real-time location.

Nora says that Vickie Bowlen hyper-accelerated the molecules in the ATM, causing a violent chain-reaction that led to it exploding.

Eobard Thawne discovered that, much like DNA gives a human body instructions on how to function, the multiverse has its own source code that cannot be altered no matter what timeline you are in. This Time Code, as he calls it, allows him to write notes in a manner that will not be changed no matter how time changes based on his travels.

Caitlin says that Grace Gibbon's dark matter has a unique binding quality that allows her to telekinetically manipulate dark matter, even that in other people. Her powers are stronger than her uncle's because her wound was in her head, allowing the dark matter to go deeper into her brain.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Nora runs into Thawne's cell in Iron Heights. She is frantic. He watches the screen on his wall, impassive, turned away from her.)
Nora: Something went wrong! We got Dwyer. We gave him the cure! This should all be over! But another Cicada showed up, took Dwyer and the dagger!
(Thawne doesn't react. He doesn't say anything or turn around.)
Nora: Thawne! Did you hear what I said? Another Cicada showed up!
Thawne: (quietly) I know.
(Thawne turns around and regards Nora sadly as the picture on his screen clarifies into a picture of Barry fighting the new Cicada.)
Thawne: I know.
Nora: Who is that?
Thawne: I have no idea.
Nora: (angrily)You said manipulating the timeline would stop Cicada! You said you knew what you were doing!
Thawne: (barely a whisper) I know what I said. I was very wrong.
Nora: What do we do?! What do we do now?!
Thawne: I can't help you anymore, little runner.
Nora:What? You have to help me!
Thawne: It's too late.
Nora:No. There's gotta be something we can do. You you have to help!
Thawne: There is only one thing left to do. Tell your father. You tell your father everything.

Barry: Hey, by the way, this might not be our only lead. Do you remember that Time Sphere that we built for Thawne?
Joe: That big hamster ball thing?
Nora: Someone stole one in the future to come here.
Cicada: For what? Our Cicada copycat?
Joe: It makes sense. (blinks)  I can't even believe I just said that.

Nora: Hey.  You were wrong, you know.
Barry: About what?
Nora: About Vickie not wanting to tell her family about her abilities. It's her choice not to tell them.
Barry: Look, keeping a secret like that from her family is It's dangerous. I mean, they might get hurt or worse.
Nora: She's just trying to protect them.
Barry: I get that, I do, but I-I used to think that keeping secrets from people for their own good was a noble decision, that it would protect them. But when you do that, you just rob those people from making their own decisions. I even did it with you.
Nora: Like when you didn't want to take me to your past.
Barry: Mm-hmm. I didn't want you to see how painful things got for me as the Flash or how bad things got for your mom. But secrets are like walls, and you can't really know someone with walls between you.

(Barry and Nora exit the party center at super-speed and return in costume as The Flash and XS.)
The Flash: I don't see Cicada anywhere. Do you?
Alice Bolen's Daughter: It's The Flash! Mom, you got Flash and XS cosplayers for the party?!
The Flash: (uncertain, eventually speaking in a forced, melodramatic tone) Yeeeeeees, I am the Flash! And I love... soccer! Do you guys love soccer?
(The kids all shout "Yeah!" and chatter excitedly.)
The Flash: Do you want to... Yeah! Awesome! Come with me! Here, let's play some soccer over here. (starts trying to lead the kids outside) This way. This way! Come on!

(Barry and Nora have just witnessed things breakdown between The Bolens. Nora is biting her lip.) 
Barry: Hey, we did the right thing. We kept this family safe.
Nora: Then why does it feel like we made everything so much worse?

(Ralph enters into Cisco's lab. Cisco is working on some device.)
Ralph: Need any help with that, uh...
Cisco: Nope. Unless you came here to break something, in which case you'd be the perfect candidate.
Ralph: I deserve that. Never should've interfered with Kamilla. Sometimes, I forget how embarrassing I can be.
Cisco: I'm not embarrassed by you, and I'm not embarrassed by anyone on Team Flash. You guys are my family. You're not the problem. This is the problem. This is the problem. Kamilla is blissfully unaware of any of the madness that goes on in S. T. A. R. Labs, or that we routinely save the city from evil metas.
Ralph: Or that you have a secret identity and dress up in leather and go all pew-pew!
Cisco:  Especially the leather. (chuckles a bit) She and I, we got a good thing. And being with somebody has never felt so so easy. And when I'm with her, for once, I just feel like a normal dude, with a normal life and a social-media-official girlfriend, who happens to be a very talented photographer and not... a Spider-Person.
Ralph: (sighs) It's... that's amazing, man. It really is. And I promise that I will respect that. But I gotta ask... how long do you think you can keep those two worlds separate? Look, my mom dated this guy, Craig, and Craig was a tax accountant and a freelance bull rider. Never let one world know about the other, and it just tore him up. More than those bulls ever did.
Cisco: Mm. I should definitely be working.
Ralph: Look, the thing is, I get why you're afraid of losing what you have with Kamilla, but if you keep her out of this world, it seems to me that you're always gonna be turning off a part of yourself. That's not right. And if Craig hadn't been crushed to death by that huge filing cabinet I know he'd feel the same way.

Thawne/Wells: And so the timeline, it can be malleable, but my knowledge will be intractable.

(As Barry walks away from the Pipeline cell in which he locked Nora.)
Nora: Dad! I'm sorry I lied to you!
Barry: (turning around, speaking bitterly) So am I.
(Barry leaves as Nora starts to sob uncontrollably.)


Continuity

When Nora goes to Thawne in the opening scene, the time in his cell is now down to 12:00 minutes.

Orlin Dwyer's lung is said to be healing following his surgery.

The older Grace Gibbons reveals her identity to Orlin by showing him the dolls he made of her and him. She says that eventually she wakes from her coma and grows up, with Orlin training her to become the new Cicada.

Grace says that after she returns from taking care of one bit of business, she will help Orlin figure out how he gets his powers back. This implies that, in the future she is from, Orlin became Cicada again after having taken the metahuman cure.

Joe and Cecile question the hospital staff about Dr. Ambres. They confirm that nobody else knows anything about Orlin Dwyer's relationship with Dr. Ambres or where to find Dwyer now.

Sherloque completes his translation of the Time Language. He notes that most of Nora's diary is boring and it does nothing to indicate who she is working with, though he's certain she's using the diary to report to someone in the future.

Sherloque is revealed to be performing STAR Labs janitorial duties as part of working off the money he charged Team Flash.

The Cortex has been remodeled in the wake of last week's attack by Cicada, with a new comm desk.

Iris wrote an article about the new Cicada, but her readers haven't reported any new sightings.

Ralph said that he checked with Earl Cos and the rest of his underworld contacts but also has no leads on Orlin Dwyer or a new Cicada.

The STAR Labs satellite is scanning Central City for dark matter flares but, as Sherloque points out, they don't know that the new Cicada is a dark-matter infused metahuman.

Caitlin is said to be at the Tannhauser arctic site, working on figuring out how the new Cicada seemed to be able to control Team Flash.

The Starchives are locations outside of STAR Labs where they keep Flash related items that might be too dangerous to keep in their relatively public base.

An alarm is triggered at the Starchives site in Kolins Woods, which previously appeared in 503.

Sherloque and Cisco find what appears to be Eobard Thawne's Time Sphere from Season 1 in the forest.

Ralph and Iris find what appears to be the same Time Sphere still in storage.

The Starchive also contains the vacuum cleaner Cisco pretended was a weapon to bluff Captain Cold in 104.

A scratch test on the sphere in storage reveals that the Time Sphere in the woods is the same Time Sphere, traveled back in time from some point in the future. This leads them to conclude that the future Cicada stole the Time Sphere.

Future Grace robs the evidence locker at CCPD headquarters. She is shown to be able to use her daggers to cut through a reinforced concrete wall.

Later, it is determined that all Future Grace took was a single cold case file that had yet to be digitized. Barry is able to figure out what is missing by sorting all the other records at super-speed.

Kamilla's full name is revealed as Kamilla Hwang.

Cisco and Kamilla are now in a relationship and change their social media status accordingly.

Cisco has still not told Kamilla about his life as a superhero or a super-scientist and he wants to keep his life compartmentalized.

Kamilla has a gig taking Easter Bunny photos.

Ralph mistakes Jason, a barista at C.C. Jitters, for a different barista named Larry.

Larry gets Ralph the wrong coffee, either because he honestly doesn't know what Ralph's usual is or to spite Ralph for not remembering his name.

Sherloque finds the original blueprints for Thawne's Time Sphere. They have the words "The Timeline Is Malleable." written on them in Thawne's handwriting.

The cold-case file that Cicada took involved two people who died in a metahuman attack at the site of an ATM.

Cisco vibes the burned concrete around the new ATM computer to see a woman touching the ATM and discharging some kind of energy from her hand just before a young couple walk up to the ATM and it blows up as we see a screaming child in a parked car nearby. The child is Grace Gibbons.

Nora recalls Grace picturing herself as Cicada in her mind in 512. This leads the team to the conclusion that the new Cicada is the future Grace Gibbons.

Future Grace rages to Orlin Dwyer that the CCPD did nothing to investigate her parents' deaths, despite three witnesses seeing a woman in a hoodie at the ATM before it exploded.

The CCPD file contains a piece of the ATM which is charred by dark matter residue.

Future Grace has a device in her costume that can track the unique dark matter signature of a particular metahuman.

Future Grace says that in her time, the number of metahumans has increased substantially. She says she came back to track the metahuman who killed her parents and then help Orlin with "the mission" (i.e. killing all metahumans.)

Joe. Barry and Nora track the last person to use the ATM before The Gibbons down at a party being held for a kids' soccer team called The Lighting Strikes. The card belonged to a Vickie and John Bolen.

The Gibbons died on May 4, 2017.

The ATM that blew up was located near the corner of Kingswell and 42nd.

Vickie Bolen says that the ATM sparked after she touched it and she felt something awaken in that moment. She was afraid the police would think she was trying to rob the bank and hoped what she did to break the ATM would just be ignored.

Vickie Bolen has kept her powers secret from her family and refuses Barry's offer of police protection after they explain that Cicada may be coming for her.

Ralph introduces Kamilla to Iris and tells her Iris is looking to hire a photographer for her newspaper. Cisco is less than thrilled about Ralph interfering in his girlfriend's life behind his back.

Sherloque finds a hidden flash drive inside of a compartment in the left arm of Eobard Thawne's old wheelchair from his days masquerading as the Harrison Wells of Earth One.

Ralph and Joe explain to Nora that there was once a time when Central City kept metahuman crimes under-wraps in the local press, by order of then Mayor Bellows, in trying to explain why Vickie Bolen might not know that she killed two people. He did this in order to cover up the activities of the metahuman thugs he had on his payroll. This was revealed in 404.

Nora has a psychic flash where her eyes glow red. She can feel the presence of the Future Grace Gibbons and her knife. She guesses that she must still have a connection from when she entered her mind with Sherloque's Memory Machine.

Vickie Bolen is able to use her energy powers to charge a soccer ball and throw it at the new Cicada. The power acts like a bomb and knocks Cicada off her feet when she tries to block it with her knife. The bomb also knocks down her daughter, Alice.

Cecile is pained by the amount of hatred for metahumans she feels inside the comatose Grace Gibbons.

Alice Bolen is hospitalized due to the injuries she squired when she is caught in her mother's bomb blast. She is now afraid of her mother.

John Bolen is furious that his wife didn't tell him that she had powers and tries to kick her out of their daughter's hospital room. Joe takes him away to try and talk to him.

Ralph promises to back off on trying to bring Kamilla into Cisco's work life but politely  suggests that Cisco's trying to compartmentalize his life and hide parts of himself from Kamilla can only end badly.

Orlin Dwyer reads the police report and notes that no mone was taken from the crime scene, despite the ATM exploding. He says it sounds like the death of Grace's parents honestly was an accident. She is not pleased by this and says he sounds like The Flash and XS.

Future Grace tells Orlin that she killed Dr. Ambres for taking away his powers.

Orlin tells Grace that all he wanted was to make her happy and safe. He tells her he fully intended to cure himself and her.

Sherloque accessess the Gideon computer in the Time Vault to play the flash drive he found. It pulls up a video file of Thawne, log 247, where he discusses the problems of  knowing when time is changed by a time-traveler and how he overcame this by discovering a time code that cannot be altered by time-travelers.

This leads Sherloque to confirm that the second handwriting sample in Nora's journal belongs to Thawne.

Vickie Bolen is able to make peace with her daughter Alice.

The new Cicada has the power to block Vibe's breaches, making him unable to pass through them by blasting them with her energy when they open.

Future Cicada kills Orlin Dwyer when he tries to talk her down and says that killing isn't the answer to dealing with metahumans and that she doesn't have to live in anger.

The Bolens are put into the Federal Witness Protection Program.

Sherloque reveals Nora's secret - that she has been working with Eobard Thawne - just as she is about to say it herself, but she can't find the words to explain.

The episode ends with Barry locking Nora in one of the pipeline cells.


Location

Iron Heights Prison - 2049

The Boomerang Factor

More of the usual nonsense with Cicada being able to have killed The Flash a while ago except for suddenly leaving at the end of the fight scene despite The Flash being helpless and it being unclear just if/when the new Cicada is capable of negating a metahuman's powers.


The Bottom Line

Quite possibly the single-worst episode of the show to date, at least from the perspective of continuity and adhering to the basic rules of the show's universe. What's weird is that there's a number of great lines and the ensemble cast does a great job of selling everything. Emotionally, the resonance of the episode is solid. Logically, not a damned thing makes sense. But at least we won't have to hear Uncle Orlin growling his way through his monologues anymore.