The Flash S05 EP11 spoiler review
(I found myself wondering why Caitlin went for a knife fight, instead of just blasting him)
The Flash gave us a very Cicada-heavy episode after not seeing him since the midseason finale. We got the return of a few characters, the furthering of a few plot points, and a new direction the team will take in their fight against Cicada. So here is my review of the episode, entitled, "Seeing Red."
The primary plot of the episode followed the team as they discovered Cicada is slaughtering past metahuman criminals who had been released from prison. It was a cool concept and really worked to the serial killer point of Cicada's storyline, and even gave us a cameo of "Bork," otherwise known as "King of the Docks," in the comics, however; the show's version was not a monstrous beast of a man. I'm starting to wonder if Orlin's hate for metahumans is all his own though, or if the hospital doctor who has been aiding him has some part in fueling his hatred more than it should be. Could she be pushing him further from redemption? After all, she was the one who found a contact in the CCPD to give her a list of metahumans for Dwyer to hunt down. The CCPD informant was a fun little side story to give to Cecil, and with her we got several more mentions of Joe who may be returning soon!
The other two side stories in the episode involved Sherloque looking further into his investigation of Nora (finding nothing so far aside from Iris being angry at him for investigating her daughter), and Killer Frost adamantly sabotaging the metahuman cure since she doesn't want to be erased. After Caitlin ruined Cisco's attempt to make the cure, you would think Killer Frost would know Caitlin would never take it, and Killer Frost full on destroying the board was a bit childish and annoying. I am glad though that they're consistently giving Caitlin something to do aside from pine over a love interest. Ralph eventually convinced her to come around on the idea of a cure, because obviously, Caitlin wont take it and there are people in the world who would gladly take it (King Shark could probably use it).
On the front of the main storyline, the rounding up of the metahumans on the list gave us the returns of two characters. One was Norvak, the man with a snake in his eye from season 4 who I truly did not care for, but don't mind as much now that they gave him a more humanizing backstory and made him more of a hero. I still think it is very odd though that his "superpower" is having a snake in his head. The other returning character was Peek-A-Boo, who I was very excited to have return since the season 1 villains are my favorite (Still waiting on the Mist's return), though she ended up not adding anything to the episode aside from being there, so in the end, she was wasted just as Weather Wizard was.
An earlier encounter with Cicada ended with him breaking Nora's back similar to what Zoom did with Barry in season 2. This sent Barry on a darker path after the man who had hurt his daughter so much, and due to the CCPD informant telling Cicada where the FBI were picking up the in-danger metahumans, Barry got his rematch with Cicada when the latter arrived to murder the remaining metahumans. With Ralph's help, the metahumans were able to escape into the helicopter, while Barry and Killer Frost managed to subdue the serial killer. After doing this, Barry nearly succumbed to killing the villain if it hadn't been for Nora's recovery and arrival on the scene to remind him that he isn't a killer. This lull in the fight allowed Cicada to escape, and Barry thanked Nora for stopping him. It was a very sweet storyline for the two of them, Barry especially, but we've seen Barry toeing the line of murder before with the likes of Zoom. Cicada's actions also seemed a bit odd considering what he has done in the past, because he knows that XS is The Flash's daughter yet he goes ahead and breaks her back, while the end of the episode also sees him resigning to target her. As a man with a daughter of his own, this seems a bit cruel and out of character for him.
Despite Cicada's cruelty, Barry makes good on his lesson to Nora from the previous episode on his belief that anyone can be brought back from darkness, as he decides that they'll help cure the villain's daughter in an attempt to appeal to his heart. It sounds like an awesome plan and it is the show reminding us how different Barry is from other superheroes, he sees the good in people when no one else can, and I'm excited to see how this plan plays out. I have a sneaking suspicion that Dr Ambry may have some kind of hand in Grace not waking up yet, as she wants Cicada to continue his metahuman killing spree, but I may be wrong. Whatever happens next, I can't wait for next tuesday!
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