The Flash S05 EP18 spoiler review
(I cannot think of a more comic accurate suit from this show)
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First off, Danielle Panabaker, the actress who portrays Caitlin Snow, apparently directed this episode so kudos to her. I really enjoyed tonight's episode, and just like the time loop episode this is one where Nora was essentially the main character and I really loved it and didn't feel like the show lacked without Barry Allen on screen all the time. Nora is a character I've really come to enjoy, and I'll be sad to watch her return to the future eventually.
On Ralph's suggestion, the team began to read through Nora's journal and the show used this to portray flashbacks that fleshed out Nora's backstory and her path to running back in time. The callbacks to the show's first episode were very present with Nora experiencing several of the same things Barry did, such as being struck by lightning, waking up to "Poker Face", and running into the back of a laundry truck. It was a fun, and she had a lot of the same infectious energy that Barry does. We got to see her discover that her mother had subdued her powers, which was a devastating conversation to see between the two of them, and we also watched as Nora lost her best friend to the villain of the week (who I will get to in a moment). So things were definitely on a backslide for her, and we can see where the desperation came in for Nora to go to Reverse Flash for help.
The big villain this week was a villain who has really made a name for himself in the recent comics: Godspeed. Not just in a masked speaking role either, the show gave him an actor, a face, and seemingly a closed story that won't lead to any more appearances which is a shame. Godspeed had an incredible costume, and the first appearance of white lightning on the show (though I swear Savitar had white lightning too). We also got the nice return of Velocity 9, which Godspeed was trying to manufacture into a permanent, non-lethal form. As a villain, Godspeed was a lot of fun to have around, though I feel a bit cheated that we likely will not see him again, after such an awesome and long awaited debut. His appearance did supply the show with a new line for examination, as his arrival prompted Nora and her friend to bring up how after the red skies crises every speedster vanished. Not just Barry, but Jesse, Wally, Jay, and the one with the purple lightning (no doubt Accelerated Man); all gone. What exactly is happening with crises? There's more on that to come!
At wits end on how to stop a speedster, Nora sought out the help of the Reverse Flash who finally decided to aid her after seeing how desperate she had become. Together, with his guidance, Nora managed to defeat Godspeed. The whole sequence also offered a nice parallel between Nora and Barry's story when Thawne was giving his speech on how to phase; however, Nora chickened out as would I if I had only been a speedster for a day or two. That scene also gave a lot more weight to the first scene of the season, when Barry gave Nora a similar speech about phasing the plane and she actually went through with it. Barry could reach her in a way Thawne never could, even when delivering roughly the same speech.
Upon Thawne's guidance afterwards, Nora discovered the time vault in STAR labs, then subsequently found Gideon who informed her that her father was the Flash! Even more shocking to Nora was when Gideon presented her with a video message from Barry who told Nora that he loved her and that he was sorry for not being around to raise her. More alarming though was the apparent battle he was in, and the fact that the skies were a dark red! More teases towards Crises later this year!
The ending of the episode was just as heartbreaking as the end of the last episode. While last episode saw Barry locking Nora in the pipeline, this one saw our hero taking Nora back to the future and ordering her not to return. He understand why she did everything, but not why she kept going back to Thawne after discovering that he had murdered Barry's mom, and when Nora could have come to Barry for guidance instead. Barry did not trust her, and so he left her behind in the future after paying a quick visit to Thawne. The visit was only long enough for him to tell the villain that they had finally won, while Thawne's countdown clock (That seems to be confirmed as an execution clock) hit 10 minutes! I really love the episodes that give a lot of focus to Nora, and with five episodes left in the season I'm excited to see where they go from here!
Stray thoughts: I love how The Flash show is constantly pulling in obscure, wacky characters from the comics for live action. This week we got Bug and Byte as burgerlers, and Nora's Cicada investigatino board listed, "Floyd Belkin" as the first victim of the killer. In the comics he goes by, "Arm-Fall-Off Boy," who has prosthetic limbs he can remove and use to fight. Insane, by the end of the show's run I wonder what other z-list characters will be making live action debuts.
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