Title: The Flash: “The Flash and The Furious” Review
Release Date: January 15th, 2019
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
This week’s episode of The Flash has given me a revelation. I don’t care about Cicada.
Look, I like the idea behind the character. His powers are unique enough to work as a big bad. And, his arc of revenge could have been riveting to see unfold. There’s just something that isn’t clicking. I don’t know if its Chris Klein in the role or something with the writing. Yes, I know, he wasn’t even in the episode. That’s my point. The villains in this episode were more interesting than him (well, two of the three villains but I’ll get to that later).
I have this revelation now because of the return of Tom Cavanagh as the Reverse-Flash. No matter what this guy does from here on out, on this series or elsewhere, this is his defining role. Like his brief appearance in “What’s Past is Prologue”, Cavanagh’s Eobard Thawne keeps you on the edge of your seat with every scene he pops in on. Now, let’s be clear, I don’t buy that he’s changed at all. But, Cavanagh is so good at this role that I found myself believing in his “redemption” story. If only for a minute.
What’s really intriguing here is the mysterious reason behind why Thawne is helping Nora. Again, I’m throwing the redemptive-arc out of the window as this makes no sense for his character. Based off of the last scene he was in, it appears that he is on death row for his crimes. I can see him orchestrating one final plan to kill The Flash and cement his “Legacy”. But, would this be in season five or next year, when “Crisis on Infinite Earths” happens? Whatever his plan is, I can guarantee it includes breaking out of that prison in the near future.
Getting the Reverse-Flash stuff out of the way early, this was a packed episode. There was a lot of developments that have me hooked for the rest of the season. Cisco wants to create an optional cure for those with meta-powers, to Caitlin and Killer Frost’s dismay. Although Caitlin comes around by the end of the episode, I’m not so sure Killer Frost is on board with this idea. This could be catastrophic for Team Flash. The future for the Arrowverse isn’t a happy place. As seen on the vastly underrated Legends of Tomorrow, A.R.G.U.S. has taken over using martial law and most metas are treated as second-class citizens. In Arrow, Star City is…well, it’s still Star City in the sense of impending attacks and disarray. But, it’s more lawless, I guess?
The Flash’s future is bleak and feels a lot like the one painted in Legends. A large part of this has to be the disappearance of Barry Allen in the “Crisis”. My point to all of the rambling is this. The cure that Cisco and Caitlin are creating could very well be what jumpstarts this future and the turn of A.R.G.U.S. That would be an insane twist, which could potentially set up the plot of the next season.
As our villain of the week, we had Raphael Van Zandt AKA Silver Ghost (played by Gabrielle Walsh). I had to actually look this character’s name up because, although she was a good villain, she wasn’t the primary focus. She wasn’t even the secondary focus either as that was on Nora’s distrust of Weather Witch. This is unfortunate because I really wanted to delve into her backstory and character more. Her meta-tech ability was fun and with her tech being able to give off waves of uncontrolled dark matter, catching her isn’t as easy as it could have been. It also gave The Flash a great way to sideline Barry (I wasn’t sure but I think Barry was reading the romantic novel written by Mick in Legends of Tomorrow. If it was, that’s awesome).
Nora’s been a major part of season five. But, she’s always her dad to back her up. With him out of the picture for the episode due to the side-effects of dark matter, Nora was given a much-needed solo episode. This is something I desperately wanted for Keiynan Lonsdale’s Wally West. In his case, it always felt like Wally was in Barry’s shadow and couldn’t get it done on his own.
I liked that Nora’s arc this episode felt like one we would’ve seen from Barry back in season one. Actually, it may have been an arc Barry had in season one. Either way, it developed Nora more into a fleshed out character. Weather Witch gave me the exact opposite reaction. To my recollection, she acted like a cartoonish lunatic while trying to kill her father and tried to kill a lot of people. Now, just a few episodes later, the show wants to ground her character and redeem her? It just didn’t work and came off as forced to me.
Finally, we have to talk about Sherloque Wells and his investigation into Nora’s notebook. We can officially rule out the theory that he is “Eobard in disguise” as his mannerisms in the time-vault proved that he had never been there before. There isn’t much to delve into yet but this subplot is starting to get going. Hopefully, we learn more about the speed-force language and Nora’s relationship with Eobard soon.
Verdict: “The Flash and The Furious” was a filler episode that didn’t feel like a filler episode if that makes any sense? There was a lot of setup of what’s to come in the rest of the season and it seems that the Reverse-Flash will be a major part of it. Reverse-Flash, the Cisco/Caitlin side-story, and Nora’s development as a character all stood out as arcs that could make the second half of The Flash season five even better than the first.
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