Title: The Flash: “Legacy” Review
Release Date: May 14th, 2019
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
Over the past few weeks, I was worried that The Flash season 5 finale would not be able to make up for the (mostly) average second half of the season. Luckily, Reverse Flash’s return saved the finale from being pretty forgettable.
I’ve talked about it a lot but there really is no villain in the Arrowverse like Tom Cavanagh’s Reverse Flash. Matt Letscher’s version of the character is great but there’s something that gives Cavanagh’s Eobard that extra push. Maybe it’s the fact he was our first big bad on The Flash. Maybe it’s his awesome theme music or even the intense whispering. I’m not totally sure but I was glued to my TV screen for the entire second half of this episode.
What a brilliant way to showcase Nora’s rewinding time ability here. It was a huge win-win scenario. Reverse Flash got to look like the cunning, dangerous villain and unleash his brutal revenge on the guards in Iron Heights. Nora and Barry got to be our stereotypical heroes, erasing all of the chaos Eobard just caused. It all led up to the big confrontation between Flash and Reverse Flash, which is yet another win.
Flash and XS versus the Reverse Flash battle was epic in every way. It not only tells you how experienced this older Thawne is but it tells you just how much he knows his two protégés. The entirety of Team Flash (plus a time sphere) had to join the fight before Eobard even showed a hint of losing. But, as he always does, Eobard had a plan in place to make sure he’d escape. By destroying Cicada’s dagger, Barry saved Nora in the short term. But, he created a new timeline where Nora never existed. Technically speaking, Reverse Flash has killed both Barry’s mom and his daughter in a way to where Barry could have potentially saved them. Man, that’s really dark. And I’m not even getting into the stellar scene from Iris there at the end in the time vault. Candice Patton crushed it. After thinking about it, Arrow actually had the more light-hearted season finale this year. That’s pretty crazy.
Nora’s character has evolved over the course of the season from slightly overzealous fangirl to a full-fledged hero. Given how much screentime she’s gotten this season, if she hadn’t progressed this much as a character, season 5 would have been a lot worse. Jessica Parker Kennedy brought it the whole season and the finale was no different. I really enjoyed Nora’s final message to her parents and watching her accept her fate. Kennedy’s performance was the main reason why.
They kinda gave us a possible tease that Nora could return somehow down the line but I don’t think she is. They’ve teased the Tornado Twins multiple times throughout the series, including this season. I’m guessing Nora will not appear in the Arrowverse again. And that might be for the best. It was a good ending to her character’s overall arc. Who knows, maybe Kennedy comes back as Dawn Allen?
I’m sorry if you believe otherwise, but I think The Flash needs a speedster villain as its main antagonist to succeed. Seasons 1, 2, and even 3 to a certain extent had this hype factor behind it that The Thinker or Cicada never brought out of me. In 30 minutes, Reverse Flash changed my entire mood on the finale. Like I mentioned before, the second half of this episode had me glued to the screen due to its pure intensity and its fleshed out antagonist. There’s nothing Cicada 2.0 could have done here to cause that garner that type of reception.
First off, this meta-cure consent idea was dumb. Just dumb. I’ll admit, I understood where the show was coming from when it was first introduced and it worked for someone like King Shark. However, thousands of meta-humans’ lives are on the line. A serial killer has the ability to kill them and the one chance Team Flash has to stop her is by injecting her younger self with the meta cure. I’m sorry, you gotta give her the cure as soon as humanly possible. Again, her future self is a freaking serial killer and she could kill thousands at any minute. Everyone on Team Flash came out of this looking like absolute morons. Luckily, we had a remarkable ending to the episode because I was willing to grant this episode another “Disappointing” rating for this ridiculous plot point alone.
I’m not sure how down the totem pole Cicada 2.0 is in terms of The Flash big bads. The character was miles ahead of her uncle, who may just be the worst character in the history of this series (Yeah, I’m going that far). She never got any better after her initial debut. Instead, she was just kinda there to advance the plot when needed. The Flash writers, please give us a speedster villain next season. I don’t think I can sit through 22 episodes of another terrible meta with a convoluted plan who escapes the fastest man alive at every turn.
My other big negative this week is with us possibly losing another Wells. This show loves to develop a version of Harrison Wells, make the audience invest in him, and then kick him out. Just keep Sherloque on the team. He’s a decent enough side character. Or bring back Harry. Just stop bringing in new versions of the character. It’s a tradition that needs to die a quick and painless death.
I’m glad The Flash gave Cisco an open-ended exit. If Carlos Valdes wants to move on to other projects, Cisco had his happy ending. If not, we get season 1 Cisco back, which some would argue was the best time for the character.
“Crisis on Infinite Earths” is coming for all of the Arrowverse shows, it seems. Watching that newspaper date go from 2024 to 2019 was way more exciting than it should have been. I’ll say this though. I’m surprised The Flash didn’t set up the event more. Sure, we had Eobard tease Barry about meeting him at the next Crisis and the newspaper stuff, but Barry is sort of the focal point of the crossover this Fall, right? Or is Oliver the center of it now? I’m not sure but I can’t wait until we see how the Arrowverse handles this monumental event.
Verdict: “Legacy” was a fitting name for this season finale. Barry’s legacy and what he left behind brought Nora to the past. Tragically, this led to her heroic downfall. Now it’s what Nora leaves behind. Her parents who remember everything that happened and Eobard Thawne, who is now free to cause all the havoc he wants. Season 5 was hit-or-miss, to be honest. The finale ended on a much more positive note, giving me hope that season 6 can be a lot more consistent.
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