Title: The Flash: “The Death of Vibe” Review
Release Date: October 23rd, 2018
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
With this episode being titled “The Death of Vibe”, I immediately knew that the show had no plans to kill off Cisco. I got to hand it to The Flash though, they had me fooled for a moment or two.
Cisco has been a mainstay and a fan-favorite on The Flash ever since its pilot episode. If he did unceremoniously die at the hands of Cicada here, it would have been a huge disservice to the character. That being said, this truly seemed like it could be the death of his alter-ego, Vibe.
When Cisco’s abilities were first revealed near the end of season one, fans were excited. It worked due to the show’s focus on the scarlet speedster as our lone hero. Over time, The Flash has become bogged down with too many metas on the team. His hand injuries sustained at the end of “Blocked” seem to be causing Cisco some issues. It’ll be interesting to see if the show decides to take away Vibe’s powers permanently and put Cisco back in the overwatch position.
Other than a really cool Justice League reference and our first look at The Flash Museum (wish we got a Reverse-Flash cameo there), we learned that Cicada was actually a man named David Hersch. In Nora’s timeline, Cicada was never caught and became known as one of the most notorious serial killers in history. However, this new Cicada isn’t David Hersh and has introduced himself much earlier than past versions.
I’m not sure about you but I have no idea what Cicada’s powers are. I know in the comics, the character was a cult leader who could cancel out metas abilities and drain people’s life-force (making Cicada immortal in the process). Here, he does still have the power to cancel out other metas but he also has a Mjolnir-like dagger and apparently the ability to fly? Hopefully, the show decides to flesh out Cicada soon so his powers are fully explained.
We also learned that Cicada is a father and has a daughter that is in a coma. This is most likely his reasoning behind his crusade to rid Central City of meta-humans. As much as I’m liking Cicada so far, I can’t help but get this feeling that we are in store for a new big bad soon (akin to The Flash season three with Doctor Alchemy and Savitar).
“The Death of Vibe” was our introduction to the new Wells, Harrison “Sherloque” Wells. I’m kind of done with a new version of Wells appearing every year at this point. Eobard-Wells was awesome, as was Earth 2’s Harry, but since then the series has really been grasping at straws to keep Tom Cavanaugh apart of the main cast (especially with the whole Council of Wells business). Despite my feelings on this dynamic, Cavanaugh once again proves that he is one of the best actors in the Arrowverse with his portrayal of this new character. Slowly but surely, Sherloque grew on me and I’m actually excited to see how he fits into the rest of the season.
Like the previous two episodes, the most intriguing aspect of season five continues to be the relationship between Barry, Iris, and Nora. Barry is starting to get through to his daughter and Nora is becoming a better speedster because of it. Luckily, it appears that The Flash will go ahead and deal with this Iris/Nora drama next week. This should squash those worries that this mother/daughter relationship would be season five’s undoing.
Unlike “Blocked”, this episode felt more focused. We didn’t have four rushed storylines to follow. We had the Cicada main story and Caitlin’s quest to find out what happened to her father. Over the season, Caitlin will definitely get her time to shine but a so far, the standout of the season is Hartley Sawyer’s Ralph Dibny. With taking on more of a supporting role, this character has become, just like this episode, more focused. He’s not flip-flopping or regressing on previous character developments. Instead, we see a comedic relief character that can occasionally give out some sound advice when needed.
There’s not much else to say about Caitlin’s story other than she now knows her father is alive. Here’s hoping this storyline escalates soon to keep up with the main Cicada plot.
That cliffhanger does spark up some nice conversation though. Sherloque is onto Nora’s motivations and now, one has to think that maybe Nora didn’t come back alone. So many possibilities on who she could have talked to. A young Eobard Thawne who is obsessed with The Flash? William Queen (if you’ve seen Arrow season seven then you would know why this would be a possibility)? The series’ version of Bart Allen?
Verdict: “The Death of Vibe” wasn’t the death of Cisco Ramon but it may very well be the sendoff for his alter-ego, at least for a while. Just like the first two episodes, the dynamic between Barry, Iris, and Nora is the show’s biggest strength. The introduction of Sherloque Wells and Ralph Dibny’s supportive role were also welcomed surprises. However, Cicada’s unexplained powers and the sluggish pace of Caitlin’s storyline drag down this episode of The Flash in the long run.
What were your thoughts on this episode of The Flash? Let us know in the comments below!
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