There was a lot of potential in the idea of exploring Barry’s darker side and what happens when a speedster loses control in the heat of battle. Cicada’s near-fatal attack on Nora brought a new personal quality to his rivalry with Barry. At least go through the motions… As for Barry, I was looking forward to seeing a more vengeful side of the character. But after that, this episode practically went out of its way to dial down the tension and make it clear that Nora would be fine after a bit of R&R. Nora had a couple strong, emotionally charged scenes early on as she grappled with the possibility of long-term paralysis. Speaking of which, this episode probably would have benefited from a darker, more dramatic approach when it came to both Nora and Barry’s storylines. On the other hand, the way the two characters have essentially become two warring minds occupying the same body is entertaining. It’s still a shame that the tragic side of the Caitlin’s transformation as seen in Season 3 has basically been flushed down the toilet in the two years since. And little by little, the show seems to be finding a better hook with the Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost dynamic. This episode’s premise - with Team Flash bringing together dozens of metahumans to protect them from Cicada’s wrath - worked well enough.The fact that so much of the conflict boiled down to metas learning to put their faith in others didn’t hurt. As it is, it often feels as though the writers are bending over backwards to find ways to justify Cicada continuously gaining the upper hand against Team Flash and escaping to fight another day.
#The flash season 5 episode 11 serial#
A serial killer who targets metahumans is fodder for a solid story arc, but not half a season or more on a show where all the previous big bads have either been speedsters or unstoppable super-geniuses.
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It’s not so much that Cicada is a poor villain as the fact that he already seems to be running his course. “Seeing Red” did little to counteract that perception. At this point, Cicada comes across as little more than a stalling mechanism until the show is ready to dive headlong into the far more compelling Nora/Eobard Thawne alliance. What initially seemed like a dramatic final battle between Team Flash and their current nemesis instead became one more skirmish in an ongoing war. Looking back, the most frustrating thing about “What’s Past Is prologue” is that it didn’t take the opportunity to neatly wrap up the Cicada storyline. The Flash’s recent 100th episode wasn’t quite everything it could have been.