THE FLASH "CAUSE AND XS" REVIEW
Season 5 Episode 14:
Hey everyone, we are back with a brand new episode of the Flash, directed by Rachael Talalay, and Killer Frost herself, Danielle Pannabaker. In this episode we see Nora get herself caught in a time loop, and with Barry out of the picture, she has no idea on what to do. So spoilers ahead for this episode, let's recap.
The episode starts off with Cisco finding a meta-human cure, however, it needs a month to be synthesized, so Barry takes it into the speed force for an hour, as time moves differently in there. With Barry gone, the team goes to do separate things. Cisco goes on a date with Kamilla, Sherloque helps Caitlin with some things, and Iris goes to write a story at her office. At her office, Iris is captured by Cicada, who takes her on the rooftop. After getting an alert, Nora runs to the rooftop where Killer Frost breaches in, and Cicada kills Caitlin. Nora freaks out, and runs away, rewinding time to just after Barry left.
Back in time, Nora writes some notes down and changes some things, such as keeping Iris in the lounge. At his office, Ralph is captured by Cicada, and Killer Frost and Nora show up to save him, however, Cicada kills him. Nora rewinds time, back to the point she was at before. Nora changes some things such as keeping Iris and Ralph in the new lounge. Sherloque goes to investigate Iris' office (to see why Nora didn't want her there) and Sherloque is captured by Cicada. The same scenario happens, but this time Cisco shows up and is killed, and Nora runs back in time to the same point. With going through this loop of someone dying each time, Nora cannot stop Cicada.
Nora tries to get into the speed force to get help from Barry, but she fails to open it. Sherloque catches onto Nora, and the team confronts her. Nora tells the team that she has been through the loop 52 times, and there is no escape from death. The team devises a plan using Nora's speed force notes, and they create a plan where they can use Nora's uncontrollable time travel in their favor.
With a plan, Iris confronts Cicada on the rooftop, as he throws his dagger around the city block. Cisco, Killer Frost, and Ralph breach in, all shooting their powers at Cicada. Nora runs in and moves Ralph out of the way, jumps through a breach create by Cisco, as she simultaneously reverses time, so the other heroes go back through the breach, and Cicada's dagger stabs him in the shoulder. Cicada flees, with the day saved.
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco goes on his date for real this time. Barry comes back and he learns that Nora time traveled. He gives her the timeline talk that Jay Garrick gave to him a while back. Nora goes back to 2049 and she asks Eobard if he knows what he is doing. Eobard ensures her that he does and that he "will stop Cicada and save your father".
Jessica Parker Kenedy was phenomenal in the episode. I did like how her performance illustrated her stress in this dire situation, and how that all eventually planned out in an exciting and time twisting final battle. The character had great progression in her arch, and Parker made the episode an overall exciting watch. So starring in the episode we had Jessica Parker Kenedy (Nora West-Allen/ XS), Candice Patton (Iris West-Allen), Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramone/ Vibe), Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow/ Killer Frost), Hartley Sawyer (Ralph Dibny/ Elongated Man), Tom Cavanagh (Sherloque Wells/ Eobard Thawne), Danielle Nicolet (Cecile Horton)Victoria Park (Kamilla Huang), Chris Kelin (Orlin Dwyer/ Cicada) and Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/ the Flash).
In conclusion, this episode was an exciting episode which played out Nora's time rewind ability in an interesting way, where it wasn't too convoluted, and created an exciting watch. Jessica Parker Kenedy was great as XS in the episode and made this episode all the more exciting to watch. I will give this episode of the Flash an 8.5 out of 10.
What did you think of this episode? Let me know your thoughts and opinions down in the comments below. You can click on the left for more Flash, on the right for more DC, and if you haven't already, subscribe. As always, thanks for reading, take care.
Hey everyone, we are back with a brand new episode of the Flash, directed by Rachael Talalay, and Killer Frost herself, Danielle Pannabaker. In this episode we see Nora get herself caught in a time loop, and with Barry out of the picture, she has no idea on what to do. So spoilers ahead for this episode, let's recap.
The episode starts off with Cisco finding a meta-human cure, however, it needs a month to be synthesized, so Barry takes it into the speed force for an hour, as time moves differently in there. With Barry gone, the team goes to do separate things. Cisco goes on a date with Kamilla, Sherloque helps Caitlin with some things, and Iris goes to write a story at her office. At her office, Iris is captured by Cicada, who takes her on the rooftop. After getting an alert, Nora runs to the rooftop where Killer Frost breaches in, and Cicada kills Caitlin. Nora freaks out, and runs away, rewinding time to just after Barry left.
Back in time, Nora writes some notes down and changes some things, such as keeping Iris in the lounge. At his office, Ralph is captured by Cicada, and Killer Frost and Nora show up to save him, however, Cicada kills him. Nora rewinds time, back to the point she was at before. Nora changes some things such as keeping Iris and Ralph in the new lounge. Sherloque goes to investigate Iris' office (to see why Nora didn't want her there) and Sherloque is captured by Cicada. The same scenario happens, but this time Cisco shows up and is killed, and Nora runs back in time to the same point. With going through this loop of someone dying each time, Nora cannot stop Cicada.
Nora tries to get into the speed force to get help from Barry, but she fails to open it. Sherloque catches onto Nora, and the team confronts her. Nora tells the team that she has been through the loop 52 times, and there is no escape from death. The team devises a plan using Nora's speed force notes, and they create a plan where they can use Nora's uncontrollable time travel in their favor.
With a plan, Iris confronts Cicada on the rooftop, as he throws his dagger around the city block. Cisco, Killer Frost, and Ralph breach in, all shooting their powers at Cicada. Nora runs in and moves Ralph out of the way, jumps through a breach create by Cisco, as she simultaneously reverses time, so the other heroes go back through the breach, and Cicada's dagger stabs him in the shoulder. Cicada flees, with the day saved.
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco goes on his date for real this time. Barry comes back and he learns that Nora time traveled. He gives her the timeline talk that Jay Garrick gave to him a while back. Nora goes back to 2049 and she asks Eobard if he knows what he is doing. Eobard ensures her that he does and that he "will stop Cicada and save your father".
Overall, I really enjoyed this episode purely based on the concept. I loved the idea that Nora caught herself in a time loop and she tried desperately to stop. It was a creative spin on the time travel plots we have seen before. The plot could have easily have been used for a finale episode, however, I still appreciated the use of it here. I do like how Nora got stuck in Time traveling, as she used more of the rewind power she has rather than the full out time traveling, which created for an easy plot explanation as to why there aren't multiple Nora's at points.
Side note, I also really loved the effect used to show Nora's first-time rewind in the episode, it was trippy, it looked like it was from a comic book, it was so awesome.
Although the initial plot was simple, I do like how the episode did make the alternate events with the deaths, with first Caitlin dying, then Cisco, then Cecile, then Ralph, and so on and so forth. It was great seeing that montage play out of everyone dying, in more or less the same way. I also did like the progression of Nora stressing out more and more in the episode, it was great, and Jessica Parker Kenedy played the character in a brilliant way to illustrate the stakes of this in the episode.
I did like how in the episode, Sherloque got closer and closer to realizing that Nora was rewinding time more and more in each loop. It was a fascinating way to develop the character as an investigator, and it was great, seeing how Nora's stress and frustrations were being picked up sooner and sooner by her friends. The use the speed force symbols were also interesting, as they didn't change no matter how Nora rewind time. I also liked how it progressed Sherloques quest to decode the language and eventually find the secret that she is working with Eobard Thawne.
Cisco's date plot was also interesting. I did like Ralph's "cyberstalking" of Kamilla. It always created for some fun and interesting discussion at the start of the loops. I did like the iterations of Cisco's date, and how he progressively got a little less pretentious on each date. The use of his vibes was also interesting as they factored into Nora's time rewinds. I did like how everything came together in the end, and it does seem like there is a clear future for Cisco ahead, as this season may be his last on the show.
Although the initial plot was simple, I do like how the episode did make the alternate events with the deaths, with first Caitlin dying, then Cisco, then Cecile, then Ralph, and so on and so forth. It was great seeing that montage play out of everyone dying, in more or less the same way. I also did like the progression of Nora stressing out more and more in the episode, it was great, and Jessica Parker Kenedy played the character in a brilliant way to illustrate the stakes of this in the episode.
I did like how in the episode, Sherloque got closer and closer to realizing that Nora was rewinding time more and more in each loop. It was a fascinating way to develop the character as an investigator, and it was great, seeing how Nora's stress and frustrations were being picked up sooner and sooner by her friends. The use the speed force symbols were also interesting, as they didn't change no matter how Nora rewind time. I also liked how it progressed Sherloques quest to decode the language and eventually find the secret that she is working with Eobard Thawne.
Cisco's date plot was also interesting. I did like Ralph's "cyberstalking" of Kamilla. It always created for some fun and interesting discussion at the start of the loops. I did like the iterations of Cisco's date, and how he progressively got a little less pretentious on each date. The use of his vibes was also interesting as they factored into Nora's time rewinds. I did like how everything came together in the end, and it does seem like there is a clear future for Cisco ahead, as this season may be his last on the show.
Jessica Parker Kenedy was phenomenal in the episode. I did like how her performance illustrated her stress in this dire situation, and how that all eventually planned out in an exciting and time twisting final battle. The character had great progression in her arch, and Parker made the episode an overall exciting watch. So starring in the episode we had Jessica Parker Kenedy (Nora West-Allen/ XS), Candice Patton (Iris West-Allen), Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramone/ Vibe), Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow/ Killer Frost), Hartley Sawyer (Ralph Dibny/ Elongated Man), Tom Cavanagh (Sherloque Wells/ Eobard Thawne), Danielle Nicolet (Cecile Horton)Victoria Park (Kamilla Huang), Chris Kelin (Orlin Dwyer/ Cicada) and Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/ the Flash).
In conclusion, this episode was an exciting episode which played out Nora's time rewind ability in an interesting way, where it wasn't too convoluted, and created an exciting watch. Jessica Parker Kenedy was great as XS in the episode and made this episode all the more exciting to watch. I will give this episode of the Flash an 8.5 out of 10.
What did you think of this episode? Let me know your thoughts and opinions down in the comments below. You can click on the left for more Flash, on the right for more DC, and if you haven't already, subscribe. As always, thanks for reading, take care.
Danielle is directing episode 18 only
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