THE FLASH "LEGACY" REVIEW

Season 5 Episode 22:

Well, the season five finale of the Flash is upon us (an episode earlier than usual) directed by Gregory Smith, who brings together the culmination of the Cicada plot of this season in addition to the overarching Reverse Flash storyline that has been happening. So spoilers ahead for the episode lets recap, and then get into the review.

Recap

Picking up right where we left off from the last episode, Ralph jumps in front of the mirror gun before it shoots Cicada's dagger, which results in Ralph's cells turning inside out. Cicada II gets away and the team goes back to STAR Labs. Cisco goes out on a date with Camila where he tells her that he is Vibe, and Sherloque tells the team why Ralph stopped the destruction of the dagger. Sherloque tells the team that the dagger is being used as a suppressor for the Reverse Flash's powers in 2049. That means that by destroying the dagger, Eobard gets free, or if not, all the Meta-humans in the city will die. So the team is faced with the dilemma to either stop Cicada II or to stop the Reverse Flash. Nora however, comes up with a plan to stop the two villains.

Barry and Nora investigate the police department where they fought Cicada II and find a chip of a tree which they try to track down where it is from. Cisco manages to wake up Ralph and reverse him from his inverted status. The team also gets a location of where Cicada II might be hiding. Barry, Nora, Killer Frost, Joe, and Cecile track down Cicada II to a forest where they plan to capture Cicada II and let present day (2019) Grace take the meta-human cure. Joe throws a teleporting disc at Cicada II and she is teleported to the new speedster holding cell which Cisco built in the last episode.

Nora uses the cerebral inhibitor to get into present-day Grace’s mind and convince her to take the cure. In Grace’s mind, there are two versions of Orion, the Cicada version and the real version who tells Grace to take the cure which she agrees to. Grace walks up from her coma and Nora injects the Meta-cure into Grace. The cure does not work, however, because the dagger is still fueling the dark matter in her body. Meanwhile, at STAR Labs, Cicada II breaks out of the cell and defeats Cisco, Iris, Sherloque, and Ralph as she flies off to her present-day self. Cicada II fights the rest of the team and dampens Barry powers and is about to kill Nora. Cisco vibes the mirror gun to Barry who shoots it at the dagger, destroying it. The cure has an effect on present-day Grace and Cicada II fades away from existence.

In 2049, the butterfly effect takes place, and the dagger which is suppressing Eobard’s powers disappears. Eobard gets out of being executed and murders all of the prison guards. Nora rewinds time and stops the Reverse Flash from killing the guards as she and Barry confront Eobard. Eobard thanks Barry and Nora for destroying Cicada’s dagger and tells them that he orchestrated this plot since 2015, when Barry and Nora time traveled back to him (in episode 508 episode 100) and gave him the clue that a defeatable Cicada would be a problem from the team in the new timeline that Nora made, where the team can destroy the dagger, and Eobard can be freed, and there was no plan to save Barry from disappearing in the future.

Eobard suits up and runs away from Barry and Nora as he creates a time remnant. Barry and Nora chase Eobard and get defeated. The time sphere comes to 2049 and knocks down Eobard. Iris, Cisco, Killer Frost, and Ralph get out of the sphere and help up Barry and Nora. Eobard greets the team individually before the team knocks Eobard through some vibe portals and keep him in the air as they beat him up. With Eobard down, Nora is about to kill him, however, she starts to crack, and fade away. Eobard tells Barry that Nora is fading away because the butterfly effect is taking place and the new dramatically changed timeline is taking place (because the dagger was destroyed in 2019). Eobard tells Barry that Nora can be saved if she stays in the negative speed force. Barry takes Nora and runs into the negative speed force, however, Nora runs out. Nora tells Barry and Iris that if she goes into the negative speed force she will be corrupted and her negative emotions will fuel her, and she doesn’t want to leave her legacy as a villain. Iris reassures Nora that they can save her later on, but Nora knows that there is no possibility. Barry and Iris hug their child, Nora, as she fades away from existence in her parent's arms.

Back in 2019, Sherloque thanks the team and goes back to Earth-19, Cisco takes the Meta-cure and doesn’t to rely on his powers to be himself (and also to have a simpler life with Camilla), and Joe is given the role of the police captain. Barry and Iris look at Nora’s journal in the time vault with her time language that will not change with the timeline. Barry and Iris find a flash drive and plug it into Gideon. The two watch one last message which Nora left for them who thanks them for spending time with her, and teaching her how to be a better hero, and an overall better person.

In the post credit scene, Gideon sense a change in the timeline, and the “Flash Missing In Crisis” newspaper changes its date from 2024 to 2019.

Review
I want to do something a little different and go through separate points from the episode, one by one with headings, so here we go.

Ralph’s Inversion

When the episode opened up we saw one of the most ‘comic bookiest’ and also most horrifying scenes in the series and that is Ralph’s cells being inverted. The look of the weird ballon-esk look of Ralph was just really facilitating but also weird to look at. It was something that I couldn’t tell if it were done with real puppetry or CGI. 

Sherloque Leaving

One of the new characters this season was the new version of Harrison Wells, that being Sherloque Wells. The character was weird to get used to at first, with the French accent at all. However, the character was an investigator instead of an engineer as the previous Wells have been. It was awesome seeing the character act as a catalyst to bring forward the mysteries between Nora and the Reverse Flash. The character going back to Earth-19 was a fair choice to be made. It leaves the idea for a new Wells to be introduced, and Sherloque as an individual seemed like he got a neat ending. Sherloque completed his mission, which was to stop Cicada on Earth-1, and then he went back to Earth-19 with the love of his life. Maybe the character will come back in some form, but I’m fine if this is the last we see of Sherloque Wells.

Cisco Taking the Meta-Cure

One of the biggest twists of the episode was that Cisco took the Meta-human cure. The season has been feeding into this idea for a little while, and Cisco depending on the ability of his mind rather than his Meta-human powers. Eobard solidifying the idea that Cisco is defined by his powers was also a great motivation as to why Cisco would want to get rid of his powers.

For a while, there have been a few people stating that team Flash has too many meta-humans, and I suppose taking away one of them, Vibe, may be a good idea to balance out the team. Cisco is a character who also worked just as well before he had powers than he when he had them.

There were rumors that Carols Valdes was going to leave the show after season five, however, that does not seem like that is the case, and I am happy with that. I am excited to see where the character goes next in the series, and how the character will act with no powers.

Cicada II's Defeat

Cicada II as a villain has been really weird to watch. The character’s backstory has been weird, however, the delivery of the character has felt off, and that isn’t on the actor has it is on the people behind the scenes which placed the character in that direction.

However, this episode was an interesting way to take the new Cicada character. I did like the idea that the new variable in the timeline (Nora) was the one who changed the timeline and stopped Cicada II from ever existing and allowed Grace to take a new direction in life. 

Cicada II fading away from existence was awesome to see. The visual effects looked great, and it looked a little more peaceful than when we saw Reverse Flash fading away back in the season one finale. The idea of seeing an evil older version of yourself disappearing in front of yourself would be disturbing to see. 

Reverse Flash Gets Away

The Reverse Flash being the villain of this season for the back half was a brilliant twist. The character of the Reverse Flash was made to be smart, calculate, as he orchestrated the events of the past season of the flash for a while. It was great to see the character’s plan be unveiled in the episode, especially in a circumstance where he knew that he would get away free. It was also so in line with his personality, especially how he screwed over Barry Allen once again, this time, double-crossing his daughter, and using her lack of knowledge about her speed and her family, and her desire to see her father, to get himself out of prison, with the knowledge that Nora’s fate of existing may be in jeopardy.

The idea of the team taking down the Reverse Flash was fun I guess. The episode did make the character look a little clumsy in a way. One part that annoyed me was when the time sphere hit Eobard while he was slightly phasing. That shouldn’t;t have happened the way it did. The show could have folded back some of the special effects and it would have been a little more believable. I did, however, appreciate the tactic of keeping the Reverse Flash in the air, and the principle behind that as super speed doesn’t really have any effect if the user is not on the ground.

The Reverse Flash getting away once again was a kind of predictable choice, however, a good choice. The character of the Reverse Flash will challenge the team physically and ideologically for the course of the whole show, and this season finale continues that. In terms of what the Reverse Flash is going to do going forward, I guess he will be making a scheme which may come back in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.

Nora's Arch

The Flash season five introduced us to my favorite character in the Arrowverse, Nora West-Allen, AKA, XS. The character was such an interesting addition to the show in the way that she felt familiar to the overall tone of the show, but she also felt like a breath of fresh air in the show, because of the characters optimize, and her breaking down the darker tones of the previous two seasons. Jessica Parker Kennedy did a fantastic job this season, and will definitely be remedied throughout the show because of her performance as Nora throughout the season, she made season five so much better, and I would say, arguably, my second favorite season of the series.

In terms of this episode, Nora was such a great character. We saw her finally complete one of her main missions in the season, and that was to defeat Cicada. It was great seeing a hero defeat a villain by not fighting them, and instead, preventing them from going down a past where they turn into the villain. Nora relating to Grace was a great way to display how Nora has come to appreciate the people around and how their absence could have resulted in her becoming a villain, which did help set up her decisions at the end of the episode.

Nora confronting the Reverse Flash was really neat to see, and her realizing that she should take ownership of her mistakes. It showed a sense of character growth. This confrontation also explored the idea of all that Nora did not want to be- someone who manipulates people for their own gain. Nora being a parallel of season one Barry this season was also neat to see especially with her final confrontation with the Reverse Flash.

The new timeline setting in, which resulted in Nora fading away from existence was really depressing to see. It was well done, but it hit me hard. The delivery from Candice Patton, Grant Gustin, and Jessica Parker Kennedy was brilliant in that scene and solidified how far this family dynamic between the three has grown over the season. It was heartbreaking hearing the desperation in Gustin and Patton’s performances and really showed the dire situation. It felt like a couple was seeing their daughter die in front of them, and that was heartbreaking to watch.

Nora’s choice to not go into the negative speed force was a respectable choice. Throughout the past couple of episodes, Nora hasn’t been on some of the best terms with the team, with her using the negative speed force an all, and also her cerebral connection with Grace showing highlighting the potential negativity. Nora didn't want to run the chance of the negative speed force corrupting her, and coming back full of the rage which does exist, and being like the Reverse Flash or Cicada II.

Nora fading away, jeez, that hit me hard, and it was so sad seeing this lovable character fade away from existence right in front of our eyes.

The last message that Nora left for her parents was a really sweet touch and bought this season full circle, leaving Barry and Iris in a different place, a better place, knowing that they did meet their daughter, and they raised a hero.

R.I.P Nora Wes-Allen/ XS 2021-2049

I already discussed everyone’s acting in this episode, it was great. Once again, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Grant Gustin, and Candice Patton did such an impressive job at the end of the episode, and they helped make one of the best scenes of the series ever.

Starring in the episode was  Jessica Parker Kennedy (Nora West-Allen/ XS), Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/ The Flash), Candice Patton (Iris West-Allen), Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramone/ Vibe), Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow/ Killer Frost), Hartley Sawyer (Ralph Dibny/ Elongated Man), Jesse L. Martin (Joe West), Danielle Nicolet (Cecile Horton), Tom Cavanaugh (Sherloque Wells/ Eobarde Thawne), Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Renee Adler), and Sarah Carter (Grace Gibbons / Cicada).

In conclusion, the Flash season five finale was a brilliant episode of the Flash and a satisfying conclusion to a really fun season. The scene of Nora fading away was really sad, and I will really miss the character and Jessica Parker Kennedy being on the show. 

Rating: 10/10

What did you think about this episode? Comment below your thoughts and opinions on the episode. 

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