Previously on THE FLASH…
There have been a lot of villains getting screen time this season, and after the last episode, I thought we would maybe be getting one more. After getting sent back to her own time by her dad, Nora once again met with Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, and learned how to use the Negative Speed Force to travel back in time.
So late in the season, that sort of thing must be setting her up as the big bad, right? A giant superspeed battle between father and daughter throughout time and the Speed Force?
Nah.
The whole episode – with Nora recruiting a new group of Rogues the Flash has defeated this season – was a bit of a misdirect. Nora was working with the bad guys, including Rag Doll (who is still creepy as hell and will hopefully be used again), the Bug Eyed Bandit and Weather Witch, to try and steal a weapon that would negate the power of Cicada II’s power-dampening dagger. The Young Rogues have other ideas, though, and when they realize Nora is the Flash’s daughter, they call the speedster out and get soundly defeated by Team Flash.
In the midst of battle, Barry and Nora reconcile, everyone forgives everyone and the family is back together. Joe and Iris even get to team up to take out Rag Doll! Probably the best part of the episode is when Joe West first encounters Rag Doll and gives a vintage “What the hell is that?” I’m really glad Jesse L. Martin is back, because his presence really helps the show out.
Elsewhere, Cisco considers abandoning his duties as Vibe and Ralph admits to Caitlin that he doesn’t think he’s the relationship type. With that kind of declaration, I imagine we’ll be hearing casting news for Sue Dearborn any time now.
With two episodes left in the season, I’m still not sure all the pieces are in place for the season finale. We should be in a crazy build toward a big fight, but everything still feels like midseason, establishing motives and putting everyone in the right situations.
Hopefully things heat up next time.