Nora excited to see her father in action! Photo courtesy of Cosmicbooknews.com.
Please Keep In Mind That This Article Contains Potential Spoilers For “Nora” and Events That Occurred Prior
“I am fortune’s fool!”
The Flash and Co. are back! After a disappointing fourth season, can season five bring back some of the quality? Judging right out of the gate, it’s unclear. While the premiere was fine, that’s about all it was. There was nothing too groundbreaking or unique, and there were still flaws to be had.
Let’s not jump on that negative train so quickly though. Let’s start with the positive. Jessica Parker Kennedy as Nora is fantastic. She is already brings a presence to the show that I want to keep around for some time. Hearing snippets of her future was intriguing, especially when it came to The Flash Museum (also her tease of the upcoming Grodd vs. King Shark episode was great). I’m excited to see where her character goes, and to learn more about her complicated relationship with Iris—and her once nonexistent relationship with Barry.
Iris starting to feel the tension between Nora and herself. Photo courtesy of Cosmicbooknews.com.
I really love the fact that the Crisis that Barry disappears in is actually an important part of the story still to this day. Knowing that he isn’t there for Nora at all certainly gives Barry some reasoning for lying and keeping her there longer. However, the show has consistently beaten us and the characters over the head about how messing with the timeline is not a good idea. No matter how hard the writers tried, it’s hard to swallow there being no further pushback to Nora staying. When it comes to Barry, yes I know he can be reckless. But after everything he’s been through, you’d think that keeping his future daughter in the present is something not even he would do.
While Iris’ storyline with Nora is a bit on the nose right out of the gate, I think it has the potential to grow into a very strong aspect of the show. Having the expectation that you are going to be a good parent, and then learning that might not be the case, would raise questions and anxieties to anyone. So Iris slowly learning about why their relationship in the future is so strained will be very intriguing to see play out. Hopefully it’s not too strung out like The Flash can do to many of its plots.
Team Flash figuring out Gridlock’s power set. Photo courtesy of Cosmicbooknews.com.
What about the rest of team Flash? Cisco had his pity party blown by Nora’s surprise return, an aspect of the episode I found to be quite funny. Also amusing was Ralph getting caught up on all of the crazy things that the team never told him. Thankfully Ralph wasn’t all jokes, as by the episode’s end he jump-starts Caitlyn’s story for the season. Her father is likely still alive. Now, sooner or later it will become very clear that as of her current state, I am not a fan of either Caitlyn or Killer Frost—for a multitude of reasons. But I’m still holding out hope that the show can give me a reason to start caring about Caitlyn once again.
The season opened up as most do: setting up the new team dynamic. While I still think that it’s questionable that everyone would be okay with having Nora stay longer, I do enjoy Jessica Parker Kennedy in the role—so seeing more of her is always good (also, her suit looks great). Gridlock didn’t leave much of a lasting impression, but honestly neither did the new big bad of the season: Cicada. Nothing about him screams unique, interesting, or cool. So I wonder what the show has planned to really elevate him.
Bonus Notes:
– I like how out of all Legends of Tomorrow episodes, they had to reference the worst one in recent memory.
– Barry’s first fight with Gridlock did not have to end the way it did. Barry easily could have run right back over to where he came from. Also those poor cops that he left behind.
– Flash’s new suit is looking great! The casual ring storage was great as well. Even better were Barry’s remarks to Cisco immediately after.
You can catch new episodes of The Flash when they air on The CW network every Tuesday at 8pm EST
