Rag Doll looking as scary as ever. Photo courtesy of FlickeringMyth.com.
Please Keep In Mind That This Article Contains Potential Spoilers For “Nora” and Events That Occurred Prior
I have to start out by giving the show some props—we actually got an interesting, and sometimes legitimately memorable, villain of the week. Rag Doll was the best weekly villain that they’ve had for a long time. He had a decent backstory, a fantastically creepy look, and a unique presence. I hope the show realizes what they’ve stumbled into, and we get to see Rag Doll more often down the road—just being a constant reoccurring thorn in Barry’s side would be great.
Another thing that this episode did a great job with was Ralph. Capitalizing off of Sherloque and Ralph’s previous interactions, the show cemented its stance of paralleling the two against each other. This move is actually making Ralph a more consistent, and better character overall. Last season, the show didn’t know what to do with him—and he would take three steps back for every step forward. It seems that the writer’s saw these, and are focused on giving Ralph the attention he deserves. With him both actually dealing with how to be a hero, and proving his worth as a detective, this could be a good season for him.
Nora finally having a moment with her mother. Photo courtesy of FlickeringMyth.com.
Cicada took the back seat this week as we instead focused on Caitlin’s father—which has become a little more interesting now that there is a new mysterious connection to the late Professor Stine. Caitlin still seems to be the most uninteresting part of even her own story—as everyone else’s roles seem to hold more weight and interest. Already having mentioned Ralph/Sherloque, Cisco was the other big focal point of this plot. He is having some serious problems using his powers—and Carlos Valdes gave a terrific performance as he tells Caitlin what his powers mean to him. Since this is being explored so closely to Caitlin’s storyline, could whatever they discover with her father help Cisco in some way?
When it came to the main plot of the episode, aside from Rag Doll, the spotlight was on Barry and Iris dealing with the fallout with Nora. The juggling of focusing on the future version of yourself or who you are today was done well. Seeing it take its toll on Iris was hard to watch—though I can’t help but think that we could have gotten to this point just a bit sooner? I should shut up though, because generally, the pacing and momentum of this season has been great and far out does what season four have us. Now as for Nora, and her dealing with it, I enjoyed Cecile’s clever story tricks. Also seeing her mom jump off a building for Barry certainly played in Iris’ favor. While it could have lasted an episode or so less, generally the storyline between Iris and Nora was done well. I’m sure it’s far from over, but it’s good to see the first chapter being seemingly closed.
Barry and Iris dealing with their Nora problems. Photo courtesy of FlickeringMyth.com.
“All Doll’d Up” was probably this season’s best episode. We got a great new villain, some fantastic and emotional performances (including Carlos Valdes and Jessica Parker Kennedy), and even got somewhere interesting with Caitlyn’s long lost father. I hope the season can keep the momentum going—especially since it seems like we aren’t getting any more mileage on Cicada next week.
Bonus Note:
- Rag Doll’s appearance is the product of Billy the Puppet, Michael Myer, and Chucky fused together. I love it.
You can catch new episodes of The Flash when they air on The CW network every Tuesday at 8pm EST
