This is clearly a post-Crisis on Earth-X Thawne, one who’s feeling the weight of his many crimes and finally remembering why he looked up to Flash in the first place. And though the Thawne scenes only bookended this episode, the idea that we may be looking at the redemption of Eobard Thawne is a big selling point right now. After so many episodes of Barry showing Nora the ropes, it was only fair that she got the chance to succeed on her own for a change. Plus, the simple fact that she got to take point while her father was holed up reading trashy romance novels helped. Seeing her learn to find faith in others and accept that change is possible helped bring the episode to a strong finish. We don’t know what exactly she and Thawne have been up to this entire time, but it’s clear she put a lot of faith in a man she’s coming to realize she doesn't know at all. This week’s storyline mainly succeeded when it came to exploring Nora’s current emotional struggle. Clearly the gates have swung open when it comes to Gotham City references post-Elseworlds. Though granted, it was fun seeing two villains hijack a technologically advanced WayneTech car. If we never have to sit through another armored car robbery in an Arrowverse show, it’ll be too soon. The ability to control engines is a weirdly specific, even unremarkable power, and one that led to some fairly bland car chase scenes. It didn’t necessarily help that new villain Silver Ghost (Gabrielle Walsh) didn’t stand out much in terms of either personality or abilities. The whole “can villains ever be made to change?” angle still worked, just not as well as it might have.
Can you really blame Nora for wanting to throw her back in prison and be done with it? This episode counts on viewers have an emotional attachment to the character that hasn’t been earned. One episode Joslyn is trying to callously murder her father, the next she’s deeply remorseful and desperate for a second chance. The problem, though, is that the show pulled a complete 180. The best that can be said for the return of Joslyn Jackam/Weather Witch is that there was an earnest attempt made to bring depth and nuance to a very underdeveloped villain. First we have to slog through more “meta of the week” episodes before getting to the good stuff.
Unfortunately, that episode’s refusal to wrap up the Cicada storyline right then and there also made it clear the writers aren’t in any hurry to take full advantage of Eobard Thawne’s return. on the CW.The Flash’s recent 100th episode may have been somewhat underwhelming, but it did at least lay the groundwork for a much more compelling story direction in the remainder of Season 5.
The season finale of The Flash airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. If Ralph was unable to stop Barry from blasting it in episode 21 that would get even more complicated, and likely involve time travel in some form or another. Now, to stop Thawne, they have to save it. That’s kind of ironic, because their plan to fight Cicada, almost the entire time, has been to destroy the dagger. The promo for the season finale it certainly seems like the fight against Cicada and against the Reverse Flash are linked. And he ultimately didn’t earn any in season 5. he might have presented an innocent face for almost the entire season, but Thawne hasn’t earned any benefit if the doubt. However, things got suspicious once we learned that Nora had been working with/learning from Thawne, and he was actually the one who sent her back in time. But Grace has the two other knives at least, and in more recent episodes she has some other, less earthbound, powers, The lightning, or flame type thing she could project from her hands wasn’t exactly the same as the dagger, but it did have a rather similar effect. If Orlin ever had any innate powers as Cicada he never showed them. Destroying the dagger was a logical way to render the original Cicada at least mostly harmless. The Flash sold Cicada as the main villain for the season consistently throughout, but the main character to support that idea was Nora. So did Ralph manage to save Cicada’s dagger in the present, and foil Eobard Thawne’s plans for the future? That’s the real question that the season 5 finale of The Flash needs to answer. How can you watch the season 5 finale of The Flash online?