THE FLASH - Season 5.5

REVIEW:  THE FLASH - SEASON 5, EP. 5:  "All Doll'd Up"

The Scarlet Speedster over the last few years, has faced quite an array of villains as they have trolled Central City for their own purposes.  But he has NEVER had to face a villain quite like this.  Meanwhile, we get more West-Allen Family drama with Nora, and the rest of Team Flash is on the hunt for Dr. Thomas Snow.

We begin this week's tale with practice time at STAR Labs---and Nora's a no-show.  She's pretty much giving BOTH her parents the cold shoulder, and it's taking a toll on Iris.  Barry, ever the loving husband, still stands by her, but Iris has her doubts about herself.  A call comes in about a police chase with a crook on a bike, and Flash is off to stop them and retrieve the goods the crook pilfered.  Turns out, there's more than one crook, as the first one hands the second one the booty, and is off to the races.  As Barry tracks down the first one, and manages to stop them with pallets, Nora finally shows up to catch the second rider, and nabs them off the bike, but the bike skids out of control, and nearly kills a couple with an explosion, where (thankfully), Barry pulls off the rescue.

Back at the lab, Iris lays into Nora about being irresponsible, and giving her the reason for the training, but Nora just brushes her off.  At that point, Iris has had enough, and takes off.  Barry FINALLY puts in his two cents and tells Nora she shouldn't be making her Mom in THIS era do time for something that happened 30 years from now.  

Team Flash is still working on finding Cicada, and Sherloque whips out a map with several possibilities as to where Cicada could be at.  They don't have the equipment to run a trace, and Ralph and Wells argue, yet again.  That gets put aside, as they focus on Caitlin's dad.  She drags out the puzzle that her Thomas left her, and Cisco, who's finally returned to the team, but still injured, vibes the puzzle, and sees Thomas working on an equation on a blackboard.  Turns out, Dr. Snow had been at Hudson University, where he was also friends with the late Professor Martin Stein.  The team is off to the University to get some clues.

While all this is happening, we see our new villain, who can bend, contort, and stretch his body about wearing a raggedy doll mask, makes his way into a couples' home to steal a valuable necklace that a groom decided to give his bride for their wedding the next day.  He makes off with it, as the bride sees him and screams. Next day, Barry's doing CSI work, and Iris is questioning the couple.  Turns out, since they're working the same case, Barry decides they should team up.  Long overdue for some Barry/Iris time together.  They're back at the lab discussing the case, as well as Nora.  Iris feels awful and down, and Barry tries to cheer her up.  They come up empty on the clues, but keep searching.

Nora is back at the West house, chatting with Cecile, when she goes on griping about her mother.  Cecile puts an end to that rant quickly.  She decides to make a deal with Nora...help her out around the house, and she'll talk about some of the things Nora DIDN'T get to know from the Flash Museum.

Barry and Iris get a call about a bomb threat at an architect's building, where he's discussing putting up a building in Gotham (Easter Egg!), and our Doll man slithers in with the bomb...intent on bringing the house down.  Flash gets there in time to rescue the architect, and get a glimpse of the mysterious Ragdoll before he gets the architect out, and the building goes up.  Back at STAR Labs, Barry & Iris continue the search, and get a hit when Barry figures out how to get the Ragdoll's fingerprint.  He's a man named Peter Merkel, who had been arrested for theft.  His mother is a prominent woman holding a fundraiser that night.  Barry and Iris get dolled up in fancy clothes to visit Merkel's mother, Tracy.  Upon meeting her, she's well aware of Iris being a reporter.  Iris asks her about Peter, but Tracy has not seen him.  She reiterates how she gave him the best of everything, but her demeanor is ice cold.  This strikes a nerve with Iris---who feels that, in protecting Nora in the future---she took away Nora's chance to be her own person.  Barry tries to comfort her, by telling her that she doesn't HAVE to be that person.  Barry heads home, as Iris does more digging on Peter.  Meanwhile, the Ragdoll looks upon them from above.

Team Flash arrives at the University, where they search for clues about Thomas Snow.  Cisco vibes again, and sees the same as he did before, only now, he sees the location of where Thomas was...a place called Viera Chemicals.  They head over to the plant, which had been closed due to a fire.  There, they search for more clues.  Ralph comes across a container with the logo for Caitlin's Mom's work:  Tannehauser.  Cisco, who had found out he was still bleeding from the hands when he used his powers last, still tried to vibe one last time, but could not, and collapsed.  The investigation ends there.  Back at the Lab, Cisco wakes up, and Caitlin gives him hell for not telling her about his condition, which he still has traces of the chemical and Dark Matter from Cicada's knife...and the more Cisco uses his powers, the more it's killing him.  He feels useless, since he's felt good being a superhero.  Caitlin assures him he's worth more to the team than just his powers.

Back at the West home, Cecile continues to spin stories from Barry's past to an excited Nora, who loves hearing these stories.  But the thing is---Nora finally puts two and two together, and figures out the stories Cecile has been telling her isn't about Barry---but Iris.  Nora finally realizes her Mom isn't what she thought she was.  

Barry's at home, when he gets a call from Iris.  Iris informs him that Peter's out to make people's lives miserable by taking something away they value most.  They ponder who the next victim it would be when Barry's attacked from behind.  The Ragdoll tells Iris to come and get him.  Iris tries to reach Nora, but she's not home, and left her phone.  She rallies the troops, and they head out to rescue Barry.  We see Barry tied to a chair on the roof of their apartment building when Iris and Ralph hit the roof, intent on taking the Ragdoll out.  Irish shoots at him, but he says he'll push Barry over the ledge if they don't back down.  She complies, but he shoves Barry off anyway.  Ralph does battle with the Ragdoll, while Iris leaps off the roof after Barry.  She catches up to him just to release the power binding cuffs off of him, which allows him to save the both of them.  Nora, who had finally gotten home to answer her phone, got the message from Caitlin that her parents were in danger.  She arrives just in time to see Barry and Iris safe, and Ralph bounce down with the Ragdoll underneath.  

At STAR Labs, Cisco, Sherloque, Ralph, and Caitlin figure out that the Thinker had left his other satellites in orbit, and they could hack them.  Now, they can track Cicada.  Cisco now feels like a part of the team again.  Wells and Ralph decide it's time to pick up the trail again, and are off.  Meanwhile, Nora is amazed that her Mom dove off a building to save her Dad.  She brings the photo album that Cecile showed her, and her and Iris begin to finally bond...with Barry watching from a distance, smiling.

Cisco and Caitlin finally know that the can scan the Terrehauser sites to find her dad.  Caitlin has a moment of hesitation about her.  Cisco assures her that when SHE is ready, they'll forge ahead.

This episode kept two plots going, all the while bringing in another villain of the week.  Not as strong an episode, but, as I've said before, it keeps the pace of the story going.  We got A LOT more traction on the location of Thomas Snow, and it will be very interesting to see what's happened to him...since he KNEW about Caitlin's alter ego a loooong time ago.  How will that reunion go?

Got another Gotham City reference in an Arrowverse show---please...seriously...if you're gonna have Superman appear in Supergirl, can't we have Batman already?  It's freakin' time!!

Love having the Barry/Iris alone time.  It was great to see them working as a team...not just Iris as a reporter, but Barry as a CSI.  Putting their heads together while also having quality married time (even if work superceded it), was nice for a change.  It took awhile for Iris to have her semi-breakdown with Nora, but it was coming.  Loved that Barry kept the unwavering confidence and belief in her, when she was at her lowest.  Her willing to throw herself off the building to save Barry gave her redemption in Nora's eyes.  NOW...hopefully, we'll REALLY see the Allen Family dynamic at work.

HUGE props to Cecile this week---my, my, my is this woman a clever one.  THAT is a Mom who knows how to manipulate, but in a good way, to get Nora to see the light.  Cecile herself told stories of how marveled she was at Barry, but also at Iris...without saying her name.  Cecile left all the cookie crumbs out on the floor for Nora to scoop up.  That woman is gooooood.  She has become very much the voice of reason in the family.  I love it.

The Ragdoll is a villain I'd seen before, and kudos to the actor portraying him.  I mean, you'd have to be a contortionist to do the job THIS guy did in this episode.  Don't get me wrong, I know A LOT of it was special effects, but to be able to move your body like that..it was exceptional.  Even for a minor villain, he was creepy enough, and NOT someone I'd want to see in a dark alley on Halloween night.  And, thankfully, a villain that Ralph could defeat, while becoming a huge looking fruit in the process.  Best part---a villain that can come back to plague The Flash again.

Finally, it was nice to see how deep the friendship is between Cisco and Caitlin.  When Caitlin was down, Cisco built her back up, and now vice versa.  I worry about Cisco using his powers again...don't wanna see the man die---he's the other comic relief besides Ralph and Sherloque.  But to see these two really have each other's backs is a testament to their long friendship.  And they'll be leaning on each other even more down the road, as Cisco's powers become a problem, and Caitlin's issues with her Dad.  

Like I said---it was a good episode, not great.  Not too much Flash action, but sometimes, you don't need a lot to tell a good story.  And right now, this is a good story.  You have 3 storylines going on, and they're all getting their balance, and one might be resolved next week, we shall see.  I see more rough waters ahead for the Allen family...but that's to be expected---specially since Nora STILL isn't forthcoming with her TRUE reasons for being here.  And I expect a little more movement on the Cicada front next week.

That's it for now.  As per usual, I'm grateful for everyone checking out the page, hope you've enjoyed what I wrote, and PLEASE don't be afraid to comment...I promise I don't bite.  Slobber, maybe...but not bite.

Until next week...keep on running!