THE FLASH - Season 5.14

THE FLASH – SEASON 5, EP. 14: “Cause and XS”

Things are getting intense for Team Flash, as Iris’ investigating lands her in a bit of trouble, causing Nora to come to the rescue.  Barry and Caitlin put the finishing touches on the metahuman cure, and Cisco decides to take the night off and have a date with the bartender he met a couple of episodes back, Kamilla.

Cisco is at the lab, looking at the photos that Kamilla took---apparently, she’s a photographer.  He then gets and alert, and realizes that his analysis is done.  He’s got the cure….but there’s ONE minor setback.  He talks to the team, and it will take 29 days to synthesize the compound in it.  They then realize the one way to speed it up is by having Barry take it into the Speed Force to get it to synthesize faster, which will take an hour.  So, that becomes the plan.  Nora is a little worried about her dad being gone, and leaving the city without a Flash.  But he says he believes in her, and he’ll be back in an hour.  Just as Barry goes, Ralph shows up with his “Book of Ralph” to help Cisco on his first date.  Everyone takes off to avoid the whole situation, leaving Cisco alone with Ralph and Nora.  Cisco tries to get help from Nora get him out of this scenario, but she can’t.  Ralph tries to convince him his way will work.  Cisco goes to get ready for his date.  Nora sits in the lab alone.

Iris is working on an article when she hears a noise.  It’s Cicada and she gets captured. 

Cisco arrives for his date all dressed up, but it goes south quickly when he can’t be honest with Kamilla, and starts making up things out of awkwardness.  Just then, and alert comes up, with Iris in danger, so he’s off to the lab.     

Cicada talks to Iris, and says that he does his research too, and knows who she is, and that he will destroy all the heroes tonight.  Back at the lab, Nora gets the alert, and she’s off to battle rescue Iris with Frost.  Before XS arrives, Cicada throws his dagger, and it travels out.  Frost and XS arrive and demand Cicada to let Iris go, she’s not the one he wants.  He says they’re right, and he’s going to kill them all.  Just as Killer Frost goes to begin to fight him, his knife arrives, and XS ducks as it impales Frost…killing her.  Nora freaks out and takes off….running as fast as she can, she slips back in time to before her Mom takes off.  She sees the last moments play back, and tries to fix it, by convincing her Mom to stay at the lab and finish her article there.  Once Iris agrees, Nora feels she has averted the situation.  

We see Ralph in his office looking over a file, when he tries to stretch for his bottle of liquor, when he finds out his powers don’t work.  Cicada arrives, and kidnaps Ralph.  The first scenario plays over again, only THIS time, Cisco’s date STILL goes bad, and now Nora has to rescue Ralph.  However, instead of Frost dying in this scenario, it’s Ralph.  Once again, Nora races back in time to the exact same time as all of this began.  Ralph again asks Nora where Cisco is, and if he’s left for his date.  Nora says no, and Ralph says it’s good, because he has time to talk to him before he leaves.  Nora mutters that they’re right…they have more time. 

Nora is panicking, and Sherloque notices what’s going on.  Nora, once again, convinces her mother to stay, and gives Ralph’s file on Kamilla to Cisco, while she drags Ralph away.  Cisco has a vibe, and it’s of his date with Kamilla.  He feels a sense of déjà vu.  Sherloque takes note, and eventually begins searching through Nora’s things, and finds out she has time travelled.  Just then, he’s captured by Cicada. 

Cisco is out on his date, when he vibes again, seeing that he’s had this date with Kamilla before, and knowing that a warning is coming, so he heads out, leaving Kamilla again.  The warning pops up on the computer, and Nora can’t deal with it.  Turns out, it’s Sherloque who’s in danger.  She races yet again to the same location as before---on the roof of a building---and just before Nora arrives, Cisco breaches in, but in vain, as Cicada’s knife, that comes back and kills Cisco.  Nora…frustrated yet again for failing, races one more time back in time to set things right. 

Once more, she’s back at the lab, and she tries to huddle everyone into one place, to protect them.  But, Cicada is in the West home, and sees a picture of the family.  Turns out, this time, he captures Cecile.  Nora tells everyone to stay put, and she races out, but to no avail.  Once more, Cicada has killed, only this time, it’s Cecile.  She races back in time---again---and she arrives at the lab.  She is freaking out that she can’t stop Cicada, but feels her dad can, and tries to race into the Speed Force to get him, but she can’t.  She walks into the main lab to find out that they know she’s reversing time. 

They have a talk with Nora about her reversing time, but she’s upset that she can’t keep fixing it.  No matter what she does, someone dies.  She heads off, upset.  Cisco then goes and talks to her, and tells her about when he was killed by Eobard Thawne.  He says that the reason they’re failing, is because they fear failure.  Nora then realizes that she wrote everything down, and since she has a record of it, they know what she did wrong, so that they can fix it, and defeat Cicada.  They work on the plan of attack, and tell Nora at one point to slow down time, and get the knife. 

Cicada is once again looking for Cecile, but Iris stops him and tells him that they plan on stopping him.  The team then appears to do battle, and as they do, time slows down before the knife gets to Cisco.  She manages to push through the attack and move Cicada into the path of the dagger.  Time then speeds up to normal, and he’s struck with his own dagger.  Before he’s captured, he flies off.

The team can find no trace of Cicada, and they all thank Nora for saving them.  She’s glad she’s gotten better control of her powers.  Just then, Barry returns, with the cure all set to go.  They all stare at him, and he realizes something happened.

Cisco arrives for his date, and it actually goes better for a change.  He’s himself, and Kamilla appreciates that. 

Barry and Nora talk about how many times she tried to save everyone---52 times---and Barry tells her the consequences of trying to change time.  He uses the coffee cup example that Jay used on him a few years ago, to each Nora about the problems of changing time.  He reminds her that they’re not gods, just people with extraordinary gifts. 

We see Sherloque at his desk, having finally cracked Nora’s code, and it starts deciphering her notes.  Meanwhile, back in 2049, she goes to see Eobard again, and asks him if this plan is going to work.  Eobard gets upset with her and tells her he’s the only speedster that knows what he’s doing.  He tells her to stick with the plan, and they’ll be able to capture Cicada, and save her dad.      

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This was another really good episode of our Scarlet Speedster.  For the most part, Barry took a backseat this episode to put the focus on Nora yet again, and how she uses her powers, and the consequences of doing such when she has no complete control of them.  It was also a chance to see Cisco finally get back on the horse and start living again after his near death experience with Cicada, his time trying to find the metahuman cure, and trying to sort his personal life out.  Everyone else was used in the capacity that they were featured---as pawns in this game of "let's reverse time to save the day".  

Nora is a bright girl...VERY bright---from a scientific standpoint for the most part.  But Nora is still naive and awkward in the use of her powers, and problem solving, resulting in her having to reverse time to try and save the day, having taken a whopping 52 chances to get it right.  52...convenient number...right?  How many times has THAT been used in this show before?  And, I've a feeling, it won't be the last.  Of course, we ALSO have to take into account it WILL come up when CRISIS happens next year.  But each time Nora fails, she panics, and no matter what choice she makes, it's the wrong one.  It finally takes Cisco, of all people, to make her realize what she was doing wrong.  That, and remembering that she wrote down EVERY failure in her notebook, which ended up being the key to save the day...that, and the one thing her dad told her:  learn to slow down and think it through.  When she finally applies her dad's lesson, the day is saved.  Cicada once again takes another stabbing blow, and at some point, he's GOT to be weakening.

Kudos to Barry for setting Nora straight on time travel...and for using the coffee cup example to explain how going back in time can shatter it---evoking the same lesson that Jay Garrick had given him back after he created Flashpoint.  He was also good in reminding her that though they have special powers, they are NOT gods.  Now, Eobard is still trying to assure her to stick with the plan, but I still believe that no matter what he says, there's an ulterior agenda---a GOOD villain ALWAYS has one.  

Was great to see Cisco get back on the horse, and had to laugh when Ralph brought in his "Book of Ralph" to try and get Cisco ready for his date.  This was a great plot device for this episode, as it allowed Cisco to try various things to impress Kamilla on his date.  When it turns out that Ralph eventually said that he had it, and shouldn't worry.  Kamilla turns out to be a sweet gal, and I wonder how long her role will be on this show?  I've heard rumors that Carlos Valdes, who plays Cisco, is probably leaving the show after this season, so maybe him having a normal relationship with Kamilla, and getting away from Central City might be the way he bows out.  We'll see how this progresses.

Cicada's plan was pretty foolproof through most of the episode, until Nora and the team found out a way to beat him yet again.  Not sure how many losses the guy's gonna take until he goes off on a massive killing spree, not even worrying about police or anything.  I feel that epic battle will be the finale, or close to.  But, they've put him on the defensive, and it won't be long before he comes back on the attack.  We've got about 9 or 10 episodes left this season, so the steam is going to have to pick up from here.

Sherloque...whom Nora thought she had distracted enough last week with a new love interest, had his attention right back on her again, as her time travelling scenario piqued his interest once again.  Now, he's got the answers he's looking for, and I wonder how long it's going to be before he exposes Nora's secret not only to herself, but to her parents and the team.  Nora can't hide much longer.  She's exposed now.  

Once again, another solid episode, and we're on a two week hiatus, and will be back March 5th for a new episode.  So, subscirbe, pass the good word, and please leave a comment...I'd be eternally grateful.  

Until March 5th...keep on running!