Will Season 5 Get The Flash Back On Track?

 

Aaaaaaaand we’re back!  The break has been a little bit longer than usual because, well, I’ll be honest. I realized at the end of Season 4 that all of my articles were pretty much the same because each episode was pretty much the same. Every. Fricking. Week. I was hoping that there may have been a bright spot in Season 4 to find that the only part I enjoyed was that it was ending and hopefully Season 5 would freshen some things up.

Maybe some of you think I am being too harsh, but we all know The Flash is capable of so much more.  What will Season 5 bring?  Looks like we may go back to speedster overload and a (yet again) messed up Speed Force.  It still has to be better than last season, right?  Read on to find out!

Nora Makes An Entrance —  The season starts exactly where last season ended.  Nora makes her introduction showing she already knows everyone. Nora pulled a Barry and disrupted the Speed Force and can’t generate enough speed in order to open it back up.  I am definitely willing to give this season a chance, but hope that it isn’t a recycle of Season 3’s Flashpoint attempt.  The dynamic between Barry, Nora, and the others is interesting to me though, and I am hoping it pans out.

Nora carries more traits of Barry than she does Iris and seems to be hiding something that shows some discord between her and her mother. What do you think happened between the two? Barry tries to help Nora gain access to the Speed Force (with a nice Easter Egg about King Shark and Gorilla Grodd fighting — please let this happen soon) when Wally returns with new info. Sooo, after a good deal of more scientific jargon, Nora can’t get back and the Waverider can’t take her either because everything will disintegrate. This is an area where I hope the show improves.  While I understand they are all scientists, I feel like they overuse this aspect to come up with quick solutions.  (That or maybe I am just an idiot and don’t understand the jargon and therefore can’t follow it.  This is definitely a possibility.)

Nora Is Here To Stay…For Now — She can’t get back to the future, so she may as well help out, right?  This is the direction we knew this season was going to go, and while it could be interesting I was somewhat confused about the possible repercussions.  Apparently, there are hard and soft events meaning some big events will change the future and others don’t.  Barry saving his mother changed the future, but I can’t imagine that Barry and Iris’ daughter from the future being there wouldn’t have any repercussions…only time will tell I guess. What I did enjoy is the connection back to previous seasons when Nora reveals that she lived with Iris a majority of her life as she brings up the old article we have seen of the time Barry vanished in the future crisis.  She also revealed that he had been gone for 25+ years and still hadn’t returned.  Now, this I find interesting.  I had wondered if they would ever come back to this idea, or if it was a plot hole, and I am glad they have.

Nora actually didn’t have many memories of Barry because he vanished when she was young, which is why she was at the wedding, and following him around so much.  While it makes sense why she wants to be there, viewers find out that she actually isn’t stuck there and had orchestrated staying there.  Needing a mentor, she wants her father to teach her.  The emotional connection between Barry and Nora is very real and I found myself honestly interested.

Finally, we get what many of us have been waiting for…the new suit and the ring!  We’ve seen Reverse Flash use his, but it is about time the ring is used!

Meta-Of-The-Week — As Flash goes to apprehend this week’s baddie, Gridlock, Nora distracts him leading to the villain getting away.  He has a generic looking Black Mask resemblance (wait, I thought Arrow was trying to replicate all of Batman’s villains). Apparently, Gridlock can harness kinetic energy and wanted to steal some jewels and crash a plane.  Meh.  I’m still not a fan of a new meta each week.  I don’t think we need the season’s big baddie every episode like last season, but it’s hard for them to establish a rogue’s gallery when they fly through characters and don’t develop them, don’t you think? (Case in point, Gridlock is taken out with one punch.)

Of course, the speedsters save the day as it is a family affair when Barry, Wally, and Nora all board the plane in order to save the passengers.  How do they do so?  By all three phasing together to successfully land the plan in water.  This part was pretty cool to see Barry teaching his daughter how to phase, which she has always wanted, and to see Wally help.

Team Flash — From this episode, it looks like many of the secondary characters will be used as “comic relief” again.  The reason I use the term in quotes is because I really used to enjoy Cisco’s character and his natural humor.  Now some of the comedy seems forced, and takes away from Cisco’s originality.  They made him more like Ralph at times, which one Ralph is enough…

How was that to kick-start Season 5?  Did the episode make you excited for the new season or do you fear it may be like Season 4?  I think it definitely has potential!  There could be some jealousy between Barry and Iris regarding Nora’s longing for a connection with her father.  Caitlin’s father looks to be alive as well, and the mysterious Cicada arrives at the end to kill Gridlock.  (Is it me or is Cicada a non-roided sounding Bane? What could this mean for the season? Leave your thoughts in the usual place, and thanks for reading!

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