WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the 11th episode of The Flash Season 5 titled “Seeing Red”. Do not read if you have not seen the episode or read ahead at your own risk of being spoiled.
Tuesday’s episode of The Flash brought rage, heartbreak, and anger for the West-Allen clan as they saw our beloved hero nearly go over the edge.
The episode picks up with Cicada’s doctor visiting him and informing him that she has a sidekick to help with his metahuman killing spree. And what happens next is shocking: Cicada goes on a metahuman killing spree and was nearly going to strike again until Team Flash showed up.
During the battle, Cicada somehow gets hold of Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) and breaks her back. This is one of the most heartbreaking and toughest scenes to watch since the show first began five seasons ago. Barry (Grant Gustin) rushes her back to S.T.A.R. Labs quickly following the brutal attack on his adult daughter.
This scene was particularly well-done thanks to the emotion that Gustin and Candice Patton, who plays Iris West-Allen, show during the scene when Nora is in bed scared and worried that she isn’t healing because Cicada’s dark matter has an effect on her powers.
Barry and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) teamed up and realized Cicada is going after metahumans that were on a CCPD list, which meant there was a crooked cop in the mix. Cecilie makes arrangements for the metas to be transferred to federal custody but why didn’t they just use a breach? I mean, they are metahumans after all.
At this point, Barry is in a range and Cecile uses this to talk him down. However, a police officer tips off Cicada that the metas are being moved and Barry and Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) rush over to stop him. Frost uses her powers to stop Cicada’s dagger, which allows Barry to completely pound on him. Once again, Gustin did a phenomenal job of portraying the emotion an angry father would have in this scene.
Nora regains her speed and rushes over to the scene to stop Barry from making the biggest mistake of his life. This causes Cicada to escape. We also find out that Officer Jones is the one who was leaking the information to Cicada, so he is arrested.
The episode ends with Barry making one big realization: the way to beat Cicada is by using his fatherly instincts. If Team Flash can find a way to save Grace and get to her wake up, all this might be over.
Episode Notes:
- The other plot of the episode involved Killer Frost and Caitlin having an inner battle (literally) with herself (or is it themselves?) about wanting to take the meta cure. Caitlin wants to, but Frost is preventing her. After a talk with Ralph, Frost decides to give in and it looks like we may be getting ready to say goodbye to Frost.
- Where was Cisco? I mean, I get everyone needs a day off of work. But he picked a pretty bad day to miss out on.
What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.