Jessie Robertson reviews the fifth episode of The Flash season 5…
I’ve been hyped for this one for two weeks – I love me some Ragdoll!
The Good:
– Ragdoll’s look, appearance and nailing his powers!
– Nora, Nora, Nora; Jessica Parker Kennedy is killing it! So Shway! She has the perfect little girl mad look down. This week’s journey through her learning about Iris juxtaposed with Iris seeing what the love or coldness of a Mother can do to a relationship, I thought “All Doll’d Up” did a tremendous job balancing the hero action (and a lot of it had Iris involved) with the personal that the West-Allen family continues to go through. Very sad to see Jesse L. Martin on a leave of absence but that leaves Danielle Nicolet (Cecile) to do the family heavy lifting and I think she’s a delight as well.
– The ‘B’ story was also very entertaining of the rest of Team Flash all caught up in the search for clues to Caitlin’s father’s whereabouts. Ralph and Sherloque are providing some quality entertainment as the most mismatched pair of detectives this side of Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans in Last Boy Scout (Classic, trust me!) And I love that the center of the story is Caitlin; she’s deserved more spots like this over the last 5 seasons and they come in very short supply. Tom Cavanagh delivering “This was inspiring”, even just a one note throwaway line in this new character truly proves he’s a one man show, honestly.
– Cisco balancing his anger, pain and glee at naming villains was a nice mix tonight
The Not Great:
– So, I kinda missed Ragdoll’s back story. It sounded a bit similar to the comics but it almost felt inconsequential and they were kind of lining him up to turn, well, maybe not hero but halfway there later down the line?
– I have to say, I get what they were doing but I found Ralph swinging across the city like Spider-Man with Iris pretty ridiculous; maybe not as ridiculous as him engulfing Ragdoll inside of him. Really bizarre uses for Ralph this week.
No Cicada this week but I think the villain they chose is CREEPY, and memorable and a great character; very glad to see him make his debut even in a kind of rushed tale. The West-Allen Family dynamic is still working, but it’s early in the season yet.
Rating: 8.5/10
Jessie Robertson
