Jessie Robertson reviews the sixteenth episode of The Flash season 5…
And how many Fathers does success have??
The Good:
Jessica Parker Kennedy. That is all.
No, sorry, the deeper we get into the season, the more and more her character is layered and human and likeable. This actress (playing Nora Allen) is doing a killer job. When we first see her tonight, she’s trying to get info from Thawne on what exactly is happening and once she gets the answer, she’s a maniac in the STAR Labs war room, going through every option possible and handles this scene with her typical frenetic energy. Once her Mom and Dad show up and steal her away to Jitters, we get that fun Allen family feeling when they have a “bucket list” of sorts of all the things they want to do with her before she has to leave once Cicada is defeated. These are sweet scenes, honestly, I mean, she got her own drink at Jitters! She’s so adorable! Then, even later on, when what she thought would be the last time they have to deal with Cicada fails, again, she’s at a loss and transitions into even deeper emotions. She’s just the lifeblood of this show this season honestly.
Danielle Nicolet (Cecile) is also one of my favorites and it goes without saying Jesse L. Martin (Joe) is the man; so seeing them team up here, to pry the truth out of Dr. Ambress equaled up to 2 very satisfying scenes. There’s just something about a meta with psychic abilities not using them for evil or gain that tickles me and I think she is very good at her role. Jesse L. Martin is back strong; the “pep talk” scene with Grant Gustin (Barry) in his old CSI office was Flash season 1 stuff. It hit absolutely the right notes on what both men are dealing with.
Then, conclude that with Barry’s speech to Cicada, talking as one father to the next, and moving to the actual procedure scene. I haven’t been that tense or clueless as to what was going to happen on Flash in while.
Not My Favorite:
Broken record here: I’m not a fan of Chris Klein (Cicada). It feels like he’s still working on a different show, honestly. The gruff voice, the head turns, it’s like he’s playing an angry jock or something, a character who’s trying to be tough or intimidating. It doesn’t work. There’s a few things I just overall feel don’t work for this villain. Having objects with dark matter that are the new metas is a novel concept but they really didn’t explore it very much; only set it up to act as the crux of this story. And what are his powers exactly?
The fight scene vs. Grace Cicada was a special effects slop pen. Just people shooting stuff and her standing there deflecting it as Flash ran around her FOREVER in speedster time just to be deflected. What exactly are her powers? I’m guessing she’s the abnormality in the timeline but I’m not sold. I still think whatever Thawne has cooked up is what is going to be the meat of the good stuff at season’s end. And next week is going to be another solid test for Kennedy and the writing team, if what we saw previewed is a promise delivered on.
Rating – 7.5/10- Jessica Parker Kennedy is everything for me this season and despite my high hopes of Cicada vanishing tonight, there were enough scenes that really did their job and the main narrative moved along at just the right pace.
Jessie Robertson
