[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9387″ img_size=”726×408″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Hello, Citizens of GeekVibesNation! How are you doing today? Having a good day, excited for the upcoming holiday season?
It seems as though 2018 has gone by in the blink of an eye, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing; good in that we’re one step closer to the 2019 movie season and bad because, well, 2018 honestly hasn’t sucked like some of the previous years. Plus, we’re coming ever closer to the Elseworlds CW crossover even which I am super psyched for. I think they’re finally going to put alternate versions of our favorite superheroes to good use, *cough* unlike the Crisis on Earth-X *cough, cough*.
But I digress; this is, after all, supposed to be about The Flash.
So, Cicada.
As Nora West-Allen/XS explains, Cicada was one of the biggest baddies Barry Allen/The Flash ever faced. Not only was he a metahuman serial killer with some kind of strange larynx issue that produces a clicking sound, but in the future where he is most active, the Flash never catches him. In fact, nobody ever catches him; not the Legends of Tomorrow, the Justice League, or Supergirl, leading him straight into supervillain infamy as a metahuman Jack the Ripper.
Also, he is really, really early in the timeline, a side-effect of Nora’s time travelling.
Team Flash wastes little time putting together an action plan to stop this new ruffian with Barry, Nora, and Cisco Ramon/Vibe seeking outside help on uncovering the identity of Cicada. The help? Herr Wells, one of Harry/Harrison/H.R. Wells’ counterparts from another dimension.
Unfortunately, Herr Wells is busy with other matters – despite his geeking out at meeting the Flash and XS – but he directs Team Flash to yet another Wells that may be of help. Despite Cisco’s adamant dismissal of the idea, Barry and Nora convince him to summon this new Harry anyway.
We couldn’t very well get far into a season of The Flash without answering the question: Which Harrison Wells do we get this time?
Well, for this season, it appears we get Sherlock Wells.
Actually, it’s Sherloque, he’s French. And drinks tea, a decided difference between himself and the other coffee-addict doppelgangers.
Anyway, Team Flash is not impressed by Sherloque (oh gosh I’m going to have to spell that for the entire season), but he quickly shows off he deductive skills by uncovering everyone’s dirty little secrets; Iris West-Allen apparently had a tattoo from an old boyfriend that her hubby, Barry, did NOT know about, the mystery of Caitlin Snow/nee Killer Frost’s deceased-or-maybe-not father is still looming largely over her head, and Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man is secretly a sad baby giraffe.
The last one was more of an observation than a deduction, of course.
So with Sherloque officially on the payroll – it only cost S.T.A.R. Labs and Team Flash a small fortune –the team splits into two with Barry, Iris, Nora, and Cisco after Cicada and Ralph and Caitlin track down the latest lead for her dad’s mysterious death: her mom.
But wait! What has the bad guy been doing this whole time?
Creepy-stalkering Cisco, aka Central City’s beloved metahuman hero Vibe, looking for any clues that could lead him to Vibe’s real identity. He finds one in Detective Joe West and other member of Team Flash, who frequently appears in the same photos as Vibe, albeit often just in the background.
So Cicada shows up in the middle of Joe’s living room.
Meanwhile, Caitlin and Ralph have little luck with getting information from her mother – as usual – so they go for the more direct route, which is breaking into her mother’s company’s files. They discover quite a bit about Caitlin’s dad, old games she used to play with him involving fake periodic table, memories about catching bugs in the garden, and what appears to be a suicide note, written to Caitlin from her father.
Ralph feels bad for pushing Caitlin to find the note, but she quickly dismisses his concerns, stating that she is glad to finally have some closure.
Ah, for the simpler days, when closure actually meant something.
Anyway, Team Tracking-Down-Cicada has made a breakthrough! Actually, Sherloque’s great deductive skills almost instantaneously identified Cicada’s alter ego, David Hersch. Nora and Barry head to the farm where Hersch is located and after a mishap with a rather explosive booby trap, they take him into custody…
Until Barry figures out that Hersch is not actually Cicada and Sherloque is forced to confess that he didn’t technically deduce that Hersch was Cicada; Hersch has simply been Cicada on all of the other Earths in the multiverse he had tracked him down on. In this Earth, however, while Hersch is an insane terrorist with mass murderous tendencies, he isn’t a metahuman like Cicada.
[Hold up: did we actually know Cicada was a metahuman before this point?]
Team Flash quickly demands a refund, but Sherloque has already spent the money on alimony for his seven wives.
Nora is pretty irate that they did not catch Cicada, which is easily understood. She was essentially the cause of Cicada emerging early and indirectly led to the deaths of Gridlock and Block, who were not supposed to die.
But right now there are much bigger problems, such as the fact that Sherloque has been vaporized after accidentally touching one of S.T.A.R. Labs’ fancy something-somethings that vaporize you when touched.
R.I.P. Sherloque. I will not miss your terrible spelling abilities.
Yeah, no, I’m not getting out of it that easy. Turns out, his “ashes” were tea leaves and Barry quickly tracks his escaping hide down. He’s not getting out of owing S.T.A.R. Labs that much money so easily.
Meanwhile, Joe is tied to a chair with Cicada threatening his life if he doesn’t call Cisco. Joe, of course, denies that he even knows Cisco, but things get more complicated when Cecile Horton/Joe’s girlfriend’s residual telepathic powers kick in and she senses Joe in danger.
She goes downstairs to see Cicada torturing Joe and gets the Team Flash panic button ready. Joe tries to wave her off – since calling in Team Flash is exactly what Cicada wants – but she accidentally presses the button when their baby daughter, Jenna, starts to cry.
Of course, Vibe is the first one to respond. Cisco saves Cecile from certain death by Cicada’s significantly sharp stabby sickle, but then Cicada shoves Cisco back into his swirly, concentrated cynosure which commits Cisco and Cicada to a secret coniferous copse.
Whew! (copse = small forest)
So, the “newly-resurrected” Sherloque must deduce the location of Cisco and Cicada, proving once and for all that he is actually a good detective, just a lousy businessman and kind of a cheat, and Barry goes in for back up.
Of course, Barry is defeated yet again by Cicada and Nora gets to step in and be a hero; she comes up with the idea to use the S.T.A.R. Labs vaporizing thingie that almost did not kill Sherloque as a weapon against Cicada. It almost works, except for the fact that it blew up Cisco instead and Cicada is still roaming free.
Yes, Cisco is dead.
No, I’m kidding, again. Nobody dies in this episode despite the writers’ best attempts to convince us otherwise. It was all a big ruse to get Cicada off of Cisco’s tail. Barry, who was not informed of the plan prior to it actually going off, is very relieved.
Final scenes from this episode:
Sherloque agrees to work of the fee he accumulated when trying to track down Cicada. He also asks Nora point blank if coming back in time and revealing herself to her parents (Barry and Iris) was actually her idea. She flubs the answer, leaving us with many questions and suspicions.
Caitlin uncovers a hidden message in her dad’s files that says “Caitlin come find me.”
And, finally, Cicada is revealed to have a daughter in a coma and a stab wound on himself that won’t heal. Also, his name is Orland or something similar.
Review & Theories
“Thank you very much for coming, Cumberbatch.” – Cisco’s sass meter at 5000% upon being introduced to Sherloque.
So, The Flash has officially made it to Episode 503 with one of the most clickbait—I mean shocking titles I have ever seen. *clears throat awkwardly*
Seriously, though, it’s a very safe-but-shocking premise for an episode. Of course they aren’t going to kill off Vibe and if they were, there probably would have been a big fuss outside of the story. But, I’ll admit, I wondered if we were going to have two Killer Frost situations on our hands and Cisco would lose his powers too.
My brilliant theory to tie Caitlin’s dad’s death to the Cicada storyarc was that Cicada is Caitlin’s dad, especially with he whole “catching bugs in the backyard” quip. He theoretically still could be, but at this point it’s more or less unlikely since the real Cicada was called “Orland” by the nurse at his daughter’s hospital.
So, for a different theory, maybe Caitlin’s dad is the mastermind behind Cicada’s powers and anti-metahuman lightning bolt?
Oh…
Oooooohhhhhhh…
GUYS
WHAT IF CATILIN’S DAD WANTED TO GET RID OF HER COLD POWERS AND MADE THE METAHUMAN-POWER-DAMPENING DEVICE CICADA IS USING??
SORRY I’M YELLING—I mean, sorry I am yelling, it’s just so exciting.
Do you have an exciting theory about Cicada’s or Caitlin’s dad’s true identity? Feel free to leave a comment down below or on any of GVN’s social media pages![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
GVN’s resident writer on The Flash and other CW TV shows and cat appreciator. Ang rhymes with ‘sang’!
