If you would like to read my review of the last episode of The Flash, click here.
Synopsis: Barry and Iris face the ultimate parenting test when Team Flash battles Spin, a savvy millennial armed with meta tech and a dangerous agenda for Nora; Ralph feels defeated until an unlikely source issues a challenge to help boost his confidence. (TVGuide)
Writers: Kelly Wheeler and Lauren Certo
Director: Brent Crowell
Rating: TV-PG
Running Time: 43mins
Airs: Tuesdays at 8pm on Space (Canada)/The CW (United States)
The Flash momentarily taps into politics in this week’s episode which is a rare occurrence on this particular show, unlike Supergirl that is constantly making references into current events. The Flash has been iffy so far this season but Nora has been a promising character. However, they don’t always make use of some of their best characters, and it’s rather disappointing.
However, this episode of The Flash did shed some light on this season’s biggest mystery–why Nora is distant towards Iris. Let’s just say that while her reasons are valid, it’s a bit hard to judge her mom in the past for what she will do later, but regardless, Barry is in full support of whatever Iris does.
This week’s villain is an interesting one that is able to create fake news. Yes, that’s right. She uses headlines to hypnotize people into making the news come to life and it becomes rather problematic for Team Flash.
The meta’s first discretion comes in the form of making a police officer attack the CCPD softball game. Moments before Nora is checking out a woman named Spencer’s news blog that is similar to Iris’ except she has more followers, and has the ability to produce news really quick. See the connection here?
As the police officer shows up at the game, Cecile senses something is wrong while it looks like something takes over Nora and she stops the man from throwing the bomb into the stands. Later on, there is a fire that Barry and Nora go to put out but Barry is hypnotized into leaving and going to Las Vegas, leaving Nora behind to put out the fire.
It appears this is Spencer’s plan all along, and it doesn’t take Iris long to figure out she is also the meta that is producing fake news. In fact, her articles are published before the events actually happen so it turns out she is the one making them come to life via hypnosis.
One of her fake news headlines even reports that XS kills Flash, so that made for a rather awkward father/daughter moment. To find out whether or not Spencer is a meta, Nora heads to Jitters, but there ends up being some flirting instead and it isn’t until after Iris intervenes that they confirm Spencer is not a meta.
Nora is relieved to hear this because she might have a thing for Spencer, but Iris is not about it and wants to protect Nora from getting hurt. But this isn’t what Nora wants to hear at all because it’s her mother’s need to protect that caused a rift between them in the first place.
Nora reveals that Iris put a power dampening chip into her and she didn’t even know she had powers until six months ago. And while Iris is heartbroken over why she would do such a thing, she soon realizes it must have been the right thing to do, especially after Nora is hypnotized to try and kill Barry.
Naturally, Nora is angry towards her for saying that but even Papa Barry is in agreement with Iris. He trusts that she would make that decision for Nora’s benefit. Hearing it from Barry is enough to throw Nora over the edge so she goes to stay with Joe and Cecile for the time being. Also, why is Joe barely around this season?
In non-Nora/Barry/Iris land, Ralph and Sherloque try to track down Cicada through his mask. During this investigation, it’s revealed that Cicada got his powers during the Enlightenment when debris hit him, just like it gave technology meta powers.
Cicada remains a mystery but his backstory and what it entails has definitely been intriguing. There is a lot of pain and hurt there, and it will make for a more emotional story on The Flash, especially for a villain.
While this may not have been the episode, both Candice Patton and Jessica Parker Kennedy’s gave great performances here. The mother/daughter scenes were tough ones to convey but they did so effortlessly so kudos to them!
The Flash won’t be back for two weeks but here’s to hoping when it returns we have a lot more Cicada headed our way!
Score: 7/10
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