THE FLASH: Cicada's On A Killing Spree In The New Promo For Season 5, Episode 11: "Seeing Red"

As the only entry in the Arrowverse this week (why, by the way?), not a good week for the CW DC shows.

Next week's episode... thank god we have our big villain back on the show. Guess that means we will deal with him again, only to probably forget about him for an episode or two. The episode itself looks okay, but seriously, they have the fcking snake-eye guy come back? He's one of the worst villains ever in this show.

Reddit had a mixed response to this episode, some YouTube reactors however liked and I was feeling a bit down or just not myself fully (although not for personal reasons), so to my surprise the episode wasn't as bad. If I had to pick any "off-episode" so far in Season 5 it'd be the Icicle one due to it took place at the same time we were still researching and getting close to set up the profile of Cicada. By "off" it doesn't mean bad to me but something that could've been done better.

Throughout the way of the episode I realized they were already inserting the main theme of the story which is of legacy and what exactly is required to be given a 2nd chance and to whom. Thawne feeling regretful of his actions was a nice twist because instead of getting the usual evil Reverse-Flash we're now seeing a tired and worn-one version that after being defeated by the Legends and Barry in the Earth-X event he is ashamed of how selfish he used to be and how it all led him to this moment in prison where he is waiting for his death sentence.

I suspect the "time is malleable" message that Sherloque managed to unlock from the message (gotta rewatch it again with subs this time to get the term that Barry used to call it) is playing a role in how Nora is able to travel back to the future and still have this chats with him. Unless she is just going back to a small interval in time. But if it is this short amount of time then and knowing the future episodes they are going to find out about this secret relationship and future!Iris showing up I assume that they are going to see Thawne face-to-face before he is executed.

In any other episode Nora's behaviour would have been lauded, I thought she was very and strictly professional for most of it and didn't let Joss' defense corner her with the usual "the meta-tech staff can corrupt people" usage argument, but she can't just disconnect from her humanity while she's at it, if not she just goes to become into a vigilante rather than a hero. Even though there is some truth in being careful of who YOU give a second chance like when she told it to Iris because I thought back on last Season when she said the same thing to Harry about wanting to work with Marlize and how it backfired with them when they tried it with Savitar.

But Barry's words about being willing to believe that at some point down the road that Thawne could be good was the boldest part of the episode for me, didn't see it coming but, this is a Barry that did make peace with the face of Wells for what he did to him with Harry in S2 and who also cleared his murder board of his mother's murder, he is no longer shackled by all of that anger, he can't be. And by doing that he proves to be better than his enemy(ies). In that moment he showed all of the growth he's gone through the story.

I wonder if we'll really get close to seeing "Young Rogues".

Cisco saying he could finall play PS4 after removing the shards was relatable. Maybe he feels deep down defeated and thus why he is going for this much more peaceful-esque alternative instead of just being Vibe and shooting vibe blasts. He'd rather have a legacy where he protected others without harming them (a little similar to Thawne but in his case is redemption and to a degree to Joss who wanted to be anything but like her dad) that also doesn't cost him his own happiness. It was a little selfish but that is normal especially when he hasn't been a superhero lately. I'd say that Cisco and Nora in this episode behaved very human-like so it was hard to fault them. But I like the resolution for the moment with both being willing to work on the cure at Icicle's lab. (As long as he doesn't come back there)

But Cicada definitely got into his head, Killer Frost was right about that and even if he finds it I think he needs to settle the score with him. I am starting to think that he'll have a moment similar to KF in S3 when he has to choose between the cure or not.

Funny enough next week it is when Cicada will get in Barry's head when he damages Nora. I wonder how much willing Barry will dwell on if Cicada deserves or not 2nd chance, more considering the future legacy that awaits him as a serial killer.

Finally Barry reading Mick's book was hilarious.