Like the season ender for ARROW, the Season Five finale for THE FLASH was a tearjerker, as all of the plot threads for a very long season got wrapped up, but not without sacrifice and heartbreak, and a resetting for the next season. There was lots of action and close calls, and somehow, it seemed like each member of the now very large cast of heroes got their moment - some moments longer than others.
The episode, titled "Legacy," was split down the middle; the first half concerned the showdown with Cicada, the Big Bad of the season, and their plot to destroy every single Meta Human. Frankly, for me, Cicada, whether it was Grace or Orlin Dwyer, just didn't cut it as a villain, certainly not one capable of carrying the whole season. Their motives were flimsy at best - a Meta Human who blames other Meta Humans for them being a Meta Human - felt like bad comic book writing at its worst. And as it turns out, Cicada was basically a McGuffin holder, as things were really being manipulated the Biggest Bad of them all, Eobard Thawne - the Reverse Flash - from the future, where he was awaiting execution. The second, and by far the best, half of the episode was an epic confrontation between the heroes and Thawne, one that had a satisfactorily bittersweet resolution, one that centered on Barry and Iris's daughter, Nora, who had been revealed as Thawne's cats paw earlier. Nora was somewhat of a polarizing character for some of us fans, a creation of 21st Century TV writers who ignored the huge West and Allen family canon from the comics. Personally, I would have much preferred to see Bart Allen in her place, but in the end, Nora redeemed herself in way worthy of her family name.
Still, there was something tedious about this whole fifth season, and I couldn't help but feel that maybe THE FLASH is showing some drag. I was a huge fan when it came on the air back in 2014, happy to see one of my favorite super heroes back in a TV series, capably played by Grant Gustin. But after nearly five years, this show is episode after episode of endless buildup, small payoff, repetition, bad acting (especially by Chris Klein in Season Five), and a general sense that it is simply running on cruise control. With the arrival of the DC Universe, with shows like TITANS, the CW/Greg Berlanti style of storytelling now feels like something whose time has passed.
Still, there will be a Season Six, and hopefully the cast will return, most of whom have settled into a familiar groove - I do like Hartley Sawyer, who kills it every week as Ralph Dibney, and Tom Kavangh as whatever iteration of Harrison Wells he is playing. Season Six promises to finally reveal the long hinted at catastrophe where Barry vanishes, it's the TV version of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and in the comic, that didn't end well for Barry Allen. Somehow, I think it will be different for the TV Flash, either way, despite what I said, I will be watching.
The episode, titled "Legacy," was split down the middle; the first half concerned the showdown with Cicada, the Big Bad of the season, and their plot to destroy every single Meta Human. Frankly, for me, Cicada, whether it was Grace or Orlin Dwyer, just didn't cut it as a villain, certainly not one capable of carrying the whole season. Their motives were flimsy at best - a Meta Human who blames other Meta Humans for them being a Meta Human - felt like bad comic book writing at its worst. And as it turns out, Cicada was basically a McGuffin holder, as things were really being manipulated the Biggest Bad of them all, Eobard Thawne - the Reverse Flash - from the future, where he was awaiting execution. The second, and by far the best, half of the episode was an epic confrontation between the heroes and Thawne, one that had a satisfactorily bittersweet resolution, one that centered on Barry and Iris's daughter, Nora, who had been revealed as Thawne's cats paw earlier. Nora was somewhat of a polarizing character for some of us fans, a creation of 21st Century TV writers who ignored the huge West and Allen family canon from the comics. Personally, I would have much preferred to see Bart Allen in her place, but in the end, Nora redeemed herself in way worthy of her family name.
Still, there was something tedious about this whole fifth season, and I couldn't help but feel that maybe THE FLASH is showing some drag. I was a huge fan when it came on the air back in 2014, happy to see one of my favorite super heroes back in a TV series, capably played by Grant Gustin. But after nearly five years, this show is episode after episode of endless buildup, small payoff, repetition, bad acting (especially by Chris Klein in Season Five), and a general sense that it is simply running on cruise control. With the arrival of the DC Universe, with shows like TITANS, the CW/Greg Berlanti style of storytelling now feels like something whose time has passed.
Still, there will be a Season Six, and hopefully the cast will return, most of whom have settled into a familiar groove - I do like Hartley Sawyer, who kills it every week as Ralph Dibney, and Tom Kavangh as whatever iteration of Harrison Wells he is playing. Season Six promises to finally reveal the long hinted at catastrophe where Barry vanishes, it's the TV version of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and in the comic, that didn't end well for Barry Allen. Somehow, I think it will be different for the TV Flash, either way, despite what I said, I will be watching.