THE FLASH Review “Seeing Red”

The Flash — “Seeing Red” -Pictured: Grant Gustin as The Flash — Photo: Shane Harvey/The CW

THE FLASH “SEEING RED” REVIEW

BY JUSTIN CARTER

One of the things about Cicada in this season of The Flash is that he’s effective in short bursts. This episode subtly plays up the stories from the comics where he has a cult of followers who also want metahumans dead that’s sure to grow from just two people in the coming weeks. But in the long term…that’s hard to tell. A superhuman serial killer plot doesn’t seem like it can sustain itself for nearly two dozen episodes unless he somehow achieves relative godhood and proves too powerful to best all the other plans Team Flash has exhausted through. (That said chieving said godhood wouldn’t be entirely outlandish for this show.)

All of this is to say that there needs to be some kind of big progression by the time May goes around for him to not wear out his welcome. Now that he’s back in the picture this week, assistance from Dr. Andres and a CCPD cop have him hunting down metahumans that’ve just gotten out of prison. Team Flash decides that the best thing to do is put all of them in witness protection and away from the city, requiring a roster change after Cicada breaks Nora’s back. Not necessarily Bane style, but brutal enough to make her emotional breakdown immediately afterward stick the landing.

Subbing in for Nora is Amunet’s old right hand Norvock, the literal snake-eyed man. His story ends up being surprisingly effective for how little of it there is: the night of the accelerator explosion, he was working at the zoo and pulling a snake off a kid. He brings a good amount of heft to the idea that some metas are unlucky and just got dealt a bad hand. Even his turning point where he lets other metas get to safety before himself lands stronger than it really should.

The same can be said of the meta cure. I doubt that Cisco and Ralph will actually take it by the end of the season, but the debate between Team Flash as to whether it’s right or wrong is nothing if not fascinating because it’s being discussed among people who were nearly killed because of their powers. Ralph and Killer Frost are a surprisingly emotional duo together and I wouldn’t mind if they were paired together more as this story is explored.

Next week will see the West-Allen trio take a mental trip to cure Cicada’s niece in the hopes that it’ll appeal to his humanity and get him to back off his killing spree. The logic there is that Barry stopped giving him a beatdown upon seeing a freshly healed Nora, you see. Hopefully that does something to shake up Cicada and make him a threat worth a seasonal arc.

Additional Notes

• The fight scene we get of Frost and Cicada going at it was very good, and I enjoyed seeing Frost bust out the ice daggers like it’s Mortal Kombat.

• Apparently, the show’s justification for Jesse L. Martin’s absence is that he, Cecile, and Jenna are taking a global trip with Wally. What happens if a baby travels with a speedster?

• Sherloque is getting incredibly close to figuring out Nora’s working with Thawne, and it wouldn’t surprise me if her suddenly being able to walk again was meant to derail him planting seeds in Iris’ mind.

• Nora got to take STEM in 5th grade, meaning the future is much more optimistic about the American educational system than I am.