THE FLASH Season 5 Episode 17 Review: Time Bomb


After months of continued delays and distractions, everything from the marketing to the opening broadcast this was the episode Nora’s duplicity would finally be revealed, and fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief. And I admit to being pretty surprised that it was Thawne who suggested Nora tell Barry the truth after their plan fell apart. 

While Thawne is sure to have his own agenda surrounding Nora, this attitude suggests he might genuinely care about what happens to Barry. Thawne’s often expressed some twisted affection for the Barry of the 21st century despite their future grudge, so I can buy he truly doesn’t want Barry gone forever—just as I suspect Barry, to his own consternation, probably won’t be happy to find out Thawne is on death row. 

But although Thawne made the recommendation, the person who unintentionally did the actual convincing was Vickie (played charmingly by Catherine Louth Haggquist), a meta leading a double life that for once didn’t involve any spandex. One hazard of the villain of the week format is that it often feels like every meta in Central City is a criminal, so it was a nice change of pace to see a meta like Vickie just trying to go about her normal day to day life, while keeping her abilities on the downlow. 

Her mundane family life also helped highlight how ruthless our new Cicada was, with no apparent qualms about threatening children or killing civilians in her hunt. Her single-minded focus is refreshing after months of Dwyer licking his wounds. I’m not convinced yet it was worth expanding the Cicada story, however it definitely the plot a much needed kickstart. Dwyer’s horror at seeing how much his revenge warped Grace’s psyche is just sad enough to make you appreciate that he could have been a compelling character with stronger writing, but as it is, his death felt long overdue. 

Nora’s new psychic link with Grace is a little too convenient (why don’t Barry and Iris have one with Nora if going into a mindscape is all it takes?), but I’d be willing to look past it if it develops into more than a telepathic alarm bell for when Grace is near. It’d be fun to see it go down a Harry Potter route , where Nora could access Grace’s memories or pick up on her emotions. While Grace’s ruthlessness has helped the show gain some new energy, I fear she might start becoming more of a one note villain now that she’s killed her uncle. A connection with Nora might be able to help keep her a rounded character. 

As for the big confession, which was of course saved until the very final moments of the episode, it was serviceable enough, but far from the monumental moment it could have been. Sherloque’s calling Nora out doesn’t seem like much a masterful deduction with two-thirds of a season’s worth massive clues. Jessica Parker Kennedy does a good job how wracked with guilt Nora is, but she’s had to play that for half a season now, and it doesn’t have the same punch anymore. The rest of the team has no real reaction beyond blank stares of shock, except for Barry, who throws her straight into the pipeline. 

The thing about Barry’s reaction is that we all know both he and Iris will end up forgiving Nora—they wouldn’t be Barry and Iris if they didn’t. But because of the time constraints that come with being this late in the season, we aren’t going to see the West- Allen’s gradually rebuild the trust in their relationship. The writers have simply waited to long for it do be an in-depth story. Barry’s extreme move of locking her up feels like set up for them to hug things out the moment he lets her out next episode and go right back to square one, robbing us of the meatiest parts of the family drama the series has been trying to build up.

Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer


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