The Flash Season 5 has been all over the place–and not in a good way. It started off with an introduction to Barry and Iris’ adult daughter from the future, and her desire to come back and save her father from disappearing. Then it jumped back and forth between Cicada as the main villain and a re-introduction of Thawne as the main villain. As the viewer, we were left a little perplexed as to all of the different story plots and themes they seemed to try and cram into this one season. We had detours for Caitlin to find her lost father–who had also been transformed into a villain–, then another detour to delve into Cisco’s new girlfriend and his dealing with not wanting to be Vibe anymore. We saw Ralph and Joe deal with personal issues that detoured from the main plot as well. We watched Nora (Barry’s daughter) go back and forth with her loyalty to both Thawne and the team. We have also seen old characters like Killer Shark and Grodd make randomj comeback appearances.
It hasn’t been necessarily bad, it just hasn’t been cohesive. Cicada was supposed to be the main bad guy, but even his role was changed as his villainous title was transferred to his niece after he reformed. The entire season has felt somewhat disjointed. I actually really liked that in the Season Finale they had to let XS and Sherloque go. While their characters did grow on me over time, they majorly disrupted the season and kind of took away from the entire dynamic and typical flow of the show. Watching Barry and Iris try to navigate parenting an adult, who had major issues with the versions of them that she knew, was honestly painful for most of the time. Sending her back almost immediately would have been the most appropriate move. Afterall, if they are ready for a family they can see Nora soon as a baby. Getting to know your adult child before knowing them as a baby and a child is just weird! It all felt very forced and unnatural.
And as dangerous as Cicada supposedly was to Meta’s, he didn’t seem nearly as lethal and evil as Thawne or Jay from previous seasons. The suspense and drama this season were more forced than real. In all honesty, I am not sure where the series goes from here. Caitlin has lost her father. Cisco has given up his Vibe powers. Barry and Iris have lost their daughter–whether this is permanent or the timeline rewrites itself when Iris gets pregnant has not been discussed. And the only thing we know for sure is that Thawne is back out there. While I love Tom Cavanagh, and have loved the clever ways in which they have kept him on the show by showing different versions of Harry from other universes, I am disappointed they have gone all the way back to the Season 1 villain instead of focusing on creating something new and interesting. It seems a little lazy on the part of the writers.
I didn’t hate this season, but I definitely didn’t love it either. It just felt jumbled and a little boring at times. I feel like we could have skipped this entire season and not really missed much.
