The Flash Season 5
The first four years of The Flash sped by. They aren’t all great, but the majority of episodes are at least entertaining. The Flash started strong out of the gates as we relished his initial confrontations with the Reverse Flash. Since then, the show has not been able to reach the high bar it set for itself.
Season 4 came closest to topping the success of the first. It started promisingly enough, ditching a big bad with super speed for the first time. The Thinker was a great choice to break the mold. Neil Sandilands brought such character and gravitas to the role, and his scenes opposite Grant Gustin were phenomenal. However, the season unraveled when DeVoe began body-swapping.
It is not the subsequent actors’ fault, though. Neil Sandilands was just too good of an act to follow. His return at the end of the season was paralleled by an upturn in quality too.
Much like the Arrow season it ran alongside, it was a season of promises unfulfilled that finished strong. The introduction and final reveal of Dawn Allen, Barry & Iris’s future daughter provides a plethora of great storytelling possibilities. The trailer for the new season danced around these, though. Whatever the mistake Dawn made that she referred to in the closing moments of last season is still unknown.
The trailer did set up a potential big bad. Cicada is a man whose life is ruined by metahumans. He is on a crusade to wipe them out. With the ability to steal life force from his victims, he is an excellent non-super speed choice for Barry Allen to face. Even Ralph Dibny’s powers would be challenged by Cicada.
Cicada also has a very dark backstory in the comic, but you would imagine this will be tweaked to match the tone of the show. The show often struggles in trying to create reasons for why The Flash cannot immediately solve the problem with super speed. Cicada is a foe that narratively makes sense.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eunrm_b_EWs]
As for the team, Barry and Iris are married. Cisco has broken up with Gypsy (due to her actress commitments elsewhere). If we can find lovely people for Cisco and Caitlin to date without the relationship drama, The Flash Season 5 could find the magic of Season 1.
