TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 5 Finale

The Flash Season 5 may not be remembered for its consistency, or its drawn-out Cicada arc, but “Legacy” did service as a good ending to everything, as well as setting up yet another teaser for Crisis on Infinite Earths (with the first being from Arrow last night).

I want to say right off the bat that I loved how they drew things out with the Thawne plot by having Ralph take the bullet for the team in regards to the Mirror Gun, I seriously didn’t see that coming. And with Sherloque finding out the true that Dibny learned, they had a difficult choice to make. Destroy the dagger and stop Cicada, but release Thawne. Or, don’t destroy the dagger, and try to find another way to take out Cicada.

It was going to be interesting to see how it all played out, and I loved that it was Nora (fresh off learning that she was indeed played by Thawne) that figured out what to do. It was a really clever plan too, and it almost worked. But, you knew that Thawne had to be freed, so out the dagger went. However, I did appreciate Nora getting Grace to wake up and release that hate wasn’t the answer. Even having the good version of Orland show up to convince her to stop her future self.

But again, you knew Thawne had to be released, and I loved how he got to do his “victory lap” for a while before they reversed time (somehow…) and stopped him before doing that. Leading to a massive battle between Team Flash and Thawne that I honestly thought was cool. Especially with Thawne doing a “rundown” of things, including noting that Dibny should be dead (a reference to Season 1 where he was a victim of the particular accelerator explosion).

Anyway, just when you thought they had him, Nora started to disappear. With Cicada not captured, enough events changed in the timeline to ensure she was never born (Now if only a certain Marvel movie appreciated the basic rules of time travel…), and despite a last-ditch effort to save her, it wasn’t to be. She was gone, but she out happy to have lived the life she had.

Between Nora’s death, Emiko’s death, and the departure of Oliver Queen into the Multiverse (for now), it was a very somber ending for just about everyone who had family’s this season. But, that message from Nora was a nice capper and signoff to the character, and a sign that just because the future has changed, doesn’t mean that it’s a dark future. Although that “time flux” at the end may have something to say about that…

The only real down points in this episode is the ambiguity of Cisco’s future. He took the cure, which I get, but is he still going to be on Team Flash? It’s unclear. Also, Thawne was REALLY talkative tonight, he was chewing up minutes and I wonder if they just needed to stall to get in their minute quota. Also, despite the fun end to the Cicada storyline, Thawne was the real enemy this season, and that was a bit sad.

Still, “Legacy” was a good end to Flash Season 5, and with it continuing for another full season (unlike Arrow), I’m curious to see how everything unfolds from here.