FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 5×11- “Seeing Red”

The Flash (5×11)- “Seeing Red”

Written by:         Judalina Neira & Thomas Pound

Directed by:       Marcus Stokes

From “The Flash and the Furious” to “Seeing Red.”  Interesting progression. We open on Cicada and the anti-meta-human movement seems to be gaining steam.  Someone in the CCPD leaked names and addresses of metas to his doctor friend and this lets him knock off a lot of metas in quick succession which brings Team Flash running and that’s where things go haywire when Cicada breaks Nora’s back.

This episode kind of reminds people that while Barry is so packed full of Hope he could easily replace Adara as the embodiment of Hope in the DC Universe…

There’s a flipside to him and that is rage.  Barry spends the episode understandably ready to tear Cicada limb from limb to keep him from ever harming his family again.  It’s good to see, necessary too.  Much like everyone once in a while Batman has to crack a smile or a joke or flirt with Catwoman or Wonder Woman to remind you that there’s more to him than standing on rooftops and brooding or leaping through lighting filled skies.

(Any excuse to put this picture up)

You need Barry to pitch headlong into anger to keep the character feeling like a real person.

There’s the C plot of Ralph convincing Killer Frost to help Caitlin and Cisco in their quest to create a meta-cure but really it’s just that. A C-plot.  There’s also some housekeeping on Sherloque’s arc of deciphering the time language he found in Nora’s journal with Iris trying to chase him off it. (Like that’s going to work.)

What I found really interesting about this episode is it kind of shines a light of some things that have gone unexplored since Season Two of Arrow.  In fact, this is a good time for exploring the questions I have after this week…

Some Questions:

1. How exactly do meta-humans fit into the world? 
2. Do they have rights?  Silly question, right?  But this episode kind of implies they don’t since Cecile has to call in favors to get the potential targets of a serial killer taken into federal protective custody. 
3. Does this mean that CCPD isn’t exactly putting a lot of effort into catching Cicada? 
4. Are they setting up a Cure vs meta-human rights arc either for this season or a future season?
5. How exactly do you resolve something like this?  After all, they *are* people but Barry can outrun light and Cecile can read minds.  I have the freedom to own firearms but I had to register them and I have keep them somewhere secure.  Like Caitlin said this week: “Killer Frost doesn’t need a weapon, she *is* the weapon” so how do you deal with that?
6. Did they even intend for this to be what I thought about at the end of this episode? I hope so, otherwise I have a much different set of questions that are a bit more biting in nature.

Anyway… The episode ends after Barry beats Cicada within an inch of his life but before he can take that last inch Nora talks him down.  Killer Frost also resolves her feud with Caitlin, even going so far as to help her by giving her a sample of Cicada’s blood that she saved.  The cop that leaked the addresses was arrested and Sherloque has determined that Nora didn’t write everything in her journal. 

Most importantly, Barry hits on a plan to stop Cicada by helping Grace recover.

Good episode this week, any time I have this many questions that I feel like the producers intend to explore it can be considered a good episode. The plot was kind of light but they dug a bit more into both the characters and the Universe which I’m fine with.  I don’t need plot progression I just need to feel like there’s been something new to the show at the end of the hour and I feel like there is now.

So, I guess it’s time to wrap up.

Things We Learned in “Seeing Red”:

1. There is a growing anti-meta sentiment emerging in Central City.
2. Nora wasn’t the only person writing in her journal.
3. Nora is Cicada’s next target.

Some More Questions from “Seeing Red”:

1. What does Sherloque suspect Nora is hiding?
2. What will happen to the metas in protective custody after this is over?
3. Was Officer Jones the only person in CCPD conspiring with Dr. Ambres to help Cicada?
4. We saw Barry go off the charts power-wise this week, is he holding back?
5. If so, just how much is Barry holding back AND is he aware he’s holding back?