Television

FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 5×17- “Time Bomb”

The Flash (5×17)- “Time Bomb”

Written by:         Kristen Kim & Sterling Gates

Directed by:       Rob Greenlea

So when we left off things weren’t looking good for our heroes.  Orlin had taken the cure but the adult Grace had come from the future to take up his mantle and it seems just not only more powerful but a little crazy to boot. I don’t see how things could get much worse…

Just kidding!

They’re getting worse by the minute because Nora can’t get any more help from Thawne in the future so she has to tell her father what they’ve been doing.  Of course she can’t just tell Barry because what father wants to hear from his time traveling daughter that she’s working with his arch nemesis to manipulate events from the future? (That sentence would be complete insanity when talking about pretty much any other show.) 

As a result, Nora’s stalling and I think we all know where that course of action leads.  Making Nora’s stalling more dangerous is the fact that Sherloque has nearly decrypted her time journal and is looking for who she’s working with.  That’s pretty much means our ticking clock is approaching zero.

Also in the “getting worse all the time” column is Grace.  Turns out when I said she might be a little crazy I was underselling it.  She’s all about two things: Getting Orlin’s powers back and meta-murder. 

How can we make this worse?  Well Thawne’s Time Sphere from Season One could pop up as stolen?  Or maybe it’s not stolen in the present but rather the future?  Or maybe Grace can storm the Police Station to steal files and beat up cops?

Then again, why do one of those things when we do them all?

It all adds up to something pretty simple: Grace isn’t back just to rescue Uncle Orlin but to murder the meta that killed her parents.  Good thing she’s a soccer mom holding a party for her daughter.  Learning this, Orlin has seen how far he lead Grace astray and tries to talk her down however she’s beyond his reach and she kills him for the trouble.

There’s a bit of a C-Plot where Cisco tries to keep his private life separate from his super-hero life by not mixing Kamilla and the group and Ralph pretty much nukes it over the course of the episode by getting her a job with Iris where it’s firmly establish (not for the first time if I recall correctly) that Spider-man exist in the CW-Verse, which means Cisco should really know that the only thing you get when you hide your superhero-ing from your girlfriend is…

Meanwhile, Sherloque manages to find a futuristic thumb drive Thawne’s wheelchair that he uses not only to complete his translation but figure out that Nora is working with Thawne.  Sherloque rightly outs her to the group and Barry locks her up in the Pipeline.

So there you have it, all the cards are on the table and the players in place for whatever happens next.  With five episodes left it looks like we won’t have to wait for answers either.  Which I like.  This was another solid episode, a bit “TV writing by numbers” but I don’t have to remind you that the trope isn’t a problem it’s how it’s used and they used it pretty well.  I felt for Nora at the start and I felt for Barry at the end.

However, while we won’t have to wait long for answers from the Flash, this is the last time we’ll be able to digest them here.  This is my final review (and most likely my final article out of 267) for WOBAM as the site will be shutting down before I return from my business trip.  I intend to continue to live tweet the show and I may “ask Paul to allow me” to continue to live tweet for the remainder of the season.  (Read that as “I am probably going to do it anyway since I have the twitter password. Evil is my default position, remember my love for Red Kryptonite Kara, after all?)

I was one of (if not the) first person Paul brought on and I took on the Flash reviews primarily because Paul was reviewing Arrow and here at the end I don’t think I thought Flash would even work at the time.  I was glad to be proven wrong.

While I am sad that the site is shutting down I am grateful for my time here and for the people I’ve met along the way.  Finally to you reading this review, however few of you there may be (I’m still amazed that anyone reads these to say nothing of people still reading them after I blistered Avengers and Civil War) I offer my heartfelt thanks and one last picture of the Sainted Patty Spivot:

I don’t really believe in goodbyes so I’ll see you when I see you.

Things We Learned:

  1. The Team has learned of Nora’s alliance with Thawne in the future.
  2. Grace remembers her time in the coma clearly enough to remember Nora’s name.
  3. Nora and Grace have some sort of Psychic link.

Questions:

  1. Thawne refers to the time language as a Source Code, is it possible this is connected with the Source Wall?
  2. How did Grace get a hold of the Time Sphere?
  3. Is this all still part of Thawne’s plan?

Just another guy on the internet.