The Flash recap: Sherloque Wells helps reveal Nora and Cicada's connection
We knew it wouldn’t be long for the other timey-wimey shoe to drop after Team Flash decided to let Nora stay in the present — and now it has. “The Death of Vibe” revealed exactly how Nora’s presence in the here and now is affecting the timeline, and not for the best. The episode also introduced Tom Cavanagh’s latest incarnation of Harrison Wells: the French Sherloque Wells. Let’s dive in.
“The Death of Vibe” opens with a really cool look at the Hall of Villains in the future Flash Museum as Nora, speaking to Team Flash, reveals that Cicada is her father’s scariest enemy because, well, he was never caught. Supergirl, Green Arrow, the Legends, and the League (!!!) all failed to apprehend him. But there’s more! It turns out that Cicada’s metahuman purge is happening earlier than it should and his victims are completely different, which is obviously a result of Nora traveling back in time. Does anything good ever come out of time travel?
But no worries, because Nora has an idea for how to defeat Cicada: recruiting a new version of Wells to join the team. Apparently, Team Flash never thought to try that in her version of the timeline, so maybe that’s what’ll tip the scale this time. Nora wants to bring Herr Wells onto the team, but the good German scientist/Flash family fanboy is too busy and recommends turn Sherloque Wells, a French master detective who also charges for his services. Honestly, I remain in awe of just how many version of Wells Cavanagh has played at this point, and I really enjoyed what we got of Sherloque in this episode. In terms of cartoonish-ness, Sherloque lands somewhere between season 3’s H.R. and the very silly Herr Wells.
Early on it’s clear that Sherloque may be a bit too good to be true. After a cursory glance at the info the team has on Cicada, he sends them after a man named David Hersh and even helps them navigate a few of the obstacles in capturing him. However, it turns out that Hersh isn’t the real Cicada, which motivates Sherloque to come clean and admit that he cheated. Apparently, he’s caught Cicada on 36 different Earths and each time it’s David Hersh, so he just assumed that was the case again (Yes, the team rightfully asks for a refund). So, the fact that it’s not Hersh on Earth-1 means Nora’s presence has caused yet another change in the timeline. And cue Nora’s guilt rising! At first, Barry struggles to understand why she’s so anxious to do something, but then Iris helps him see that his daughter is basically going through what he used to go through, well, all the time, and he gives her a cute pep talk.
Thankfully, the team won’t have to wait too long to encounter Cicada again because Wannabe Bane takes Joe hostage and orders him to call Vibe to the West home so he can kill him. Again, the show’s cast wasn’t lying when they said that Klein’s baddie was pretty scary; however, I’ll admit that the intimidation factor definitely dropped a bit when Joe said that Vibe only shows up at crime scenes and Klein responded with the unintentionally hilarious line, “This could be a crime scene.” Unfortunately, Cecile wakes up, realizes what’s happening, and calls Cisco to the scene before Cicada can hurt her. Vibe breaches into the leaving room and Cicada pushes him back through the portal and they land in a forest.
Next: New mysteries
As Cisco tries to run through the forest to escape Cicada, Sherloque helps the team narrow down his location, proving that he isn’t a complete fraud. Barry speeds out to the scene and immediately loses his powers, so it’s up to Nora to save the day. Keeping her dad’s advice in mind, she takes a moment to think through their predicament before rushing in and comes up with a solution: She throws lightning at Cicada and then helps Cisco fake his death. Cicada tries to finish Barry, too, but he flies away — yes, this dude can fly! — because he’s injured, which leads to another big reveal…
Cicada — a.k.a. Orlon (spelling?) — heads to a hospital to see his daughter, who is ill and, by the looks of it, in a coma. His daughter’s doctor clearly knows what he has been up to and asks to see the cut he got from his recent fight. She advises he stop, but he refuses. Coincidentally, as all of this is going down, Joe tells Iris that he thinks Cicada is a father based on how he held baby Jenna’s blanket and talked about family while holding his hostage.
As the episode ends, Barry and Iris invite Nora to stay in the loft since Sherloque will need to take over the newly discovered lounge. Nora says yes, but before leaving, she stops in the lounge to get her things and runs into the good detective. Ever suspicious, Sherloque asks Nora if she decided to help Barry save the day in the season finale on her own or if someone pushed her to do it, but he quickly dismisses his question by adding that he assumes the temptation to be a hero must have been too much. But the worried expression on Nora’s face as she walks away means she’s definitely hiding something because of course, she is.
Wall of Weird:
In the wake of their fight with Cicada, Team Flash decides to announce Vibe is dead, which means Cisco will have to find another way to be a hero. I’m interested in seeing where this goes.
I know the Arrowverse can’t host a crossover every week, but you would think that the Legends/Gideon would catch wind of such a drastic change to the timeline as Cicada showing up earlier than he was supposed to.
I laughed so hard at the recycling-conscious grocery store robber Ralph stopped at the beginning of the episode.
In addition to Cisco faking his death, Sherloque also tried to fake his death in order to avoid paying the team back.
Also, apparently S.T.A.R. Labs stock is still worth something because the team sells it off to pay Sherloque’s fee. This may be the most surprising revelation the show has ever done.
Also, let’s all freak out about Nora mentioning the League one more time!!
