The Flash – S5E1 – Nora

Previously on The Flash, “We Are the Flash”

Photo: Katie Yu/The CW

The Flash executive producer Todd Helbing recently told The Hollywood Reporter about some key changes in the show’s structure in season five. He acknowledged that season three was too dark and that playing one storyline through all 23 episodes may not be the right move. Considering those are the very issues I cited in my critique of the past few seasons, I was optimistic for season five after reading that. Tonight’s premiere, “Nora,” did nothing to lessen my optimism.

The premiere was a return to the balance the show so deftly achieved in season one. It was the right amount of action, humor, and heart.

Nora West-Allen is stuck in the present after helping The Flash destroy the satellite in the season four finale. That’s her story and she was sticking to it until Barry gets the feeling he’s not in Nora’s life in the future; he confronts her and she confirms that when he went missing in the future he never returned.

After Team Flash figures out a way to send Nora back, Barry makes an excuse for her to stay, possible damage to the timeline be damned. It’s exactly the kind of call season one Barry would have made, but you can forgive him for it now. He knows what it’s like to grow up with a missing/dead parent. How can he deny her the chance to spend time with him? He can’t.

Image Credit: The CW

On the surface, Nora is more Barry than Iris. Like Barry, Nora is impulsive and has a mind for science. She also goes off on rapid-fire tangents, which are used in this episode to deliver most of the Easter eggs. Watching them interact, near mirror images of each other, only makes it more apparent to Iris that she and her daughter haven’t connected at all. Of course, Iris doesn’t know what Barry does. It appears that however Iris coped with Barry’s disappearance it affected her relationship with Nora. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out since explaining their lack of connection will most certainly involve revealing that Barry has been missing for 25 years in the future.

Schway

It’s always great to see Wally and I have to remind myself that his sporadic appearances on the show are due to Keiynan Lonsdale’s request for time to do other things and not because the writers have no idea what to do with him.

We finally got the suit in the ring! The new suit is a bit… red, but I don’t hate it.

I lost count of the number of name drops and Easter eggs, but two that definitely stuck out were: finding out that Ryan Choi (Atom) made Barry’s new suit in the future and that eventually King Shark will fight Grodd.

Not enough shown or known about the mysterious villain who appeared in the stinger to kill this week’s evil metahuman, and I’m okay with that. I’ve always been more invested in the relationship dynamics than anything else, and I haven’t been impressed by a Big Bad on this show since Zoom.

Speed Bumps

Why do we need Ralph? It certainly doesn’t help his case to learn that he apparently didn’t pay attention to anything that went down last season and is just now realizing there are multiple Earths and time travel. As long as he sticks to helping Caitlin uncover the secrets from her past, I guess it’s okay. Just keep him away from anything that actually matters please.

What did you think of the premiere? Leave your thoughts below or on our Facebook post for this review and we’ll read them on tonight’s podcast.