The Flash Season 5 Episode 8 Review: 'What's Past Is Prologue'

If you have been reading my reviews, you will probably know I was not a big fan of Season 4 of The Flash.

Clifford DeVoe was such a weak main bad guy and the series started to randomly add too many goofy comedy episodes. Thankfully, Season 5 has been much better and this week's episode may have been the best one to date!

In this episode, Team Flash knows that Orlin Dwyer is Cicada because security footage shows him visiting Grace's hospital bed every single day. They cannot simply confront Cicada because his magical dagger can negate the powers of every metahuman.

Nora Allen comes up with a plan to make a device that can affect the power of Cicada's dagger. However, they will need several key items from the past in order to make this new weapon a reality.

First they need something from Savitar's armor, dark matter from the particle accelerator and also another device that Earth-2 Harrison Wells made.

Basically both Barry and Nora Allen have to go back to certain times to steal these items without anyone from the past knowing of their presence.

The Flash did something similar in Season 3 and that time period is revisited. They manage to get the items without too much hassle, although one of the items breaks and there's no way to repair it.

The only person smart enough to fix it is none other than Eobard Thawne from 2015. This is the version of Eobard Thawne that is still inside the body of Harrison Wells.

It's great to see this version of the character back because actor Tom Cavanagh aces this role perfectly. He's far more engaging as a bad guy than he has been as a good guy for these past seasons.

Even though Eobard Thawne is a bad guy, he seems to know why Barry keeps going back to the past needing his help. He even kind of notices Nora Allen, although he thinks her name is Dawn instead of Nora.

Barry Allen somewhat lies to Eobard Thawne and tells him that the only way he can go back in his timeline is to help him out first.

Eobard Thawne may hate The Flash, but he's still willing to help out as long as it benefits him.

After Thawne helps Barry and Nora, they both go back to the time the Particle Accelerator exploded to grab some much needed dark energy. Their plan actually works as they manage to hide from everybody that could have seen them.

A connection between Nora Allen and Eobard Thawne is shown at the end of the episode, although I'll get back to that later.

For now, their plan to stop Cicada works as they hide their newly made item in the hospital so they can fight villain back in 2018.

When Team Flash confronts Cicada in 2018, their plan actually works for a short time. The dagger is out of Cicada's hands and Cisco manages to vibe it out into space. Mission accomplished?

Well sadly Cicada and his dagger are not defeated just yet.

Cicada manages to call back the dagger up in space and it's in his hands once again. However, Killer Frost appears to help out the powerless heroes and Cicada decides to run away like a chicken.

Although their plan to catch Cicada fails, the team feel somewhat optimistic because Killer Frost is the only super-powered hero character that is immune to the dagger's power.

She can fight him in the future without the fear of losing her powers.

Cicada isn't the big news for this week's episode though.

The cliffhanger at the end shows us that Nora Allen knows Eobard Thawne and she visits him in the year 2049 inside prison.

She doesn't know how evil Eobard Thawne was until Barry told her that he murdered his own mother as a kid.

The ending made me get chills because the Harrison Wells version of Eobard Thawne has always been my favorite villain of The Flash. There's something about the character that makes him both cool and engaging.

Whatever the case might be, this new revelation could tells us that Cicada is not the true villain of Season 5. Team Flash have bigger fish to fry if they have to outsmart Eobard Thawne as Harrison Wells a second time!

As for Nora Allen, she may have to hide her secret from the rest of the team.

Barry Allen would hate her if she's talking with Eobard Thawne! We'll probably know more details next year since next week is the crossover event.

Anyway, 'What's Past Is Prologue' is my favorite episode from Season 5 to date. It had an interesting storyline and it was cool to see the characters revisit certain time periods from past seasons.

As for the big twist in the end, that shocked me a lot. I like Cicada as a villain, but nobody is cooler than Eobard Thawne. I'm sure Tom Cavanagh appreciates playing a bad guy once again!

Verdict: 9.0/10

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: The CW Premiere Dates For The Flash, Superman & Lois And More (more); Michael Keaton Could Be Back As Bruce Wayn/Batman In The Flash Movie (more); The Elongated Man Will No Longer Be On The Flash (more); Several Superhero TV Shows Have Been Renewed By The CW (more).

And here are some more related articles: The Flash Season 5 Episode 14 Review: 'Cause And XS' (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 13 Review: 'Goldfaced' (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 12 Review: 'Memorabilia' (more).

A few more: The Flash Season 5 Episode 11 Review: "Seeing Red" (more); The Flash Season 5 Episode 10 Review: 'The Flash and the Furious' (more).