With two Cicadas on the loose, The Flash has his hands full this week. You know, it occurs to me that birds eat cicadas in real life. Perhaps it’s time to bring back Hawkman and Hawkgirl!

On second thought, no, those two were terrible actors.

In this week’s adventure, Nora returns to 2049 in a tizzy, pleading with Thawne to tell her what to do about the new Cicada. Unfortunately, Thawne is all out of answers. He advises that it’s time to tell her father everything.

In the present day, Orlin Dwyer, the original Cicada, wakes up in a secluded cabin. His successor introduces herself as his grown-up niece Grace, who’s traveled back in time from the future to help him get his powers back and complete his mission to rid the world of meta-humans. Dwyer is kind of dumbfounded at all this. Grace leaves him to recuperate while she takes care of some business.

S.T.A.R. Labs has conveniently already been remodeled since being smashed to pieces in the last episode. An alert rings out that someone has broken into the “Starchives” where Team Flash stores old tech and memorabilia from past missions. Although it first appears that nothing is missing, an exact duplicate of Eobard Thawne’s Time Sphere from Season 1 is found in the woods nearby. A quick test determines that it’s actually the same Time Sphere currently residing in the archive, but this one’s from the future. The team then quickly deduce that the second Cicada must also be from the future.

Meanwhile, Grace breaks into the CCPD to steal cold case files relating to her parents’ death. According to the report, her parents died in an explosion when a meta-human tried to rob an ATM. When Barry discovers which file is missing, he finally puts together that the new Cicada is Grace and she wants to avenge her parents.

Barry, Nora, and Joe follow clues from the old case that lead them to a woman named Vickie Bolen. They find her hosting a birthday party for her young daughter. When confronted, Vickie admits to being responsible for the bank explosion, but isn’t aware that she hurt anyone. She claims that she wasn’t trying to rob the ATM, and the explosion was an accident because she hadn’t learned to control her powers yet at the time. Her family doesn’t know she’s a meta, and she begs Barry not to tell them.

Her secret doesn’t last long. Grace shows up and attacks the party, and Vickie has to use her power to defend herself. Barry leads most of the children to safety, but Vickie’s daughter is injured in the fight. Her husband is furious at her for lying to them.

Grace returns to the cabin. When Orlin sees the wound on her forehead (where her dark matter shard is embedded), he suggests that they call Dr. Ambres. Grace informs him that she killed Ambres for taking his powers away. Orlin is shocked at what his niece has become. She thinks he’s gone weak.

Vickie eventually makes up with her daughter, but Grace attacks the hospital, threatening to murder her husband unless she comes out. Nora grabs the woman and runs off, and Grace tosses her magic dagger to chase after them. Barry fights Grace, only to get paralyzed. Orlin then arrives and tries to talk his niece down, telling her it’s time to let go of her anger like he did.

Disgusted with what a pussy her uncle has become, Grace retrieves the dagger and stabs him in the back with it, then retreats. With his dying breaths, Orlin begs Barry to save his niece.

Back at the lab, Caitlin determines that Grace’s power allows her to control dark matter, even inside other meta-humans. That explains why she’s so much more powerful than Orlin and why they can’t seem to beat her. Due to her own powers and the time she spent inside Grace’s consciousness, Cecille has a psychic connection with the girl that occasionally lets her see what she’s doing.

The Secret’s Out

Sherloque finishes translating Nora’s journal, but the girl was clever enough not to name her mysterious partner. Suspecting Eobard Thawne, Sherloque investigates the old Harrison Wells wheelchair and discovers a hidden computer chip. He brings it to the Time Vault room and plays a video file confirming that Thawne was actively working on way to manipulate the timeline for his own gain.

In the wake of Orlin’s death, Sherloque outs Nora in front of the team, accusing her of working with Eobard Thawne. She can’t deny it. Resentful of this betrayal, Barry whisks her right into a cell in the Pipeline and locks her up. A tearful Nora begs him to let her explain, but he isn’t interested in listening to her excuses.

Relationship Woes

Cisco hasn’t told his new girlfriend, Camilla, about Team Flash or the fact that he’s a superhero yet. He worries about ruining the one normal thing in his life. Oblivious Ralph doesn’t take his hints and arranges for Camilla, who’s a photographer, to interview for a job at Iris’ blog/newspaper, expecting that this will be an entry to have her join the team – and, if they’re lucky, maybe she’ll even somehow gain meta powers and be able to fight alongside them. Cisco is very displeased and yells at him for meddling. None of this comes to anything this week.

Episode Verdict

I guess this is the last we’ll see of Chris Klein on the show. Killing off his character, the presumptive Big Bad for the season, and replacing him with an even more powerful villain is a pretty good twist that I didn’t see coming. That said, I don’t buy into Orlin’s complete reversal of attitude and change of heart in the last couple episodes. The guy was a psycho serial killer who murdered dozens of innocent victims. He’s really supposed to be redeemed now just because he felt mushy for his niece? No way.

I understand Grace wanting to take up her uncle’s mantle with the Cicada identity, but does she actually need to wear the mask? Orlin needed it to help him breathe due to his chest injury from the dark matter shard, but she doesn’t have that problem. Is it just for show on her?

Barry’s reaction to learning Nora’s secret also seems a little over-the-top. Yes, he hates Eobard Thawne for killing his mother, but he’s spent enough time with Nora now to know that she’s not evil.

Some of those nit-picks aside, this is a pretty good episode on the whole and gives me some hope for the rest of the season.