TV Review: "Gone Rogue," "The Girl With The Red Lightning" and "Legacy"

Here we go with the last three episodes of the fifth season of The Flash. I'm going to guess that perhaps the writers and producers heard some of the fan cry for Season 4 and decided to cut Ralph back to a more supporting character this season. As Ralph has evolved past his sleazy self, it seems many fans have found that Ralph in smaller doses has worked better for them. To yours truly, I know, showing Ralph using his powers means they have to spend money on visual effects. But we had several episodes at a time without him using them at all, so I'd expect several viewers might even forget that he's the Elongated Man.

To me, a far bigger slight to Ralph was the introduction of Sherloque Wells, a detective character. Ralph is a detective character, and a lot of the deductions Sherloque made could've been given to Ralph or other characters. I get that the show loves having Tom Cavanagh around, but in this case, they brought him back to create a new character to take a role in the plot that could've gone to Ralph. I don't know how else they could've utilized Tom, but there certainly could've been a way that didn't undercut another character's development.

In any case, looks like Ralph will still be around for Season 6 and possibly onward in the Arrowverse. Let's hope they do our boy better next season.

 In "Gone Rogue," a Negative Speed Force-influenced Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) having become a villain and teams up with Joss Jackam/Weather Witch (Reina Hardesty), Brie Larvan/Bug-Eyed Bandit (Emily Kinney) and Peter Merkel/Rag Doll (Troy James, voiced by Phil LaMarr) to steal a "mirror gun" from McCulloch Technologies. However, once Nora's powers get dampened, her new crew turns on her. It's up to Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) to try to save her.

Meanwhile, Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Ralph discover that the new Cicada has stolen prototypes of the metahuman cure. During their investigation, they have a conversation in which Ralph says he feels he's not destined to have a true romantic relationship of his own and he's all right with that. Caitlin then assures Ralph of his good qualities and that he's worthy of a relationship. (Ralph then comically tells Caitlin that he's not interested in her romantically, and she quickly rebuffs that idea.)

While this episode had some good moments, the overall Rogues team up—a concept many fans have wanted to see—was a bit underwhelming.

 Next in "The Girl With The Red Lightning," Nora uses the Negative Speed Force to tap into Cicada 2's (Sarah Carter) mind and try to find where she is as she prepares to unleash a device that'll kill every metahuman in the country. In addition, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) has found a way to use the mirror gun to destroy Cicada's dagger.

Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Cecile (Daniele Nicolet) begin letting metahumans who want to take the cure come to Central City Police Department for it. Sherloque (Tom Cavanagh) tries to get his new girlfriend Renee Adler (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) to take the cure.

Ralph, meanwhile, does his own deductions of what they know about the future, Eobard Thawne, Cicada's plans and realizes that something doesn't add up.

This episode proved an exciting and surprisingly well-balanced way to begin to pull the season's plotlines together for the finale. And seeing Ralph's detective skills finally get used was great.

That brings us to "Legacy." With Ralph having revealed to Team Flash that Cicada and Eobard Thawne's plans are linked in a big way, the question is how to stop both Cicada and the Reverse Flash?

The finale brought twists and surprises as well as a number of fan theories panning out. The stage is set for an interesting Season 6, and also some teases for the next CW Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Ralph got a few chances to shine. Some spoilers after the availability notes.

Viewers in the US may view "Gone Rogue," "The Girl With The Red Lightning," and "Legacy" at no charge during a limited availability window on the CW website and app. With the current licensing agreement, the entire fifth season of The Flash will be available on Netflix in June, 2019. Digital versions of the episodes may be purchased on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Google Play and other retailers of digital video content. Blu-Ray and DVD copies of the season are expected to be available for sale in or by September, 2019.

Non-US viewers should check their local listings, the websites of the channels that air The Flash, and digital video retailers.

SPOILER TALK!

Sherloque hailed Ralph's detective skills and assured Team Flash that they have a great detective on their team. Hopefully we get to see even more of that next season. In addition, Team Flash has seemingly lost a member as Cisco revealed his superhero identity to his girlfriend and then opted to take the metahuman cure. While Cisco's brand of humor will be missed, this leaves a space for Ralph to have more time as a secondary character next season. Speaking of next season, we got a major tease for Ralph as he looks over a new file in his office, with the focus lingering on the name on the file...

We're getting Sue next season!