‘The Flash - Season 5’ - Trailer Review

San Diego Comic-Con was... insightful in terms of The Flash’s new season. We got one hell of a trailer and information from the cast. I’ve already discussed the latter, now it’s time for the former! Let’s get cracking on what this year’s trailer is!

The season picks up where we left off.

In an unusual twist of events, the season will begin right where we last saw everyone. Team Flash was gathered in the West household to celebrate the birth of Joe and Cecile’s baby, Jenna. Then what happened? Nora West-Allen appeared and spun off some whirlwind information that she is Barry and Iris’ daughter from the future, and she’s made a big mistake.

Where does it seem we kick off the new season? In expected comical standards, with Cisco downing his Champagne out of shock and asking if anyone wants a refill.

Now, why is this an unusual practice for The Flash? Well presumably, all other shows in The Arrow-verse will acknowledge the five month time jump in real time. So how will the show catch up for the crossover if it’s got to catch up five months.

Technically, when Barry returned from Flashpoint in the show’s third season premiere, he returned to the exact moment he left in the second season’s finale. So yeah, it can work, but it's still peculiar.

The original Dlash suit will make an appearance.

We’d recognise that red and yellow emblem anywhere! The episode will show Barry in his first Flash suit from the show’s freshman season.

Why? We can only assume it’s because his last suit was wrecked destroying the satellite in last season’s finale. Due to this, Barry has needed to use a spare in the meantime maybe? Hopefully, that’s the reasoning behind the old suit look. HOPEFULLY! Please don’t incorporate more time travel stuff. Our brains are still hurting from the third season and with Nora being from the future, I think we’re already going to have some confusion.

“I’m kinda... stuck here?”

This here is the prompt for making Jessica Parker Kennedy a series regular. So it appears that Nora’s time meddling, and whatever the mistake is that she’s made, has caused her to be trapped in 2018.

The fact that Nora will be sticking around could cause some problems for Mr. and Mrs. Allen... or West-Allen... See, this is where that sh*t gets confusing! But yeah, it could get tempting for the future. When do they start going grey? Do they put on lots of weight? Will Batwoman be a successful show? There’s so much for them to shake our of their adult daughter from the future!

“Nora shouldn’t be here.”

That? That right there? Yes, a bit of a clue into Barry’s thought process about his daughter popping up. BUT! Let’s not forget Barry’s ramblings and scribblings from LAST season’s premiere.

As you should all remember, “Nora shouldn’t be here” was one of the lines Barry kept rambling on. Interestingly, so did Harry Wells in last season's finale. What does all of this mean? Let’s see if we actually get an explanation for that this season (we know how these shows love the slow burn on this stuff).

What is Nora hiding?

During the trailer, Barry goes to speak to Nora, saying he “needs to know.” Nora makes a half-assed joke about her pokerface not being so good. She is then seen sincerely apologising to Barry, presumably once she’s told him.

What could all of this be in reference to? What has Barry noticed to confront his daughter? Could this add a lot to the plot of the season? Maybe there is quite a heartbreaking reason for why Nora seems frosty towards Iris. Maybe it’s because she never really got a chance to know her, so frostiness may actually be meant to be nervousness.

Ralph seems troubled.

Hartley Sawyer’s Ralph Dibny just got brought back from the dead and was also given series regular status. Should this guy look so glum? I hope he isn’t seen hitting on Nora in front of Barry and/or Iris. That would just be nasty stuff. No, there appears to be something weighing on Ralph’s elastic shoulders here.

Could he have just found out he has the powers of all the bus metas from last season and finds it daunting? Could he find that a part of Devoe is still inside him (childish giggle)? Time will tell, that time being early October.

Isn’t this usually Superman’s gig?

This appears to be the mortal peril of the episode. A plane about to fall from the sky. Damn. This is a tricky one seeing as Barry and the guys don’t fly.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOWEVER... Cisco can make breaches, right? I’ll say no more.

Our First Villain of the Week

At first glance, this looks like Chris Klein, who is playing the big bad of the season. But no. I’ve brightened the picture, I’ve flipped it, I’ve had an army of lawyers on it... It’s not Klein.

From the fact that there’s been no specific leaks about this guy, or information, I have a feeling this guy may be a follower of the season's big bad. It would act as a nice way to introduce the team to knowledge of the season's big bad and show how dangerous he is.

Wally West returns.

Yeah, for one night only in October, Mr. Lonsdale will be stepping into the yellow leather one more time as Wallace "Wally" West/Kid Flash. It appears he’ll be right in the middle of the action too; we’ve seen a plane begin to hurtle from the sky, we’ve seen the (potential) villain of the week on a plane, and now Wally is seen on a plane.

Looks like Wally is having one, big, last heroic outing before bowing out.

The Flash Ring!

What else can I say? IT’S THE FLASH RING! FINALLY! THAT MEANS A NEW SUIT FROM THE FUTURE! AND COOL EXPENSIVE CGI TO SHOW HIM GETTING INTO IT! Don’t screw this up, guys!!!

Meet Cicada, boys and girls.

Finally, our confirmation of David Hersch/Cicada being the bad guy for the next 23 episodes. Played by Chris Klein of American Pie fame, Hersch is listed as a blue-collar American and family man who blames metahumans for his family’s undoing and is out for revenge. Looks like he now has his sights set on The Flash.

As a side note, it’s worth mentioning that Cicada, in the comics, was struck by lightning when he got his powers and is known to use his lightning bolt-shaped dagger to suck out the life force of people. If this show is going down that path, with Cicada having it out for metas, could he potentially be a great plot device for why Wally West won’t be seen much this season? Could he be the first victim? We shall see, folks.

The hit show is looking to be shaken up this time round, in a very interesting way. Whereas ‘Arrow’ seemingly began to lose its pace around its fourth season, could The Flash skip that ritual for ANOTHER year with its fifth season?

The Flash returns October 9, 2018 on The CW, Sky One in the UK soon after.