Last week on The Flash, Gorilla Grodd caught the team off guard after successfully testing the Meta cure on King Shark. After Barry and Nora were taken down in the field, King shark chose to emerge once again to defeat Grodd seemingly once and for all. Elsewhere, Joe helped Iris move past her fear of Cicada after their confrontation a few weeks back.
With the Meta-human cure now ready for use, this episode of The Flash sees the team try to figure out how to subdue Cicada to take it. Meanwhile, Joe eases back into work with a new lead on the Meta killing villain, while Nora tries really, really hard to make sure things go to plan.
Acid Master Strikes
The Episode Starts off with Nora visiting the Reverse-Flash in 2049. Thawne is upset that the timeline is changing before their eyes. Quickly loosing their window of opportunity to kill Cicada, they realize that some sort of variable is changing the timeline. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Nora cracks the whip on locating Cicada, but can’t find any leads. Later at Jitters, Barry, Iris, and Nora try a new brew called the XS-presso, when a Meta named Acid Master emerges at the college lab. The Flash and XS arrive on the scene, but the acid Spewing Meta is able to escape. Nora realizes that the burn form his acid is similar to one in the photo from The Flash’s final confrontation with Cicada.
At STAR Labs, Nora explains the connection to the Meta and the Newspaper photo from the future. Team Flash tries to figure out a way for Barry to talk to Cicada, and Nora urges Barry to try and find the good in Dwyer like he has in so many others. Nora and Iris talk about the plan, causing the former to get an idea of how to find Cicada. Team Flash eventually catch Acid Master, disguising Killer Frost as the Meta. Like clockwork, Cicada attacks but she’s able to freeze his dagger to the wall. The Flash tries to talk to Cicada into the cure, arguing to do it for his legacy. Dwyer is able to incapacitate Barry, but Killer Frost intervenes. Killer Frost Saves Barry at the last second, but Cicada gets away with the dagger.
Following A Hunch
With Joe back at work, he tries to catch up on the massive stack of Cicada Task Force files. Cecile offers to help, and they deduce that Dr. Vanessa Ambers might have a lead on Orlin Dwyer’s niece Grace. At the hospital, Joe and Cecile question Dr. Ambres and her Meta abilities signal that she may have something to do with drugs that have gone missing. Joe is a bit uneasy with Cecile using her powers during the investigation, causing him to dismiss Ambres. Later, Joe visits Barry at his loft as he broods about his failure to get Cicada to take the cure. Joe gives a pep talk that inspires him to appeal to Cicada’s human side.
Joe eventually apologizes to Cecile about the argument earlier, offering for her to join his interrogation of Dr. Ambers. They eventually reveal the existence of the Meta cure, and she agrees to set up a meet with Dwyer. More importantly, Ambers reveals that that the wound in Grace’s head caused by the satellite shard is now glowing. Joe tells to Barry about the lead, and that Dyer’s niece is indeed a Meta.
Family Matters
Meanwhile, Team Flash try to figure out where things went wrong with the last Cicada encounter, but Nora won’t give up hope on her father yet. Nora listens to old recordings of her father’s appeals, when Iris offers to go to the rooftop of jitters. Iris reveals that she wants to spend as much time with her as possible before they defeat Cicada.
Team Flash weighs several approaches, but eventually settle on trying to use Barry’s human personality to appeal to Cicada. Nora has a heart to heart with Iris, while Barry listens on. Nora feels remorseful about not spending enough time with her parents, and Barry reveals that he’s going to confront Cicada as a father. Barry’s plan eventually works, convincing Dwyer to take the cure.
Cicada 2.0
Barry brings Cicada to S.T.A.R. Labs, but the latter requests Dr. Ambres to stitch him up after the cure is administered as a condition for taking it. During the Operation, Cecille gets weird vibes from Cicada before he’s put under. Ambres administers the cure and Barry gets his powers back, meaning that it worked. Sheloque and Nora celebrate their victory, but questions how she knew Acid Master would lead them to Cicada. Suddenly, the power goes out, and a female Cicada look-alike bursts through the window. Even though she’s seemingly not able to dampen Team Flash’s powers, Cicada 2.0 is able to shoot energy blasts and wields two daggers.
Killer frost uses her powers to heal Dwyer up to move him, and Team Flash confronts the look-alike. She manages to take them out one by one, eventually wrecking the cortex. On the way out, she murders Dr. Ambres, taking Dwyer with her. Team flash soon realizes that this new threat might be something worse than Cicada himself. Later, Cicada 2.0 is revealed to be an adult version of Grace Dwyer. Glowing forehead and all, this reveal is the same person who young Grace was talking to a few episodes ago in her dream.
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