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Thawne’s master plan finally revealed in penultimate episode of The Flash
There’s just one episode left this season, and it’s starting to look like there’s a threat looming that could be a whole lot more dangerous than even two Cicadas — and Ralph Dibny was the only one smart enough to figure it out.
Spoilers ahead for “The Girl With the Red Lightning,” the latest episode of The CW’s Flash, which aired Tuesday, May 7, 2019.
We’ve been wondering about Future Thawne’s motivations for most of the season, as he stepped in to help mentor Nora and send her back in time to the present to meet Barry. Now we finally know why he took the time to serve as a surrogate father to the Flash’s daughter — it was all about that dagger.
Nora’s plan all along has been to come back to the present and destroy Cicada’s dagger, because for some reason she believed it would help avert the looming Crisis on Infinite Earths where Barry vanishes (seemingly for good) in Nora’s future. It’s looking more and more like that was a red herring planted by Thawne to push Nora and Team Flash into destroying Cicada’s dagger for a very different reason: It’s what the authorities are using in the future to kill (or de-power) Thawne.
Dibny spends most of the episode trying to put together the pieces of this time-travel puzzle, and he actually figures it out — just about two seconds too late. Grace never had the dagger in the future, meaning the one she’s using in the present is very clearly Dwyer’s original dagger. Which begs the question, what happens to the dagger in the future, if Grace wasn’t using it to kill metahumans there? Apparently the police have taken stewardship of the dagger and converted it into a device to kill/depower evil metahumans. Thawne’s ticking clock that’s been getting smaller all season had been ticking down to his appointment with the dagger.
It seems Thawne’s efforts were designed to create a new timeline branch where Team Flash destroy the dagger in the past, which means it won’t exist in the future, and Thawne’s prison execution will fail (and we’re thinking he’ll make a grand escape, this being the Reverse-Flash and all). We know the pragmatic reasoning behind all this, but we’re still left with a few questions.
Was this all simply a long con to get Team Flash to destroy the dagger in the present and erase it from the future, or did Thawne really care for Nora? Is he really changed, or was it all an act? If this was the beginning of some semi-redemption story, that’d make for some true narrative meat. Or perhaps they’re simply setting up Reverse-Flash as next season’s Big Bad. A return to form, with Thawne back on the loose due to Barry’s inadvertent meddling with the timeline. There’s just one episode left, so hopefully we’ll have the answers soon.
Assorted musings
Joe gets a chance to struggle with the challenges of being in charge this week, and after a bit of rough sledding, finally finds his footing as a leader. Could they be laying the groundwork for Joe to eventually become the new CCPD chief?
The metahuman cure is officially public knowledge and out in the wild, and there seem to be plenty of metahumans interested in a cure.
Sherloque sent his new lover to his original universe to protect her from Cicada. It’s a sweet move to see the latest Wells in love, though you have to wonder if they’re also laying the groundwork for Sherloque to return home permanently at season’s end with his latest future-wife along for the ride.
After going rogue last week, Nora looks to be fully back in Team Flash and more trusted than ever. It’ll be interesting what they do with Nora at season’s end. It’d make sense to have her stick around, or perhaps she’ll return to her future to be the new Flash?
Next week: The season finale is here, as we get a final face-off with Grace 2.0. We’ll also hopefully get some answers to the big Thawne questions, too.
