The Flash Season 5: 5 Ups & 1 Down From ‘The Death Of Vibe’

3. All Killer, No Filler

After introducing a new storyline and a new Big Bad, the Arrowverse shows tend to wander off into the filler territory in the first half of the season as the writers attempt to drag everything out for 23 episodes. It usually happens sporadically, with the first filler (or in this case, villain-of-the-week) episodes occurring after the premiere. However, that was not the case here.

While last week's episode included a brief arc revolving around a minor villain, that storyline was barely a footnote and was merely used as a device to introduce Team Flash to the season's Big Bad, Cicada. In previous seasons, a moment like this would have never occurred so early on and when it finally did, it would have been considered shocking and effective enough to warrant a deviation into the feelgood filler territory.

However, the writers did the complete opposite this time around. For the third week running, the show maintained the focus on its two main storylines and managed to bring them together in a surprising twist (more on that later). This wasn't just an episode in which Cicada looked to continue his murderous streak by killing Vibe, it was also about Barry and Nora's frantic attempts to neutralise the threat as soon as possible - and it rounded out a trilogy of brilliant episodes that revolved around Cicada's first major appearance. Let's hope that he (and the writers) continues to break the norm for the remainder of the season.