The Flash Season 5: 5 Ups & 1 Downs From 'Memorabilia'

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1. Lack Of Cicada

While The Flash has undoubtedly made a dramatic improvement this season, there are still some major problems surrounding the characterization of Cicada. With his monotone, one-syllabic sentences and stereotypical bad guy poses, he doesn't exactly come across as the deepest villain to ever show up in the Arrowverse and, even though he does have a relatively solid reason for his behaviour, it hasn't been developed all season. Unfortunately, this episode didn't really change that.

Though it did provide us with some answers and teased us with Cicada, it was still incredibly light on Cicada himself. While his presence wasn't really missed in the episode itself, thanks in part to his appearances in Grace's consciousness, his constant no-shows aren't helping his, or the show's, case.

As great as the episode was on its own, it just felt like another cleverly-orchestrated device to drag out the main narrative for as long as possible. This could be down to the fact that there are just too many episodes in the season, or maybe the creative team are running out of ideas to make Cicada more interesting. Whatever the reason, the mystique is wearing off and, if he truly is about to lose the Big Bad title to his own niece, he should at least be doing something of importance while he still can.

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