The Flash Season 5: 6 Ups & 1 Down From ‘Blocked’

2. Cicada's Arrival

The vast majority of The Flash's season premiere followups are renowned for taking a less serious approach as the writers explore some of the elements that make the new season so, well, new. As a result, we often get edgy promos about how great and action-packed the show is, focusing on The Scarlet Speedster's battles with a "cool" new villain-of-the-week instead of ones that focus on the actual narrative.

While 'Blocked's promo certainly portrayed this episode in a similar light, it ultimately defied our expectations as it threw us right into the main storyline. In fact, the opening scene picked up where last week's episode left off, allowing us more time with the new Big Bad, Cicada, and it did a great deal to set him apart from the last gown-wearing masked threat that the show dealt with.

Allowing us to see actor Chris Klein's face so soon has already humanised the character, which is a step in the right direction because the last thing we need is another Dr. Alchemy debacle. He's not some mystical force serving a higher power, he's a flawed man with his own vendetta against metahumans.

On that note, his fight with Team Flash at the episode's conclusion was also a pleasant surprise. Not only was it a beautiful tease of things to come, it highlighted that his vendetta is with all metahumans, even the superheroes, and that will create an incredibly interesting dynamic going forward.