S05.E13: Goldfaced

[Gregg247]

I enjoyed this episode.  Everyone (well, everyone who was shown this week) had an interesting story going on.  We had some humor with Sherloque and his many ex-wives, some action with Barry and Ralph and their shoot-out, and some suspense with Iris and (the ridiculous) Cicada.  

Where is Joe?  He's supposedly been "visiting Wally" for a really long time.  Is Jesse Martin ill or doing a movie or something?  The show really needs him.  The good thing about having Joe there is that he's the regular guy in the middle of all the superhero action, representing us viewers in the midst of chaos.  I remember in S1 when he was captured by Gorilla Grodd; his look of sheer terror is still the best acting I've ever seen on this show; I REALLY felt for him in that scene!  I like to pretend that he's actually the same character that he played in Law and Order, just transferred to Central City.

It seems like with Ralph there, we don't have room for Cisco, too.  Maybe the cast is getting a little bloated, with certain characters overlapping each other.  My favorites are still Barry, Caitlyn/KF, Joe, and the "Welles-of-the-season" (except for H.R.).

The guy who plays Cicada is probably the worst actor I've ever seen.  Does he get paid by the grunt, or by how deep he can take his "Batman voice"?

[cdnalor]

54 minutes ago, Kate45 said:

His powers aren’t killing people. His dagger is killing people

What, all by itself?  Whatever his powers are, they enable him to control the weapon he uses to kill and to resist arrest by law enforcement and other metas.  Ordinary criminals lose the right to own weapons, metas use their powers as weapons, therefore criminal metas forfeit their powers.

[Trini]

Confiscating a gun is different than changing a person's DNA. 

Power-dampening cuffs and prison cells should suffice while criminal metahumans are incarcerated.

[Starry]

43 minutes ago, Gregg247 said:

Where is Joe?  He's supposedly been "visiting Wally" for a really long time.  Is Jesse Martin ill or doing a movie or something?  The show really needs him. 

Jesse L. Martin was on medical leave for a back injury. He's supposed to come back in 5x15.

[adora721]

1 hour ago, Gregg247 said:

The good thing about having Joe there is that he's the regular guy in the middle of all the superhero action, representing us viewers in the midst of chaos. 

So is Iris; she's a non-meta and non-scientist in the middle of all this, too.  Iris also represents the audience/viewers. That's one of the reasons I hate it when some complain that she's useless. Like, if normal viewers were among metas or scientists, they wouldn't want to be considered useless. One of the best things about this episode is them realizing (duh!) that you don't need powers to be helpful or be a hero/heroine, and it's not just people in STEM who are intelligent.

Edited February 6, 2019 by adora721

[BeautifulFlower]

Lol at people saying Iris shouldn't have walked out that house alive after the fight because Cicada has super strength. Oh wowwwwww 

Well, he certainly hasn't been fighting with his super strength

[Quark]

Very enjoyable episode.

The development of Iris has definitely been the highlight of this season so far. I just absolutely love her.

[Chicago Redshirt]

14 minutes ago, BeautifulFlower said:

Lol at people saying Iris shouldn't have walked out that house alive after the fight because Cicada has super strength. Oh wowwwwww 

Well, he certainly hasn't been fighting with his super strength

Cicada's strength ebbs and flows when it needs to for plot purposes. So when he needs to break free from Killer Frost's ice or break XS's spine, he's got it. Otherwise, he doesn't necessarily.

[SimoneS]

51 minutes ago, BeautifulFlower said:

Lol at people saying Iris shouldn't have walked out that house alive after the fight because Cicada has super strength. Oh wowwwwww 

Well, he certainly hasn't been fighting with his super strength

Cicada's strength or lack thereof had nothing to do with Iris getting out of that house alive last night. She survived by her courage, wits, experience from previous fights, and a whole lot of luck. Iris got lucky that Cicada missed her when the threw the dagger in a rage. She had the wherewithal not to panic and to get out her pepper spray quickly. Of course, the story would be over if she had her gun in her purse. She then fled to the kitchen where she found the knife and she got lucky again that she stabbed him in the wound with the shard in his chest. It is the only reason that he went down for a few seconds. I was re-watching the fight and didn't even look like knife stayed after she stabbed him. Rather it broke and left an open wound. Standing there to tell him that they would get him was risky bravo as he clearly would be recovered enough to kill her in a few more seconds. She was smart to get out of there soon after.

And I have seen those comments. I have noticed there has been a push back from people who like Iris or appreciated her actions last night. Iris is way more popular than the haters think and the show knows it.

Edited February 6, 2019 by SimoneS

[adora721]

25 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

I was re-watching the fight and didn't even look like knife stayed after she stabbed him.

It was a pen actually that she stabbed him with, not a knife. It was a great take on the "pen is mightier than the sword"!

[SimoneS]

15 minutes ago, adora721 said:

It was a pen actually that she stabbed him with, not a knife. It was a great take on the "pen is mightier than the sword"!

You are right! I didn't realize it was a pen. I thought she grabbed the knife that fell. No wonder the pen didn't go in. She shoved it into him right on the wound with the shard. No wonder there was a gash. Damn, talk about luck, but she fought for that moment. You the woman, Iris!

[rmontro]

22 hours ago, BeautifulFlower said:

Iris West-Allen is truly a badass. She never loses in her fights. I mean clock king, marlize, dr. light, and now Cicada.

That's what I was thinking!  They need to send Iris after Cicada.  Apparently his weakness is pepper spray.  They could have wrapped this case up three months ago.

[Trini]

57 minutes ago, adora721 said:

It was a pen actually that she stabbed him with, not a knife. It was a great take on the "pen is mightier than the sword"!

...mightier than a dark matter dagger,

... mightier than 4 metas combined...

[Cthulhudrew]

Renee Adler. Of course. *sigh*

The writers couldn't have been any less subtle, could they?

[Cthulhudrew]

22 hours ago, adora721 said:

ETA: Goldface actor can act! He was intimidating, but also charismatic - a scary, good combination for a villain.

 

I'm still disappointed that they didn't keep him to play Thanos after the first Avengers. :(

Edited February 7, 2019 by Cthulhudrew

[mxc90]

12 hours ago, Kate45 said:

Simply put: Caitlin and KF are plot device characters whose actions never make much sense.

After Barry/Ralph disappeared did Caitlyn give up on them, leave to return the rental van, and call it a night (maybe went food shopping or home to watch TV until they returned)?

[cambridgeguy]

14 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Cicada's strength ebbs and flows when it needs to for plot purposes. So when he needs to break free from Killer Frost's ice or break XS's spine, he's got it. Otherwise, he doesn't necessarily.

The extent of Cicada's powers has done this all season. At the beginning of the season he was such a badass that Supergirl, Green Arrow, and every other hero in the Arrowverse was incapable of stopping him.  Then they suddenly decided non-dark matter powers like KFs were unaffected, so Supergirl should be able to beat him in five seconds.  Then Team Flash had him dead to rights twice two episodes ago but stupidly let him get away.  Now in this episode Iris was able to beat him.  While Iris could probably beat any other member of Team Flash in a fight without powers she's vastly outclassed by Oliver Queen and Sara Lance, so with the element of surprise they'd wipe the floor with Cicada, especially since they don't have powers to steal.

[Chyromaniac]

On 2/6/2019 at 3:10 PM, Gregg247 said:

The guy who plays Cicada is probably the worst actor I've ever seen.  Does he get paid by the grunt, or by how deep he can take his "Batman voice"?

I don’t know if it’s necessarily Chris Klein’s fault- I feel he’s been fine in the two flashback episodes where he’s been allowed to act “normal.” But yeah, the Cicada stuff is not working. Maybe it’s his acting- but he’s also not getting much to work with from the writers, and there are directors and producers who are green-lighting this performance. I have to imagine that this is what they all want for his character, and it’s just so weird...

[SevenStars]

22 minutes ago, Chyromaniac said:

I don’t know if it’s necessarily Chris Klein’s fault- I feel he’s been fine in the two flashback episodes where he’s been allowed to act “normal.” But yeah, the Cicada stuff is not working. Maybe it’s his acting- but he’s also not getting much to work with from the writers, and there are directors and producers who are green-lighting this performance. I have to imagine that this is what they all want for his character, and it’s just so weird...

Maybe what we are seeing is the best the directors and producers can get from him. It was just a bad casting decision. 

[AD35]

On 2/7/2019 at 8:26 AM, cambridgeguy said:

The extent of Cicada's powers has done this all season. At the beginning of the season he was such a badass that Supergirl, Green Arrow, and every other hero in the Arrowverse was incapable of stopping him.  Then they suddenly decided non-dark matter powers like KFs were unaffected, so Supergirl should be able to beat him in five seconds.  Then Team Flash had him dead to rights twice two episodes ago but stupidly let him get away.  Now in this episode Iris was able to beat him.  While Iris could probably beat any other member of Team Flash in a fight without powers she's vastly outclassed by Oliver Queen and Sara Lance, so with the element of surprise they'd wipe the floor with Cicada, especially since they don't have powers to steal. 

At this point Sheldon Cooper's Council of Ladies (from the Big Bang Theory) could take on Cicada, defeat him and wrap up this storyline without breaking too much of a sweat.

Edited February 11, 2019 by AD35

[Trini]

They should have named this episode 'The Chemist' instead.

Edited February 14, 2019 by Trini