What I’m Watching: The Flash

The Flash: Season 5, Episode 14 “Cause and XS” (B-)

I find that time loops are very often used in TV shows these days, and I just watched one a couple of weeks ago when I screened the pilot episode of “Russian Doll,” a show with a definite comedic slant centered on one character reliving the night she died over and over again. Nora experiencing that phenomenon was slightly more grating because she continues to be so bratty, and somehow she tried fifty-two times to fix things before realizing that her move – the first thing anyone stuck in a time loop should do – was to read them all in so that they could work together to figure out how to close it. I liked that not much time was wasted on the specifics of the hostage situation and Cicada throwing his deadly spear, almost routine even by the second time that it happened with Sherloque as his captive. This did feel a lot like previous seasons where villains just show up ready to kill in one episode and then disappear for weeks on end after that, and it was unfortunate that they knew exactly how to make sure that Cicada hit himself rather than any of them but then he was able to get away so easily without any of them even trying to stop him. The one-month waiting period wasn’t even a problem anymore, but now they’re going to need to track him down again. It was a relief to see that Cisco’s date with Kamilla finally went well after he mistakenly followed Ralph’s advice and tried to put on a different persona, and while I’d love to see Gypsy return, I’m all for some member on the team being involved in an outside relationship.