‘The Flash’ Season 5 Episode 20 Recap: “Gone Rogue”

The Flash Season 5 Episode 20
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow and Hartley Sawyer as Dibney in ‘The Flash’ season 5 episode 20 (Photo: Jeff Weddell © 2019 The CW Network, LLC)

“We need to make a pit stop first. We need to rob The Flash,” says Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) to her new team of rogue villains in season five episode 20 of The CW’s The Flash.

As the episode begins, Team Flash has set up S.T.A.R. Lab satellites to search for Nora. They’re also using tech to pick up any Speed Force action as they attempt to find Nora and bring her back home. Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) teams up with Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) to check out her father’s old lab and try to figure out why Cicada II stole the cryo-atomizer.

Barry (Grant Gustin), Joe (Jesse L. Martin), Iris (Candice Patton) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) investigate a break-in and quickly realize Nora is the culprit and that she’s using power from the Negative Speed Force to avoid being detected.

Over in another part of town, Nora has invited Queen Bee (Emily Kinney), Weather Witch (Reina Hardesty), and Ragdoll (Troy James) together and asks if they want to work with her on the heist of a lifetime. The job is to break into a high security vault with meta-dampening defenses at a military weapons manufacturer. At first the three career criminals are ready to walk but when Nora says the weapons will go for easily a million on the black market, they change their minds.

Meanwhile, Caitlin and Ralph are over at what used to be her father’s lab/prison. Ralph asks Caitlin how Killer Frost is handling losing Caitlin’s father. Caitlin says Frost has never experienced this kind of grief before and that she doesn’t think they’ll see her anytime soon. When Ralph goes on and on about his 27 steps of dealing with grief, Frost gets irritated and appears to tell Ralph to shut up. While she’s there, she uses her cold powers to help them in their search. Ralph proudly tells Caitlin, “I knew I could make her show up.”

Over at the West house, Iris is working with Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) and admits she doesn’t understand why Nora didn’t come to Team Flash for help.

Nora breaks into S.T.A.R. Labs archives and sets off an alert. Barry finds her there and cautiously approaches, admitting he was wrong to send her back to the future. He confesses he’s sorry and wants her to come home as long as she stops working with Thawne. Nora’s still very upset and hurt by what Barry did and can’t believe he would ever trust her again. She keeps getting more and more upset to the point her face begins to vibrate and her eyes turn fiery red…just like Thawne when he’s the Reverse Flash. Barry attempts to calm her down but she speeds off, knocking him over.

Sherloque (Tom Cavanagh) and Cisco are in the elevator headed down to try to talk to Nora when they’re surprised (and attacked) by Rag Doll.

Barry tells Iris and Joe about what Nora did, convinced she’s been completely brainwashed by Thawne. He leaves to trap his daughter but Iris goes after him, telling him he needs to stop treating her like a criminal and that they need to figure out why she’s acting this way.

The Flash Season 5 Episode 20
Rag Doll, Emily Kinney, Jessica Parker Kennedy and Reina Hardesty in ‘The Flash’ season 5 episode 20 (Photo: Jeff Weddell © 2019 The CW Network, LLC)

Meanwhile, Cisco and Sherloque are tied up at Nora and the young rogues’ hideout. Nora tells Cisco she wants him to hack the hypnotizing phone she stole so she can use it. He laughs and reminds her he’s been in this type of situation too many times to count and he didn’t do what the villain wanted. Nora gets angry and starts to vibrate her arm, threatening Cisco that if he doesn’t she’ll kill him.

Cisco, not sure if Nora is bluffing, agrees to hack the phone. Sherloque uses this time to apologize to Nora for exposing her secret the way he did and wishes he had given her a chance to come clean to Team Flash. (What?! She wasn’t going to come clean and now she’s acting like a criminal…apology not needed or deserved.) The young rogues realize Nora’s father is The Flash.

Caitlin and Ralph continue searching and Caitlin discovers Cicada II stole Cisco’s prototype for the meta-cure. “I think I know what Cicada is planning,” says Caitlin.

Back at the young rogues’ hideout, Weather Witch and Nora talk about family letting them down and how they need to trust each other. Rag Doll and Queen Bee agree as well. Cisco’s working on the phone and yells to Nora he’s done. Nora takes the phone and Queen Bee uses it to hypnotize Cisco and Sherloque with her swarm of meta-tech bees. Cisco set up the phone to glitch and he and Sherloque are able to bring themselves out of the trance and escape.

Barry has a heart-to-heart with Joe about what he and Iris discussed regarding Nora. Joe reminds Barry he always put being Barry’s dad above everything else. Barry admits he was ready to give up on Nora and asks Joe if Iris is right that Thawne might be trying to redeem himself through Nora. Joe assures Barry he doesn’t trust Thawne and never will, but he does trust his granddaughter.

Nora, Weather Witch and Queen Bee show up at the weapons manufacturer dressed in military outfits and with fake IDs to get in. They knock out their escorts and have Rag Doll – in a truly creepy and disturbing scene – climb out of the briefcase Nora is carrying and go through a steam pipe that leads him into the vault so he can unlock the door from the outside.

Once inside Queen Bee and Weather Witch surprise Nora by betraying her. They hold her and the knocked-out escorts hostage and post a message that if The Flash doesn’t arrive and reveal his identity, they will kill them. The Flash speeds there and – surprise! – it’s not The Flash at all but a hologram of The Flash being controlled by Sherloque back at S.T.A.R. Labs. Another surprise: The Flash, Iris, and Joe are already there using the facial transmogrifiers to pose as the hostages.

The fight is on as The Flash and Nora take on Queen Bee and Weather Witch, while Joe and Iris take on Rag Doll. Barry takes a hit from Weather Witch’s staff that’s meant for Nora and it knocks out the meta-dampener device in the room. The Flash quickly ties up Weather Witch and Queen Bee. “You were with me the whole time,” says Nora, smiling up at her father. “I abandoned you once. I’m not doing it again,” replies Barry.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Nora confesses she thought she could control the rogues and she was really after a particular gun that’s made from satellite parts. It’s the only device that will destroy Cicada II’s dagger. Iris asks why she didn’t come to them and Barry answers that Nora didn’t think he would believe her. Nora assures her parents she won’t see Thawne anymore and will bail on the plan to stop Cicada II. But Barry shocks her by saying they should use the plan and that he trusts Nora.

Caitlin and Ralph return and reveal Cicada II is making a metahuman virus to kill all the metahumans with.

The last scene of season five episode 20 is a brief look at Cicada II (Sarah Carter) perfecting the killer metahuman virus with a vision of her uncle watching over her, smiling.

The Flash Season 5 Episode 20 “Gone Rogue” Review:

Once again it’s Nora who’s put center stage and this time as what looks like a new villain in episode 20. This episode lifts way too many scenarios and ideas that were original from season one episodes, including “Revenge of the Rogues” and “Rogue Air.” One of the biggest problems with season five is the repetition of ideas and scenarios from the first few seasons of The Flash.

The episode’s highlights include returning to formulas that do work, such as Joe still giving sound and helpful advice to Barry on how he should handle trusting Nora, plus the reteaming of Sherloque and Cisco. Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes have always had incredible chemistry and any scenes with them playing opposite each other are always very entertaining.

With Caitlin figuring out Cicada II’s plan (seriously, Team Flash would be doomed without her!) and Nora stealing the gun to destroy Cicada II’s dagger, Team Flash has never been in a stronger position to take out Cicada II…but what about Thawne?!

GRADE: C+