Of all the questions The Flash still has to answer about its many Season 5 shenanigans, perhaps the biggest ties back to just how Nora West-Allen first got connected with Reverse-Flash Eobard Thawne, and how he convinced her to work with him on his timeline-morphing scheme. Sounds like we won't have much longer to wait to see how that pairing got started.
Star Danielle Panabaker served as the director for the upcoming episode, titled "Godspeed," and she explained that her character won't be in the episode as much. Partially because it's more complicated for an actor to direct themselves in a scene, and partially because the episode is focusing on Nora's future with Thawne. According to Panabaker:
Caitlin is a little bit lighter in [Episode 18] because, in this episode, it opens sort of with a direct cut as Team Flash is reeling from learning the news that Nora was working with Eobard Thawne. And so as they try to unpack and unravel why Nora would have made this decision, they decide to read her journal and that is our portal into going back to the year 2049 — well, flash-forward to the year 2049 — and understanding Nora and how she came to be this way and how she came to be working with Thawne.
Dun-dun-dunnn! While Barry and Iris have, in the past, been able to tap into some of Nora's memories about the future, they didn't get a whole lot of insight about Nora's motivations. Now, with her journal at their disposal, Barry and the others will have a direct line of reasoning to explain Nora's actions that landed her in the metahuman-suppressing pipeline.
One might assume that the future-set scenes will just be about Nora and Reverse-Flash, since it doesn't sound like The Flash or Vibe will take any physical trips to the future to get face-time with those in 2049. However, episodic images and Danielle Panabaker's own comments make it clear that it'll be a true Flash-forward.
Here's what Danielle Panabaker told TV Guide about the episode's big moments that she was most eager for fans to see.
I was lucky to get a fantastic script and there are so many great moments. A lot of them start to come toward the end of the episode. There are some really gut-wrenching moments between Grant and Jessica, also between Grant and Tom. There are some epic fight scenes. I hope it's got everything in it that a Flash fan would want.
Each of those elements sounds pretty darned groovy to me. As it usually goes for a Flash episode, it sounds like the first chunk will be setting up all the pieces meant to come crashing down in the second half. And when Barry has traveled through the speed force in order to show up at a different part of the timeline, the potential for crashes can get mountainous.
It doesn't seem possible, but what if Barry and Nora have one of the "epic fight scenes" that Danielle Panabaker spoke about? I mean, this is the episode that'll introduce the intimidating comic book villain Godspeed, so all bets should be placed on non-familial speedster showdowns.
Still, what if Eobard somehow reveals himself to be a more important figure in Nora's life, and we learn that Nora isn't actually Barry Allen's child at all? That seems extreme, especially if Iris would still be her mom, but I can't help but feel like there's another big piece of this puzzle that won't allow for easy, piecemeal conclusions.
"Godspeed" definitely won't be retreading a bunch of information that Flash fans have scene before, and the episode will introduce a few new faces. As a matter of fact, one of the new characters helps to add some levity to the heavy episode.
Yes, and there are some lighter moments as well. We were fortunate enough to get Katherine Gallagher to play Nora's best friend in the future, and she's a dream.
Katherine Gallagher, star of Penn Badgley's Netflix thriller You, will be playing Nora's best friend, so it'll be interesting to see whether or not this friend is involved with Nora's big plans. Another image for the episode reveals Nora with actor Everick Golding in the role of Kev Shinick, as seen below.
It's not clear at all who this character is meant to be, though he does look friendly enough with Nora that he shouldn't be considered an instant threat. Kevin Schnick is actually a comic book writer (as well as a TV and film writer) that has worked on both Marvel and DC titles, so it's highly possible that the character's name is a shout-out to the real-world creator.
Is it strange that in all of this talk, no mention of Cicada came up? I'm hoping The Flash finds other ways to tie Nora's storyline in with the Cicada legacy, or else Grace Gibbons may come across as unnecessary fluff.
While there are still many details to uncover, The Flash will soon be here to unveil many of them when "Godspeed" airs on The CW on Tuesday, April 16, at 8:00 p.m. ET. The show will continue airing on Tuesdays until it bows out of Season 5 while setting the stage for the new Season 6 showrunner and beyond.
