Honestly, this episode was probably the best one yet in The Flash‘s fifth season. With Danielle Panabaker celebrating her directioral debut, “Godspeed” reminds the viewer of the series’ core combining a new, fresh speedster with an archnemesis in the midst of family drama.
The 18th episode shows Nora West-Allen’s origin story set in the future. The viewer discovers the background behind everything that’s been happening since the start of the season: how Nora felt betrayed and left alone by her closest friends and family, how she met Eobard Thawne and why she began to work with him.
Personally, while Godspeed as a new villainous speedster did not blow me much away, I thought it was a nice hommage to one of The Flash‘s greatest enemies, Zoom, and a great element to reiterate within Nora’s origin story. (Attention, spoilers ahead!) The murder of her closest friend really came as a surprise to me and made me, as a viewer, finally understand why Nora had felt the need to ask Thawne for help. For me, that was also the most interesting moment of the episode: Thawne agreeing to help Nora as she tells him that her best friend was killed by a speedster. The stylistic choice to limit his reaction to visuals instead of dialogue made the scene all the more intriguing, as now a new question has replaced the one concerned with why Nora enlisted Thawne’s help, namely the other side: Why did Thawne agree to help Nora? Does he have a plan or is he trying to redeem herself?
I believe Panabaker’s directorial debut was very successful. Capturing key moments such as the first time Thawne mentors Nora with close-up shots heightened the emotional value of actually more action-driven scenes. The confrontations between Thawne and Nora and at last even Barry always oscillated between trust and threat which was visually well brought out by the glass barrier at the prison cell. This way, playing with the distance in between the characters created different atmospheres which further enhanced the either collaborative (Thawne – Nora: trust, more at a distance, medium close-up shots) or antagonistic (Thawne – Barry: threat, both very near to eachother, only close-ups) relationships.
Finally, what made this episode particularly stand out was how it brought back the heart of the show with a season one vibe of Reverse Flash as Barry’s arch enemy and the fun but also danger of discovering and testing one’s new powers through Nora’s character. This perfectly culminated in the heartbreakening ending scene in which Barry showcases his typical behavior of pushing aside all pain by literally “grounding” his daughter in the future.
Keeping in mind that I personally did not think much of The Flash‘s fifth season until now, “Godspeed” made me remind of why I got hooked on this show in the first place and I would wish for the sake of the series’ future to follow this vibe in coming episodes. With Cicada as a way less captivating villain than Reverse Flash, Zoom or The Thinker, I sincerely hope the last remaining episodes of the fifth season have something up their sleeves…Godspeed (literally)!
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