Thawne returns, heroes fall, and Crisis gets a lot closer in The Flash season finale

The CW’s Flash wrapped up an excellent season, putting an end date on some season-long arcs and setting the stage with some major twists for next year — including a key twist that ties into next season’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.

Spoilers ahead for “Legacy,” the season finale of The CW’s Flash, which aired Tuesday, May 14, 2019.

“Sometimes all you can do is live with the consequences.” - Nora

Nora’s story came to a heartbreaking end, though she was at least able to go out as a hero worthy of the legacy of the Flash family. With Thawne’s plan fully revealed, Team Flash still plays its role and destroys the dagger to save the present-day metahumans and stop Cicada 2.0 from filleting Nora. That all happens just in time to free Thawne in the future, who is about a tenth of a second from having his death sentence carried out before the dagger drops out of existence. Thawne’s entire plan started with sending Nora back to punch the satellite, which created a different Cicada (one Team Flash could actually find and stop), which all led to a series of events that would erase the power-dampening dagger from the future.

But new timelines always have consequences. In this case, stopping this new Cicada and destroying the dagger changes the present enough that it ripples into the future, erasing the Nora we’ve gotten to know all season in the process. Her entire mission was a machination designed by Thawne, though in a moment of maturity, Nora spends her final minutes taking responsibility for the role she played in it all and telling her parents she has no regrets with how this adventure ended. Even when presented with a way to save herself from erasure by hiding out in the Negative Speed Force, Nora declines, because she’s already had a taste of how Thawne’s trademark power set can influence her heart and soul. Put simply, she’d rather die a hero than live as whatever she’d become in the Negative Speed Force.

It makes for a touching end to Nora’s arc, and she truly does save the day — getting through to young Grace to erase Future Cicada from the timeline, and teaming up with Barry and the rest of Team Flash to lay a beatdown on Thawne after he escapes. This episode is fairly heavy-handed when it comes to its title, “Legacy,” but it’s clear Nora is a legacy Barry can be proud of — even if they only have memories and a few Polaroids to remember her by now.

This change to the timeline also has another unforeseen circumstance the post-credit scene makes clear — it moves up the clock considerably on that pending Crisis on Infinite Earths that causes the Flash to famously disappear. It’s now ticked all the way down to 2019, which makes sense, considering the crossover was announced earlier this year. As Arrow fans are already aware, Oliver has hit the road with the Monitor to start working to avert that pending crisis, so all roads lead there from this point on.

Fall can’t get here soon enough.

Assorted musings

The CW

He didn’t die, but Vibe is officially gone. With the cure now a proven commodity, Cisco decided to actually take it — freeing himself of his vibe and breach powers apparently for good. It’s an interesting decision, but one that does feel true to character. Cisco has been on a journey for a while now, finding his confidence in his mind and abilities outside of his superhero skills. That latest confrontation with Thawne pushed him over the edge to take the plunge, and now Cisco is “just” a super genius who has saved the world umpteen times. He’ll be just fine.

It seems Team Flash will be in need of a new version of Harrison Wells next season. With the Cicada mystery solved, Sherloque headed back to his corner of the multiverse with his new love along for the ride. Could Harry come back next season? An all-new Wells? Or heck, maybe the newly free Thawne will be back in some capacity?

Looking ahead to next season, the Crisis should keep Team Flash plenty busy. But if that’s not enough, the Reverse-Flash is now alive and well and on the loose. Yeah, that’ll definitely come back to bite Barry at some point.

Thawne says no matter what happens, Flash will always vanish in the Crisis. But the timeline is malleable, and it seems the Green Arrow could be stepping into that role.

It’s about time, but Detective Joe West just got a promotion. Joe is the new police captain, after Cast. Singh takes a promotion to city police chief. It’s also revealed that Singh knows Barry is the Flash, and has presumably known for a while, having figured it out along the way these past few years.

Cisco left Killer Frost a surprise — it looks to be a new super-suit?

A fun easter egg for fans with Dibny’s final scene, as he cracks open a file titled “Dearbon,” likely a reference to Elongated Man’s comic book wife Sue Dearbon/Dibny. Could Ralph find love next season?

Up next: A long, hot summer. Not much on the DC TV front, sadly, but it’s always a good time to jump into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which has recently returned for a brand-new season. Enjoy the break, because the Crisis action will be coming hot and heavy this fall.