'The Flash' Reveals Cicada's Backstory in "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

The Flash rung in the holidays during this week's episode, and dropped some major details about the season's Big Bad in the process.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of The Flash, "O Come, All Ye Faithful", below!

The episode opened with Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) trying to track down Grace Gibbons (Islie Hirvonen), a girl he believes to be the daughter of Orlin Dwyer/Cicada (Chris Klein). This led him to the Central City hospital, where a nurse told Barry that Grace's parents were deceased, as Orlin hid nearby.

As a series of flashbacks revealed, Orlin was actually Grace's uncle, who was given custody of her when her parents died in a metahuman attack. Orlin initially didn't know how to take care of a kid, and reflected some of his more negative qualities on to her. But eventually, he and Grace moved into a house together, and he decided to turn his life around and give her a proper upbringing.

Exactly a year later, Orlin and Grace went to a nearby carnival, where Orlin wanted to celebrate having turned his life around. Just then, The Thinker's Enlightenment hit the carnival, knocking Grace into a coma and impaling Orlin with a bit of the Star Labs satellite.

Orlin quickly took Grace to a hospital, where they both were treated for their injuries. As the doctor later told Orlin, there was a chance that Grace would never wake up from her coma, something that she chose to blame on metahumans. Orlin then cried over Grace's bed, only to be distracted by a nearby news report about The Flash. Orlin grew angry, commanding his lightning bolt dagger from across the room, and vowing to kill every metahuman on Grace's behalf.

This all certainly adds a bit of context to Cicada's crusade, as well the Grace scenes that have been a mystery thus far this season.

"What I love about Orlin is he's in it for a reason." Klein explained in a previous interview. "It's too soon to say if it's the right reason or the wrong reason, but the reason is heavy. We were introduced to a little girl in a bed at the end of [Episode] 503, and we see Orlin kiss her forehead, and the one thing that I can tell you and the audience is that that little girl is going to be very, very, very important to our story moving forward. She is one to watch and learn about."

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.