The mystery around The Flash‘s newest villain is continuing to evolve, and it went into some pretty interesting territory in this week’s episode.
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Spoilers for tonight’s episode of The Flash, “News Flash”, below!
While some of Team Flash tried to deal with Spin (Kiana Madiera), Ralph Dibny (Hartley Sawyer) and Sherloque Wells (Tom Cavanagh) decided to begin to investigate what they could about Orlin Dwyer/Cicada (Chris Klein). After tracking down the company they believe his mask was from, they ultimately came to a pretty interesting consensus.
As it turns out, Cicada was given his powers as a result of The Enlightenment, the borderline-cataclysmic event that Clifford DeVoe/The Thinker (Neil Sandilands) caused at the end of last season. As it turns out, some sort of space debris fell and hit Orlin, granting him his powerful lightning bolt daggers, much like how The Enlightenment gave metahuman powers to other pieces of technology.
This, of course, was complicated by the end of the episode, when Orlin accidentally crushed a metal pole that was inside his home. While it’s unclear exactly how Orlin got that power – whether through killing the previous metahumans or through something else entirely – he clearly was experiencing it for the very first time.
The fact that Cicada’s powers are a direct result of DeVoe’s master plan last season — and of Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) arriving and messing with the timeline — does add a bit of a new twist to things. Plus, the fact that Cicada seems to be essentially turning into the very type of being that he’s trying to kill could make things a bit more tragic, especially as his larger backstory begins to be revealed.
“There’s a reason why Orlin is doing what he’s doing.” Klein explained in a recent interview. “There’s a reason why as Cicada he wants all metahumans to die. We will learn what that reason is, and we’ll get to judge Orlin for it. One of the coolest things about The Flash is that with every villain, the fans get an opportunity to judge them on their merits. Every villain has a reason for being, and Orlin’s is a pretty heavy one. This guy comes with a lot of sadness. It’s going to be a tough fight for Team Flash, because Cicada has this dagger that dampens metahuman powers.”
What do you think of how Cicada got his powers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
