‘The Flash’ Season Five Premiere Recap With Spoilers: “Nora”

“Nora” begins with an introduction by Nora West as she explains how she was born thirty years from now and in her timeline, the people of Central City call her XS. We see a glimpse of the scene from last year’s finale of Nora helping her dad take down The Thinker.

It then goes back into the West household where Nora tries convincing everybody of her real identity as Barry and Iris’ daughter. Nora explains that after helping destroy the STAR Labs satellite, she lacks the speed to open the Speed Force to return to her timeline.

We see that Cecile’s able to read her newborn’s mind, showing she retained her telepathic abilities after her pregnancy.

In the basement of STAR Labs, Nora’s running on the track while Barry and Iris talk about the situation. Caitlin and Cisco walk in and start testing her vitals. Caitlin informs Barry and Iris that DNA testing confirms that Nora is, in fact, their daughter.

At CCPD, Captain Singh informs Barry that he’s reinstated to the force after being cleared of any wrongdoing in the death of Clifford DeVoe. Barry starts tackling his workload when Nora speeds in and offers to help out, much to her father’s dismay. They’re talking when a call comes in about an attacking metahuman and Nora speeds out to retrieve Barry’s original suit from Cisco’s closet.

Barry tries stopping the robbery when he’s interrupted and distracted by Nora, who arrives and expresses surprise at the villain Gridlock. Gridlock gets away and the team returns to STAR Labs.

After expressing disappointment in her daughter, Iris and Nora go to Jitters for coffee. The two return to STAR Labs, where Cisco has devised a new Tachyon device to get her back to the right timeline. As Barry and Nora race off to the track to open up the Speed Force, Wally rushes in and tells the group they have to stop the pair from going forward in time.

Barry and Nora and knocked out and they soon wake up in the medical bay. Wally informs them that he meet with the Legends and had Gideon analyze Nora’s blood, where she found that Nora was suffering from negative-tachyons that were making her slower. They notice on the TV that Gridlock has committed another robbery and they realize that without their satellites that had just been destroyed, they’re without eyes and ears.

Ralph and Caitlin get to the crime scene, where they talk about the disappearance of Killer Frost. They’re called over by Cisco who explains that the more Gridlock moves, the more power he has.

In the basement of STAR Labs, Barry and Iris have a heart to heart about having children. While they’re talking, Barry comes to a realization and leaves to talk with Nora. Nora admits to him that in her timeline, Wells’ newspaper of Barry disappearing in a Crisis comes true and that he never reappears. Barry realizes that Nora isn’t stuck in the current timeline, rather she’s choosing not to go forward in time in an effort to save her father from the Crisis.

Iris calls Barry back to inform they’ve identified Gridlock as a career criminal known as William Lang. They realize he’s boarded a plane at the airport in an effort to gain control over the flight and crash it.

We see Lang on the plane seated next to a man who’s handcuffed to a briefcase. Lang mentions that he knows the briefcase is full of jewels and he shocks the man hard enough that one of the airplane’s engine explodes.

Back at STAR Labs, Nora mentions that she had heard of a story of Barry phasing the airplane through buildings. Barry thinks that together with Nora and Wally, they can make it happen. Nora gifts her dad a ring containing a brand new suit.

The three speedsters start speeding towards the plane while Cisco gets a better angle on the situation in an effort to Vibe them onto the plane. The scenario works and Barry’s able to handcuff Gridlock and stop him. The three begin trying to phase but their initial attempt fails. Barry gives his daughter a pep talk and the trio are able to phase the airplane through Central City skyscrapers and land it safely in the river.

Back at STAR Labs, Cisco gives Nora updated technology but Barry convinces the group that they should let Nora stay in the current timeline. He plays dumb and doesn’t let them know about the Crisis and instead persuades them that they should make sure Nora’s powers are functioning properly.

Ralph walks into the lounge, where he gives a packet to Caitlin. It’s her father’s death certificate, which Ralph explains is a fake.

The episode ends with Gridlock seemingly being broken out of his police transport by a villain who throws bolt-shaped daggers. The masked attacked opens up the truck Gridlock is being transported in and reveals that he wants all metahumans to die right before he kills Gridlock.