Nora Allen, time traveller! Nora Allen, future speedster! Nora Allen, not… telling the whole truth!

The Flash’s fifth season rips the Band-Aid off the show’s original mystery: Barry’s disappearance in the future. That, it turns out, is the reason why Nora came back. Not because she was trapped but because she wanted to meet the dad who vanished shortly after she was born and, decades later, has never reappeared.

That may be the Flashiest thing The Flash has ever done. It takes real moxie to combine time travel, meta-human punching, family drama and the show’s big puppyish heart, but by golly they actually manage it. The best scene, by far, is the moment where Barry realises why Nora is so clingy. The worst scene, by far, is the moment at the end of the episode where it’s implied he hasn’t got round to telling Iris about his future. The stuff in the middle? Maximum fun.

Not only do we get drunk Cisco (‘I am fortune’s fool!’) and a good Wally cameo but we also get some great Ralph stuff including, honestly, my favorite joke the show has done to date:

‘What did you think we meant when we said Harry was from Earth 2?’

‘That he was from Earth, ALSO!’

In a lesser script it would be a pratfall. Here it’s a neat contras to Ralph starting in on the season’s B plot, the secret origin of Killer Frost. It’s also a smart counterbalance to the Allen-West family angst which may be cranked up a good deal this year.

That being said, Nora is ridiculously likeable. Jessica Parker-Kennedy hits the right combination of perky and fragile, and she and Candice Patton have some great scenes together. Plus she gets the narration that bookends the episode and leads directly to the sweetest moment in the episode, when Barry uses what Wells taught him to help her out.

Plus, Chris Klein! (It really is Chris Klein under the mask, I checked) with a Flash shaped knife murdering meta-humans! And the episode remembers Jesse L Martin and Danielle Nicolet are in the cast more than once! Which is more than a good chunk of the otherwise excellent last season did!

Verdict: Big hearted, big brained and enthusiastic, Team Science Puppy are back and this race is off to a very good start. Here’s to a great fifth lap. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart