A new Wells arrives to help in the search for Cicada. It becomes clear that Nora has caused some pretty serious damage to the time line and that he’s specifically targeting not just the Flash but the Flash’s family.

The Flash breaks stride early this season and does so in a manner that solves two problems before they happen. The first, villain fatigue, was starting to become apparent last week with the arrival of yet another all-seeing omniscient villain specifically targeting Team Flash. The horrific, and often not in a good way, spectre of three full seasons of evil speedsters still hangs over the show and last year solved that with a villain who could think faster than Barry could run. Plus he was a note perfect Jordan B Peterson parody which I’m always there for.

This year, Cicada is neither an evil speedster or a Thinker clone. He’s a man. Brutal, massively strong but grounded. The Thinker was at his best when we saw him as human. Cicada is being built from that idea up and so far it’s working really well. A family man versus a family, and, it’s implied, perhaps very aware of what he’s trying to take from them. That’s an interesting, grim, emotionally charged premise for any villain and Cicada is off to a good start. Plus, Chris Klein! I’ve always been oddly fond of his work and I’m delighted to see him walking the Brendan Fraser path back to the spotlight.

That solid, building note of threat is a strong core for the season and the episode alike. Better still, Butler and Garza’s script balances it with a welcome dive into Nora’s mindset. Her learning curve is steep this season, needs to be and so far is one of the show’s most successful elements. Plus, as we see in this year’s already ridiculously fun Wells, there is something off about her. Or at least they want us to think there is…

The episode also gives us some fun Joe stuff (Jesse L Williams injured his back in the season break by the way, which is why Joe has always been sitting down so far this season and will shortly be taking a hiatus) and some very fun Cisco and Caitlin stuff. Cisco as less wide-eyed geek and more long-suffering, slightly boozy Wallace Wells to Barry’s Scott Pilgrim is kind of inspired and Carlos Valdes is the show’s best comedian by a good margin. That in turn means the scrappy, surprisingly brutal closing fight feels like it has significance and danger. Which is quite an achievement for episode three. Meanwhile, Caitlin doing her own personal version of National Treasure looks like the most fun thing the character’s had to do since Killer Frost and is being set up as a strong C plot for the season.

Verdict: Fun, self aware and surprising. No running metaphors needed, just a good hour of one of the CW’s best shows. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart