The Flash: Could Reverse Flash be the real MVP of season 5?

The twist of Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash working with Nora West-Allen, against Barry Allen, was surprising. Could he be this season’s MVP on The Flash?

With the mid-season premiere of The Flash about to air Jan. 15, “The Flash & The Furious”, the fifth season has put our Fastest Man Alive through a lot. Not only does Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) have to deal with her future daughter, Nora West-Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy) and her big mistake in time-travel, but this season’s Big Bad, known as Cicada (Chris Klein) has been out slaughtering meta-humans left and right around Central City.

Before the “Elseworlds” three-night crossover, which started with episode nine of The Flash and involved the shows Arrow and Supergirl, the climax of No. 8’s “What’s Past is Prologue” shed an alarming twist involving Nora and the reveal of the mastermind behind the actions that led to the dilemma in time–travel — none other than an older Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh) better known as the Reverse Flash. The question is could Thawne actually be the Most Valuable Player of season five?

Before answering that question, let’s dig a report that We Got This Covered actually covered (excuse the pun) back on Christmas Day. The article covered the legacy of Thawne and his plans for Nora. Just as a quick reminder, at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, The Flash showrunner, Todd Helbing, mentioned the tone for this season will be centered on “legacy.”

Thawne, as revealed in the 100th episode, has somehow been the brains of the machinations behind what had led to Nora aka XS rescue Barry during the Enlightenment from the damaged satellite. Thawne somehow wound up behind bars at Iron Heights in 2049 with an A.I. known as Gideon. The nature of their partnership is unknown, though this is what Helbing had to say:

"“We don’t wanna just do the same villain over and over and if we had the exact same attitude with Eobard Thawne, that we’ve seen this whole time, that’s not going to be interesting either.”“So, he was part of the pitch from the beginning and I think what we really to do was just see a different attitude from Thawne that we hadn’t, see in a different light and, you know, there’s a big theme of legacy this season. And so, when are started talking about that with every other character and then we got to Thawne, it’s like, ‘What does legacy mean to him?’ So that’s what we start to touch on in the background.”"

There are so many questions as to what is going on? Like which version of Thawne could this be? What does he have over Nora – could it be a future Iris West? How does Thawne have Gideon with him? How did he get locked up at Iron Heights? So many questions, yet Helbing promises there will be answers.

Has Reverse Flash turned over a new leaf? Possibly, though, he did seem to hide over the fact [he] was responsible for murdering her grandmother. When Nora confronted Thawne while incarcerated after he sent a message from her journal, she snapped “We have to talk.”

Whatever plans Thawne has, no matter how justifiable, cannot be good for Barry in the long run. Cicada is by far one of the most challenging foes Barry has ever had to face. He almost killed Cisco Ramon/Vibe (Carlos Valdes); single-handedly took down The Flash, Vibe and Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer) and probably at one point would have killed our Scarlet Speedster if Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) had not intervened, Caitlin Snow (Panabaker) and her icy alter-ego may be the key to defeating Cicada. While Cicada may be the rook in this game of time crisis, Nora, without a doubt is a pawn.

Thawne is the MVP this season, despite working behind the scenes mainly due to a few key factors: Thawne is every bit as formidable, intellectually adept as he is arrogant and susceptible to the force of nature, which makes him methodical and dynamic a villain. Thawne can use Cicada to his advantage. He is great at manipulating others to do his bidding.