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News Flash

"Fake news taken to a whole new level."
—Iris West-Allen

"News Flash" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of The Flash, and the ninety-sixth episode overall. It aired on October 30, 2018.

Synopsis

Barry and Iris face the ultimate parenting test when Team Flash battles Spin, a savvy millennial armed with meta-tech, and a dangerous agenda for their daughter, Nora. Ralph is feeling defeated until an unlikely source issues a challenge to help boost his confidence.[src]

Plot

The Night of the Enlightenment: A young woman, Spencer Young, is doing a running commentary on the debris falling on her phone. She sees the Flash and XS destroy the satellite, then briefly encounters XS. She goes to take a selfie but finds her phone smashed, then notices something strange about it.

Iris tries to get Barry and Nora, who was sleeping on the couch, involved in a family breakfast. Barry tries his best to be enthusiastic about the food but Nora doesn't seem interested in engaging. Iris learns that Barry has bought her a phone and she gets a text from Sherloque inviting them all to a meeting, using it as an excuse to leave breakfast to get ready. Iris is upset that she and Nora aren't connecting.

At STAR Labs, Sherloque addresses Barry, Iris, Nora, Caitlin and Ralph: Cisco is recovering at his parents'. Sherloque runs over all the information they have on Cicada, including the fact that he seems to have control over his dagger, which Sherloque suggests means they gained their powers at the same time. Ralph suggests investigating why Cicada wears a mask but Sherloque thinks it isn't important.

Barry goes to take part in CCPD's softball game against the fire department, where Detective Rowell assigns him to right field. He notices Officer Jones is missing. Nora, Iris, Cecile and Caitlin go along to support him. Nora's attention is focused on a blog, Spyn Zone, run by Spencer. Iris recalls Spencer, who often does her work at Jitters, from her time at CCPN, saying she didn't last long because she wanted to be famous. Nora replies that Spencer is cute and also has more up-to-date information and more followers than Iris. As she walks away, she looks at her phone again and her eyes glow purple. Jones arrives and Cecile senses something about him. She and Barry try to shout a warning but XS speeds in, grabs the bag and throws it away: It explodes. Both XS and Jones come out of the purple eye trances, unable to remember what happened. Spencer records the events from nearby.

Shortly after, Barry, Iris, Caitlin and Nora run over what happened. Spyn Zone is already covering a detailed story on the explosion. Barry and Iris worry that it may lead to Cicada targeting XS. Iris goes to see Spencer at Jitters and warns her about a killer going after meta-humans, saying her stories are making XS a target. Spencer retorts that Iris used to write about the Flash and vows to make her blog irrelevant.

Ralph and Sherloque check out the dock where Team Flash first fought Cicada. Ralph finds a flake from Cicada's mask that proves it is an industrial respirator. Later, Elongated Man and Sherloque check out a plant that uses the masks. The foreman shows them that the entire staff wear them, along with the workers in the company's thousands of other plants, and other facilities. As they walk away, seeing it as a dead end, Dwyer, who actually does work there, watches them.

Barry and Nora run a scan on Jones, as Joe reveals security footage shows him stealing the bomb from evidence. A group of uniformed cops rush past, on their way to a fire at CCPN. Barry and Nora speed there as the Flash and XS: The building has been evacuated so they need to extinguish the flames. Spencer watches them, frustrated, and ends up putting up a headline on a nearby screen saying the Flash has been seen in Las Vegas. The Flash speeds off. Iris and Caitlin are monitoring from STAR Labs, and Iris talks Nora through creating a vacuum to put out the fire. She exits to a round of applause. The Flash comes out of his super-speed near Las Vegas, confused.

Barry, Iris, Nora and Caitlin meet up at STAR Labs in the lounge. Iris theorises that Spencer is involved, pointing out she posted an article about the fire incredibly quickly and wants to use Nora to get famous. Nora isn't convinced. Barry and Iris send Nora to Jitters with a meta-detecting watch to test Spencer but Nora is soon distracted fangirling over and flirting with Spencer. Iris steps in and gets her to check the watch, which comes back negative. After Spencer's gone, Iris tells Nora she's trying to protect her. Nora shows a scar on her chest and says Iris' future self put a power-dampening chip in her: She didn't know she was a speedster until six months ago.

Iris consults with Barry, horrified that her future self would do such a thing. Barry insists that Iris must have had a good reason. Meanwhile, Sherloque approaches Caitlin wearing one of the respirator masks and gets her to punch him in the chest. It causes him to start making the same heavy breathing noise that Cicada makes. An alarm summons them, Barry, Iris, Ralph and Nora to the lab: There is a bomb threat at the stadium, which has been evacuated.

The Flash and XS speed down there but find no sign of a bomb. The rest of Team Flash learn Spencer had an article up about the bomb threat before CCPD got the first call. Iris gets Caitlin to compare Jones' brain scan to the code on Spencer's site and they match. Iris realises Spencer is controlling people with the headlines just too late, as Spencer projects one on the stadium screen saying XS kills the Flash. XS attacks him and starts to vibrate through his chest. Iris portals there and shoots XS with a power-dampening dart. Ralph and Sherloque work out Spencer is at the stadium. The Flash manages to find and cuff her.

At STAR Labs, Barry, Caitlin, Nora, Iris and Ralph watch a news report on Mayor Van Buren resigning. Barry and Nora report Spencer is in Iron Heights while Iris has written an article exonerating Jones. Sherloque draws their attention to his new deduction: Cicada has damaged lungs, and since time changed when Nora helped Barry destroy the satellite and changed the trajectory, it follows that he was injured then and his dagger is composed of part of the satellite, suffused with dark matter by DeVoe. Sherloque credits Ralph with the discovery, for suggesting they focus on Cicada's mask. Iris protests that objects can't have meta-powers. Barry proves her wrong by showing them that Spencer's phone is also suffused with dark matter: Meta-tech, meaning any human can use meta-powers.

Iris tells Nora that, after the events of the day, she's realised that whatever reason she had for suppressing Nora's powers in the future must have been a good one. Nora says it was about controlling her and denying her a choice. Barry enters and says he supports Iris' decisions about their family. Nora says in that case she has to reconsider what family means and super-speeds out. She goes to see Joe and Cecile and asks to stay there. Joe agrees, saying they can talk about why in the morning.

Dwyer arrives home in considerable pain, but also able to crush a metal strut with his bare hand. He discovers glowing veins spreading around his wound.

Cast

Starring

Guest starring

Co-starring

Trivia

Goofs

  • Sherloque points to his chest area and asks Caitlin to hit him there calling it "the solar plexus". Both of them should be fully aware that the solar plexus is lower down the torso, below the rib-cage.

References

The Flash season 5
"Nora" • "Blocked" • "The Death of Vibe" • "News Flash" • "All Doll'd Up" • "The Icicle Cometh" • "O Come, All Ye Thankful" • "What's Past is Prologue" • "Elseworlds, Part 1" • "The Flash & The Furious" • "Seeing Red" • "Memorabilia" • "Goldfaced" • "Cause and XS" • "King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd" • "Failure is an Orphan" • "Time Bomb" • "Godspeed" • "Snow Pack" • "Gone Rogue" • "The Girl With The Red Lightning" • "Legacy"