Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Flash episode "Death Of The Speed Force." Read at your own risk!
The Flash was jam-packed with huge reveals this week, and while the return of Eobard Thawne may not have been the most surprising of the bunch, it was one of the most wild. The evil speedster is back in the story, and as usual, he's planning on killing The Flash and friends.
Reverse-Flash wanting to kill the heroes wasn't surprising, but how he returned and The Flash teasing another potential return for Nora West-Allen certainly were wild. For those that were too busy musing on what the loss of the Speed Force means, here's a brief recap of all the Thawne- and Nora-related shenanigans of the episode, and what they may mean going forward.
Thawne Is Back...Kind Of
Nash Wells greeted Cisco upon his return from traveling Earth Prime, hoping in large part for Ramon's help in the situation where he has been seeing a bunch of Wells who are either hallucinations or ghosts. Cisco brushed the brash adventurer off, but later went to find him after Caitlin chastised Cisco for not lending a hand and being too obsessed with his own goals. Cisco tracked down Wells at his office, but when he got into the office, it was remarkably clear this wasn't the Nash Wells he knew. It was Thawne, somehow in Nash Wells' body.
After an intentional recreation of the The Flash scene from Season 1 in which Thawne killed Cisco, Reverse-Flash realized he could not phase his hand through Cisco's body. Once Cisco realized Thawne didn't have his powers while inhabiting Nash Wells' body, the two began to tangle until Cecile interrupted and incapacitated Thawne with a taser. Thawne was then transferred to S.T.A.R. Labs' pipeline, where he informed Barry and Cisco he would escape and kill all of them.
Thawne has a decent shot of doing that with Barry's residual Speed Force set to expire in a few weeks, though The Flash fans can assume Barry and the team will get that artificial Speed Force up and running somehow. The real question is how Thawne will regain his speedster abilities (which are powered through his own artificial Speed Force) through the conduit of Nash Wells. He has to have a plan, but what?
Also, we still have no idea how Thawne managed to inhabit Nash Wells to begin with, and I'm skeptical he has been posing as Nash this entire time. Mainly because The Flash characters made a point to say Thawne was inhabiting Nash Wells' body, but also because of the "Grodd Friended Me" tease with Sherloque. Is it possible Thawne is able to possess the bodies of other Wells? Hopefully, answers on exactly how all that works are coming.
Is Nora West-Allen "Alive" After All?
Nora West-Allen was erased from existence at the end of The Flash Season 5, and ever since, there has been some question amongst fans on whether she'll ever return. After all, "Crisis" changed a lot of things, and we all know things and people from future timelines aren't always permanent fixtures in the Arrow-verse. Well, confirmation on Nora West-Allen's eventual return may have come via the returning Wally West, who said he saw Nora as part of the chain of speedsters in the Speed Force.
Wally's intense connection with the Speed Force gave him a wealth of knowledge and powers that exceeded even Barry's understanding, so it wouldn't be surprising if Wally saw Nora will still be born and eventually take up the speedster mantle. Of course, with the Speed Force now dead, it's possible that link was broken and the future Wally saw of him and Barry's children is no longer. Time is a crazy thing!
I would wager it all depends on what happens with this artificial Speed Force storyline, and whether that power is just for Barry, or other speedsters as well. Who knows, maybe the essence of the Speed Force (in the form of Nora) was just being dramatic about The Spectre's energy corrupting it? It seems crazy to me that Oliver would've bestowed that power on his friend without warning him it could potentially destroy the power of speedsters forever. Regardless, if things work out and the Speed Force returns, I'm pretty optimistic Nora West-Allen could return to the show in the future.
The Flash airs on The CW Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on what's happening in the Arrow-verse, and for the latest news happening in television and movies.
