User blog comment:ChrisIsBeast/THE FLASH SEASON 5 FINALE/@comment-32593680-20190517162245

You see, the issue is that they couldn't have Thawne die as he appears in the newspaper from 2024 (now 2019), so the point of him being in this season wasn't to die, it was to set up Crisis on Infinite Earths, for which Thawne will likely serve under the Anti-Monitor (he had an army of "Shadow Demons" just like the Anti-Monitor). The theory I'm going with is that Thawne was able to return in Crisis on Earth-X because he made a deal with the Anti-Monitor that, in exchange for his aid in CoIE, he would resurrect him from the Speed Force - or something like that. Either way, I always expected Thawne to live.

And with Grace killing her uncle, to be honest, a part of me went like "what?" but then I realised that Grace did it because her uncle had abandoned his post as Cicada, so I think she saw that as betrayal and decided to instead imagine the version of her uncle who was Cicada rather than listen to the man who gave up the mantle of Cicada. Although, why she has to be some emotionless about it, I don't know.

And I expected Nora to leave in some way, so it made sense for her to be erased, since they moved ahead Crisis on Infinite Earths to next year rather than five years from now. Her being erased was sad, but a means to and end. And the writers said she could return in some capacity anyway.