The Girl With The Red Lightning

"Thawne's plans got plans"

—Ralph Dibny

"The Girl With The Red Lightning"
Information
Season 5 » Episode 21
Episode number	113 of 184
Original airdate	May 7, 2019
Written by	Judalina Neira Thomas Pound
Directed by	Stefan Pleszczynski
Guest stars
Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Renee Adler (special guest star) Sarah Carter as older Grace Gibbons/Cicada Patrick Sabongui as David Singh
Chronology
Preceded by	"Gone Rogue"
Followed by	"Legacy"
Blog post	Post 94 "#Grounded"

"The Girl With The Red Lightning" is the twenty-first episode of the fifth season of The Flash, and the one-hundred-thirteenth episode overall. It aired on May 7, 2019.

Synopsis

Team Flash is on high alert after Cicada II threatens to unleash a dangerous virus that would put all meta-humans at risk.

Trivia

• The title is a reference to the novel The Girl with the Red Balloon, which involves time travel.
  • It also refers to Grace Gibbons and Nora, who both emit red lightning.
• When getting ready to fight Cicada at CCPD, Ralph morphs his hands into blades. This could be a reference to the 1991 science fiction film Terminator 2: Judgement Day or the DC comics character Metamorpho
• At the beginning of the episode while testing the mirror gun, Cisco says "sometimes you have to pull down your pants and slide on the ice". This is a direct quote from the TV show M*A*S*H, where twice, including in the finale, psychiatrist Sidney Freedman says the exact same thing.
• References to previous episodes happen including:
  • Renee mentions watching a fight on the 6 o'clock news, between "A Giant Shark and a Giant Gorilla" referring to "King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd".
  • Barry remembers trapping Thawne in the containment cell in "Fast Enough".
  • Fallout and Earth-15 are mentioned, referring to the events of "The Trial of The Flash".
  • Ralph mentions that David Hersch was supposed to be Cicada in the original timeline, before Nora changed it, referring to "The Death of Vibe".
• It is revealed that Cicada's Dagger is part of Thawne's plan as it's what's dampening his powers in prison in the future (held against his body underneath a vest that's locked onto his chest in 2049).
• Cisco's saying he would have to "Science the crap out of this" was a reference to the 2015 science fiction film The Martian where Matt Damon's character said he would have to "Science the shit out of this".
  • Ray Palmer made a similar reference when stranded on the moon in 1970 in the DC's Legends of Tomorrow season 2 episode, "Moonshot"; when he realized the team wouldn't be able to pick him up, he stated "And now I know how Matt Damon felt", referring to the latter's character becoming stranded on Mars. Shortly thereafter, he makes a video recording describing his predicament, stating that he'll "have to science the crap out of this thing."

• When Ralph Dibny mentions 'in this timey-wimey crap' it is an allusion to the Doctor Who series (2005 onward) as the Doctor tries to explain time travel.

Gallery

Videos

The Flash The Girl With The Red Lightning Scene The CW