In the latest episode of ‘The Flash’, the main villain for season 5 named Cicada had his origin story revealed through a series of flashbacks…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The two most recent seasons of ‘The Flash’ have gone away from the speedster villains that dominated the first three seasons and the latest big bad finally had his origin story told in the latest episode.
Cicada — real name Orlin Dwyer — has already reeked havoc all over ‘The Flash’ this season by killing two different meta-humans and believing he killed a third when he went after Cisco several episodes ago.
Team Flash has been investigating Cicada’s true identity while following a set of clues that led them to last season’s villain ‘The Thinker’, who attempted to drown the planet in dark matter so every person on Earth would have their brains reset to zero and he could ultimately rule over the entire population.
His plan was thwarted by Team Flash in the season 4 finale with the STAR Labs satellite crashing out of the sky and it was up to Barry and his time-traveling daughter Nora to stop it from hurting people on the ground. They were able to smash the satellite out of the air but that didn’t stop the shrapnel from the massive piece of machinery landing elsewhere outside of downtown Central City.
That led the team to find out where the core of the satellite landed because that would have been the only piece drenched in so much dark matter that it could have created new meta-humans, which would explain Cicada and his strange ability to control a dagger that seems to zap the powers of all the other meta-humans around him.
The latest episode — titled ‘Oh Come, All Ye Thankful’ — flashes back two years when Orlin Dwyer was just a bachelor living in a crappy apartment and feasting on beer and leftover Chinese food for nourishment. He gets the surprise of a lifetime when his sister dies in a car accident and he’s the only relative able to take care of his niece Grace.
The first year of their relationship is rocky to say the least as Orlin is trying desperately to get rid of the kid and Grace is still dealing with the loss of her parents. The tumultuous situation finally comes to a head when Orlin is forced to go to Grace’s school to answer for her bad behavior and she lashes out at him for being so cruel to her this whole time.
Orlin decides then and there that he’s going to turn things around for himself and his niece.
He gets a fixer upper home from his cousin and buys Grace a huge dollhouse that they can work on together while he’s remodeling the house. A year later, Orlin takes Grace to a local carnival to celebrate the pact they made together and that’s when tragedy struck.
The STAR Labs satellite falling from the sky ends up smashing into the carnival with a piece of shrapnel stabbing Orlin in the chest and another piece knocking Grace out unconscious. When he gets to the hospital, Orlin is only concerned about his niece as the doctor notices that he has a giant shard of metal sticking out of his chest.
The doctor is the same one who has been caring for Grace this entire season.
It seems the shrapnel that stabbed Orlin was the piece covered in dark matter that gave him his abilities but also apparently punctured his lung, which explains his constant breathing problems. Sadly, Grace was given a difficult prognosis as the doctor explained that the trauma she suffered has left her in a coma and there’s no way to know for certain if she’ll ever wake up again.
Orlin is sad and angry but his rage is sent past the boiling point when the doctor talks about how meta-humans have ruined Central City and they are to blame for all the ills that have befallen the people of that community. Orlin decides to listen to her words and lash out by killing any and all meta-humans with his main target being the person who smashed that satellite out of the sky in the first place — he wants the Flash dead and buried.
The first person Orlin spots on the television after his decision to eliminate all the meta-humans is Gridlock — the villain from the debut episode in season 5 and the first meta-human he ends up killing.
Back at STAR Labs, Barry and the gang are able to track down the little girl they believe was injured in the satellite accident but they find out that her parents are already dead. Still, Sherloque has a hunch to watch her hospital room and through the security cameras they are able to see Orlin coming to visit Grace everyday including Thanksgiving.
That’s when they figure out his true identity — Cicada is Orlin Dwyer, Grace’s uncle.
Armed with the knowledge of Cidada’s identity, Team Flash will go on the hunt to stop him starting with next week’s episode.
