BWW Recap: Barry and Team Flash Encounter Cicada on THE FLASH

In this week's episode of The Flash, BARRY and Team Flash have their first official encounter with Cicada. In the opening sequence, the audience gets to see what happened to Gridlock when Cicada showed up at the end of last week's episode. And here's a hint, it didn't end well for Gridlock.

This episode is really about BARRY and Nora's father/daughter bonding as they get to know one another. Nora hires herself as a CSI intern and helps BARRY at a crime scene where they find a small block of human flesh, which turns out to be an entire human. This was the work of another metahuman called Vanessa Jansen, who is dealing dangerous weapons . Nora is eager to help BARRY catch her first bad guy so BARRY lets her tag along and they track down Vanessa. But after Nora messes up their chances of catching Vanessa the first time, BARRY decides to go back and teach Nora the basics of being a speedster, starting with math and physics lessons, much to Nora's chagrin.

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin is looking for help finding answers about her father's fake death certificate so she asks Cisco. However, Cisco can't seem to focus on anything other than losing Gypsy. Heartbreak is never easy. So Ralph and Caitlin take Cisco through Ralph's 27 steps for getting over your ex plan, including a cinnamon buns and a makeover (but not a haircut because as Cisco said "You cut my hair, I cut you.").

Meanwhile, Iris learns that Gridlock never made it to Iron Heights so she puts on her reporter hat and starts digging around for answers. She interviews a badly injured police officer who was attacked and stabbed in last week's showdown with Cicada and Gridlock. This reveals that there may be a villain bigger than Vanessa roaming about in Central City.

Of course, you can't end an episode without the villain of the week, Vanessa, being caught, so Team Flash successfully tracks her down, using the weather radar of all things, and things go much more smoothly in capturing her this time around. Here, Nora gets her redemption from her earlier mistake and she does indeed impress Barry, her hero, who she has been trying to impress throughout the entire episode. But the fight's not over yet. The masked villain with the lightning shaped blade turns up to the showdown with Vanessa and Team Flash. Cicada. Cicada, who also seemed to be after Vanessa, effectively drains all the heroes of their powers, leaving them helpless.

At the end of the episode during the debrief of what went down with Vanessa and this unknown masked figure, Iris tells them to watch a video. BARRY points out that it sounds like a cicada insect. When Nora clearly recognizes the name Cicada, BARRY asks the question that everyone is wondering: "Who's Cicada?" I guess we'll have to keep watching to find out.

Photo Credit: Jack Rowand/The CW