The Flash (2014 TV Series) Episode: Failure is an Orphan

"Failure is an Orphan"
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The Flash  Season 5: Episode 16
March 12, 2019
Directors	Viet Nguyen
Writers	Zack Stentz
Previous Episode	"King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd" (March 5, 2019)
Next Episode	"Time Bomb" (March 19, 2019)

With the meta-human cure ready to use, Barry and Team Flash must figure out a way to subdue Cicada long enough to take it. Killer Frost steps in to help with the plan. Meanwhile, Joe eases back into work, and Nora isn't happy about the way her dad plans to stop Cicada.

Then you'd let her grow up in a world of fear. Where there's someone out there hurting people like her. The cure, it will heal Grace and you.

—Barry Allen

Failure is an Orphan is an episode of season 5 of The Flash. It premiered on March 12, 2019.

Synopsis for "Failure is an Orphan"

With the meta-human cure ready to use, Barry and Team Flash must figure out a way to subdue Cicada long enough to take it. Killer Frost steps in to help with the plan. Meanwhile, Joe eases back into work, and Nora isn't happy about the way her dad plans to stop Cicada.

Appearing in "Failure is an Orphan"

Featured Characters:

• The Flash (Barry Allen)

Supporting Characters:

• Central City Police Department
  • Det. Joe West
• Team Flash
  • Cecile Horton
  • Iris West-Allen
  • Killer Frost (Caitlin Snow) (Impersonates Acid Master)
  • Sherloque Wells (Earth-221)
  • Vibe (Cisco Ramon)
  • XS/Nora West-Allen (Nora's Future)

Antagonists:

• Acid Master (Philip Master) (Single appearance)
• Cicada/Grace Gibbons (Nora's Future) (Real identity revealed)
• Cicada (Orlin Dwyer)
• Cicada/Orlin Dwyer (Nora's Future) (On a TV or computer screen) (In a photograph only) (Flashback and main story)
• Eobard Thawne (Impersonates Harrison Wells)
• Dr. Vanessa Ambres (Real name revealed) (Dies)

Other Characters:

• Block (Vanessa Jansen) (Deceased) (In a photograph only) (Cameo)
• The Central City Citizen (Nora's Future) (On a TV or computer screen) (Flashback and main story)
• The Flash/Barry Allen (Nora's Future) (On a TV or computer screen) (In a photograph only) (Flashback and main story)
• Grace Gibbons
• Gridlock (William Lang) (Deceased) (In a photograph only) (Cameo)
• Harrison Wells (As an illusion only)
• Razorsharp (Raelene Sharp) (Deceased) (In a photograph only) (Cameo)
• Acid Master/Philip Master (Nora's Future) (Mentioned only)
• Amunet Black (Mentioned only)
• Anthro the First Boy (Mentioned only)
• Cicadas of the Multiverse (Mentioned only)
• Darius (Vanessa Ambres' fiancée) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
• God (Mentioned only)
• Grandma Esther (Joe West's grandmother) (Mentioned only)
• Iris West-Allen (Nora's Future) (Mentioned only)
• Jenna West (Mentioned only)
• Kamandi the Last Boy (Unknown Future) (Mentioned only)
• King Shark (Earth-2) (Mentioned only)
• Leonard Snart (Mentioned only)
• Magenta (Frankie Kane) (Mentioned only)
• Marlize DeVoe (Mentioned only)
• Norvock (Mentioned only)
• Plastique (Mentioned only)
• Renee Adler (Mentioned only)
• Ryan Doucette (Mentioned only)
• Savitar/Barry Allen (Savitar's Future) (Mentioned only)
• Wally West (Mentioned only)
• Zoom (Earth-2) (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• Earth-1
  • Earth
    • United States of America
      • Central City
        • CC Jitters
        • CCPD Headquarters
        • Central City Hospital
        • Central City University
        • Kolins Woods
          • Cicada's Cabin (First appearance) (Cameo)
        • S.T.A.R. Labs
          • Cisco Ramon's Workshop
          • The Cortex
          • The Lounge
          • Speed Lab
    • Tibet (Mentioned only)
  • Enlightenment Satellites (Behind the scenes)
• Nora's Future
  • 2019
    • United States of America
      • Central City (On a TV or computer screen) (In a photograph only) (Flashback and main story)
  • 2049
    • United States of America
      • Keystone City
        • Iron Heights
      • Central City
        • Flash Museum (Mentioned only)
• Speed Force
• Timestream (Behind the scenes)
• Earth-221 (Mentioned only)

Items:

• Cicada's Daggers
• Dark Matter
• Element X (Mentioned only)
• Holocube (Cameo)
• Interdimensional Extrapolator
• Memory Machine
• Metahuman Cure
• Nora West-Allen's Journal
• Pulse Rifle
• Speed Force Bazooka (Mentioned only)

Events:

• The Enlightenment (Mentioned only)
• Metapocalypse (Mentioned only)
• World War II (Mentioned only)

Concepts:

• Breaches
• Metahumans
• Time Language
• Time Travel

Notes

• This episode confirms Nora's time changes also affected her own timeline as Orlin Dwyer replaced David Hersch and, later, an adult Grace Gibbons became his successor.
  • Future Cicada/Grace Gibbons was originally shown in the present Grace's mindscape in "Memorabilia".
• Kamandi is named for the first time in the Arrowverse continuity but his origin timeline is never revealed in the episode.
  • In a local Multiverse, which was born as a consequence of Barry Allen never creating the Flashpoint, an alternate version of Kamandi is implied to exist on a parallel universe which suggests that Kamandi may come from a parallel universe in the main Multiverse.

Trivia

• One of the possible metas mentioned in the Cortex boards is Ryan Doucette which is named after one of Arrow and The Flash producer assistants.
  • In-universe, Ryan Doucette was one of the victims of the Undertaking in the Pre-Flashpoint timeline. It could be possible that, in the Post-Flashpoint timeline, he survived the attack and became a meta in Central City during the S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator Explosion.
• XS is the sixth metahuman to have a coffee named after them at CC Jitters. The other five were The Flash, Zoom, Killer Frost, Kid Flash and Cicada.

See Also

• 3 Images from The Flash (2014 TV Series) Episode: Failure is an Orphan
• Episodes of The Flash (2014 TV Series)
• Images from The Flash (2014 TV Series)
• Gallery for the The Flash (2014 TV Series) series

Recommended Media

• None.

Links and References

• None.

Footnotes