What's Past Is Prologue (The Flash)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"What's Past Is Prologue"
The Flash episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 8
Directed byTom Cavanagh
Written by
  • Todd Helbing
  • Lauren Certo
Production codeT27.13758
Original air dateDecember 4, 2018 (2018-12-04)
Guest appearances
  • Mar Novu / Monitor
  • Michelle Harrison as
    Nora Allen
  • Barry Allen / Flash
    (Earth-90)
  • Hunter Zolomon / Zoom
  • Tony Todd voices Zoom
Episode chronology
← Previous
"
O Come, All Ye Thankful
" 		Next →
"Elseworlds, Part 1"
The Flash (season 5)
List of episodes

"What's Past Is Prologue" is the eighth episode of the

Todd Helbing and Lauren Certo, directed by Tom Cavanagh, and is the series' 100th episode
.

Cicada. Several recurring guest stars make appearances, including Michelle Harrison, John Wesley Shipp, Teddy Sears, and Tony Todd. Shipp also reprises his role as Barry Allen / Flash from the 1990 television series in a pre-credits scene that ties-in with the Arrowverse crossover "Elseworlds
".

"What's Past Is Prologue" originally aired on

Nielsen Media Research
. The episode received a positive critical response.

Plot

Hunter Zolomon stole Barry's speed with the transmitter,[b] which Barry obtains from Harry. As Barry and Nora attempt to travel back to the night of the particle accelerator explosion,[c] Zolomon discovers them and gives chase before being stopped by a Time Wraith, causing Barry and Nora to land on the day that Barry's 2016 self went back in order to get faster instead.[d]

Nora convinces a reluctant Barry to ask

Caitlin Snow transforms into Killer Frost
and subdues him, forcing him to flee.

Meanwhile,

Iron Heights Penitentiary
in 2049 to confront Thawne, to whom she has secretly been sending her journal entries.

In a

Flash of Earth-90 fails to stop a mysterious individual[e]
from using a powerful book to destroy his universe and is forced to run.

Production

Development and writing

At the

Todd Helbing said the episode will act as a sort of midseason finale and be "a little bit different,"[3] with "a big twist to carry us over".[2]

Ahead of the premiere of the fifth season, Helbing explained that "[they] wanted to do something special" for the episode by "taking the audience on a trip to remind everybody of all the cool stuff we've done for five years now. We wanted to relive the coolest moments on our show, so we came up this concept and it both honors what we've done so far and also propels the show for the rest of the season."

second season, revealed the episode would feature "all the [past] speedster villains" returning "wanting a piece of Barry".[6][3]

In mid-November 2018, The CW announced that the episode was titled "What's Past is Prologue", written by Helbing and Lauren Certo, and released the synopsis revealing that Barry and Nora would be travelling back in time to "gather some key necessities" to stop Cicada.[7] The episode's title was taken from a line in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.[8] Two weeks later, Jessica Parker Kennedy revealed that in the episode Nora gets to see a special moment between her mom and dad "that like really breaks her heart". Patton added, "She gets to see Barry and Iris as we've known to love them over the past four seasons," with Parker Kennedy concluding that "the episode really brings the three of them closer."[9] Grant Gustin said the episode "felt like Back to the Future style time travel, seeing ourselves see ourselves in these other moments through a new lens. It was really cool."[10]

Casting

Further information: List of The Flash characters

Main cast members Grant Gustin, Candice Patton,

Earth-2
and Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash. Martin appears in the episode only in archived footage due to a back injury he sustained prior to the start of filming of the season.

When interviewed by

Julian Albert / Doctor Alchemy and Patty Spivot respectively, in addition to possibly having a longer scene for Teddy Sears as Zoom.[12]

Henry Allen
.

Filming

Filming of the episode began on September 26, 2018,[13] and concluded by early October.[14] Gustin thought it was great that they were able to have Cavanagh direct the episode, saying "[Cavanagh] took such good care; he understands the journey... we've found a lot of details that probably wouldn't have been found otherwise."[10]

Arrowverse tie-ins

In November 2018, it was revealed that the eighth episodes of The Flash,

Bunker Hill". The scene also confirmed Earth-90 as the earth for the Flash from the 1990 television series.[1] Marc Guggenheim, who acted as the showrunner for the crossover,[16] felt the tease was "cool because we've never... setup the crossover in the previous episodes before." The tease was meant to be one of two options for the "Elseworlds" cold opening. The writers could not choose which they wanted to use, with Guggenheim explaining someone decided to "take one cold open, move that and make that the post-credit tag, like the way The Flash typically does, at the end of all three shows, and then have the other cold open at the beginning of hour one." Supergirl co-showrunner Robert Rovner added that the tease was only supposed to air with The Flash's eighth episode, before being added to the other two episodes to make things easier for viewers since they "are coming to [the crossover] from our separate shows and we wanted something that [connects them together]."[1]

Release

"What's Past is Prologue" was first aired in the United States on The CW on December 4, 2018.[7] It became available for streaming on Netflix in Canada on December 6, 2018,[17] while it was first aired in the United Kingdom on Sky One on December 6, as well.[18]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States, the episode received a 0.7/3 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 0.7 percent of all households, and 3 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 1.78 million viewers.[19] The episode improved 17% in the 18–49 rating on the previous episode, "O Come, All Ye Thankful".[20]

The episode attracted a total of 644,700 viewers within seven-days of its British premiere, making it the most watched programme on Sky One for the week.[21]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating for the episode, based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 8.31/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "'What's Past is Prologue' takes viewers on a Flash-tastic journey back in time with a series of flashbacks that make for an eventful, charming, and commemorative 100th episode."[22] Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave the episode a rating of 6.7/10, with the verdict being "As exciting as it is to see The Flash celebrate its 100th episode, [it] didn't fully realize its potential. The time travel premise worked whenever the focus remained on Harrison Wells, but too much of this material played out as if Barry and Nora were watching a clip show of past seasons."[23]

Notes

  1. Finish Line
    ".
  2. Versus Zoom
    ".
  3. ^ As depicted in the pilot episode.
  4. Flashback
    ".
  5. Mar Novu / Monitor.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Agard, Chancellor (December 2, 2018). "Supergirl post-credit scene teases the Monitor's plan in 'Elseworlds' crossover". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Damore, Meagan (July 21, 2018). "SDCC: The Flash Cast & Crew Talk Season 5 Details". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Mitovich, Matt Webb (October 27, 2018). "The Flash's 100th Episode: [Spoiler] Returns, 'Wanting a Piece of Barry'". TVLine. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  4. ^ Bucksbaum, Sydney (October 6, 2018). "DC TV Watch: 'The Flash' Season 5 Takes on a New Structure". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  5. ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (October 17, 2018). "Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on Supergirl, Arrow, Grey's, Manifest, #OneChicago, Star, Legends, Supernatural and More". TVLine. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  6. ^ Dominguez, Noah (October 28, 2018). "Flash's Most Iconic Villains Will Return for Episode 100". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Keene, Allison (November 16, 2018). "'The Flash': 100th Episode Synopsis Teases a Trip through the Past". Collider. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  8. ^ Plante, Corey (December 4, 2018). "'The Flash' Episode 100 Dives Into the Show's Best Use of Time Travel Yet". Inverse. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  9. ^ MacDonald, Lindsay (November 28, 2018). "The Flash's 100th Episode Will Reveal a Touching Westallen Moment". TV Guide. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Byrne, Craig (December 2, 2018). "Interview: Grant Gustin Talks Flash Episode 100". FlashTVNews. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  11. ^ "'The Flash' Fan Reveals Continuity Error With Savitar". Comicbook.com. January 7, 2019. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  12. ^ Agard, Chancellor (December 4, 2018). "The Flash boss on [SPOILER]'s return in the 100th episode". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  13. ^ Panabaker, Danielle [@dpanabaker] (September 26, 2018). "Today is the first day of production on our 100th episode of @CW_TheFlash. I almost can't believe it. Thanks to everyone who has supported us on this journey and helped make it possible to 100 episodes!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 26, 2018. Retrieved September 26, 2018 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Brown, Tracy (October 9, 2018). "Get a first look at Ruby Rose as Batwoman". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  15. TV Insider. Archived
    from the original on November 24, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  16. ^ Agard, Chancellor (October 15, 2018). "Arrow boss teases lighter crossover as Stephen Amell shares BTS photo of Superman". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 16, 2018. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  17. ^ "The Flash – Season 5 (2018)". What's New on Netflix Canada Today!. November 14, 2018. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  18. ^ "The Flash – Season 5 Episode 8". Sky One. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  19. ^ Welch, Alex (December 5, 2018). "'NCIS: New Orleans' adjusts up: Tuesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  20. ^ Patten, Dominic (December 5, 2018). "'The Conners' Stumbles To Season Low, 'Flash' Speeds Up For 100th Episode". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  21. ^ "Four-screen dashboard". BARB. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  22. ^ "The Flash – Season 5, Episode 8". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  23. ^ Schedeen, Jesse (December 4, 2018). "The Flash Season 5, Episode 8: "What's Past Is Prologue" Review". IGN. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2019.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=What%27s_Past_Is_Prologue_(The_Flash)&oldid=1217989306"