The Flash
Failure Is an Orphan
TV Flash files “Failure Is an Orphan” as hour 108 of 184 in the TV Flash guide — The Flash (2014–2023) on The CW, season 5, episode 16, aired 2019-03-12, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E16: listed hour 108 of 184 in the The Flash guide, hour 16 of 22 in season 5. It aired 2019-03-12 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd” (S05E15). Next is “Time Bomb” (S05E17).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Barry tries to find the words to convince Cicada to take the cure that Team Flash has developed. Joe and Cecile join forces to question Ambres, and Eobard warns Nora that a new timeline is coming.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Failure Is an Orphan sit in the The Flash guide?
S05E16 is listed hour 108 of 184 — hour 16 of 22 in season 5, season 5 episode 16.
When did The Flash S05E16 air?
Failure Is an Orphan aired 2019-03-12 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need Arrow first?
It is the 2014 spinoff and the Arrowverse's bright counter-argument. Arrow context helps; Barry's STAR Labs family is built to welcome a first-time speedster fan.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Grant Gustin's Barry Allen is the Arrowverse's heart-on-sleeve counter-argument: superspeed, STAR Labs found family, Reverse-Flash timeline headaches. Villains of the week plus season-long speedster myth. Sincere broadcast heroics — the cheerful engine that made CW crossovers annual events and multiverse storytelling feel like Thursday-night sport.
The CW did not stagger this one. **2014** put Grant Gustin's Barry Allen on the Thursday ledger as the Arrowverse's heart-on-sleeve counter-argument, and the overnights showed up. Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns: forensic scientist gains superspeed, builds a found family of metahuman allies at STAR Labs — Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh's Wells, Jesse L. Martin's Joe. Villains of the week plus season-long speedster myth. Reverse-Flash timeline headaches included.…
Filed against
- Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash
Grant Gustin's Barry Allen / The Flash was the Arrowverse's heart-on-sleeve counter-argument — superspeed, STAR Labs found family, Reverse-Flash timeline headaches, villains of the week plus season-long speedster myth. Sincere broadcast…
- Candice Patton as Iris West
Candice Patton played Iris West on The Flash — Grant Gustin's heart-on-sleeve Arrowverse counter-argument, STAR Labs found family, Reverse-Flash timeline headaches, villains of the week plus a season-long speedster myth. Sincere broadcast…
- Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow
Danielle Panabaker’s Caitlin Snow steadied The Flash as STAR Labs science with a pulse — Grant Gustin’s heart-on-sleeve Barry, villains of the week, Reverse-Flash timeline headaches. Arrowverse found family in a Cortex. TV Flash files her…
- Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
Carlos Valdes played Cisco Ramon on The Flash — STAR Labs found-family engineer, vibe as a later superpower, the joke that kept Grant Gustin's sincere speedster hour from becoming only a frown in a suit. Villains of the week, timeline…
- Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells
Tom Cavanagh multiplied The Flash as Harrison Wells — STAR Labs found family, Reverse-Flash timeline headaches, superspeed sincerity as the Arrowverse's heart-on-sleeve counter-argument. Villains of the week plus season-long speedster…
- Jesse L. Martin as Joe West
Jesse L. Martin’s Ed Green is Law & Order as the partner who made the dun-dun feel like a city again — ripped-from-headlines modular television with a badge that photographed as heat, not paperwork. Dick Wolf’s empire runs on cast churn.…