The episode takes place entirely in Central City, and almost all of the action is in locations we’ve seen before. Although some of Barry’s loved ones have different occupations or slight personality switches, there’s nothing really shocking about any of the changes; last season’s visit to Earth-2 gave us much more entertaining “alternate reality” versions of the characters. Certainly, the dystopian, almost apocalyptic tone of the of original is nowhere to be found this mostly mundane. Barry spends most of the episode chasing down Iris and the others simply because he wants them in his life, not out of any sense of danger or urgency.
In this timeline, Barry’s biggest problem helping Wally, the Flash of this verse, defeat the Rival, who is yet another name we can add to the long list of boring, forgettable Flash villains who die in the episode they’re introduced. While it is a big thrill watching Wally finally suit up as Kid Flash, much of the joy is sapped from the moment due to the fact that we know this isn’t really Wally and that he’ll lose his powers by the end of the episode. It’s a fun tease no doubt, but ultimately, it’s not very satisfying as a viewer.
This isn’t to say there weren’t any enjoyable moments in the episode -- Eobard forcing Barry to actually ask him to kill Nora was truly chilling, and one of my favorite moments the show has given us. The show seems to be hinting that the events of Flashpoint will restore the Reverse-Flash’s presence in the timeline, which frankly seems like a god sent considering the trouble the show’s had with replacing him as the big bad. Candice Patton and Grant Gustin also continue to have great chemistry as Iris and Barry; her encouragement unlocking Barry’s powers was a nice callback to the end of Season 1.
But these engaging scenes and dynamics are constantly hampered by the show’s upside down moral and emotional compass. If anything, this episode made it clear the writers of THE FLASH have no understanding of what made the original Flashpoint storyline so compelling. It’s not Barry debating whether or not he should allow his mother to die-- that’s just plain creepy, and it makes Barry seem like he enjoys playing god with the lives of his friends and family. The true gut punch of the comic book series came from the fact that Barry’s mother actually tells her son to let her die, because she has faith that things happen for a reason and she believes that in the future he will help build. Barry has the chance to save Nora, but he honors her decision and allows her to die. That’s tragic, that’s heartbreaking.
Instead, the Barry of this episode never even seems to take his mom’s feelings into consideration. He just debates whether he feels his life with his parents is more satisfying for him than a life with his adopted family and friends (and it doesn’t help that he’s already had this gone through this conflict several times on the show already). Barry is only concerned about his wants and his needs. While having flawed heroes is a good and necessary thing, I’m not sure Barry’s actions were properly acknowledged as being as selfish and prideful as they are within the show itself.
THE FLASH had a lot to prove going into its third year after some serious missteps last season, and this episode did little to help get things on the right path. While there still plenty of things I’m looking forward to this season, it’s looking more and more like we’re going to have to wait until this plot line has played out to get any of them. I truly never thought I’d say this, but The Flash needs to focus less on time travel. Heartbreaking as it may be to admit, until the show can properly regain the combination of campy action and endearing characters that made it so endearing the first place, no time travel story, not even Flashpoint, is going to be fun to watch.
Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer -- Click here to read Kaitlin's posts
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