The Flash Season 1 Episode 23: "Fast Enough"

What if there were 4 (FOUR!!) Barry Allens that night.

1. Baby Barry Allen

2. Barry Allen that fights RF and saves baby Barry Allen.

3. Barry Allen from the present who was behind the door.

4. Barry Allen who saved his mum and saw how it ****s up the world so travels back in time to warn his younger self not to make the same mistake.

 

The movie has Eobard Thawne explain it as a "time crash", with ripple effects out from that point, including into the past, which is why Kal-El lands in metropolis rather than in Smallville, or why Bruce was killed and not his parents.

 

Wow...what a great episode.

I think the stark contrast to what you usually see in these types of finales was a good idea as well. We've been building for him to save his mother since the time travel episode, and if all the feels boxes were ticked. Both dads, check. Mom, check. There was some serious sand in my eyes throughout the episode. Props to Gustin for those emotional scenes.

Also., Cavanagh killed it this episode. Best moments were probably his speech with Cisco (I'm not sorry I killed you, I probably had a good reason) and his reaction when seeing Jay Garrick's helmet (Time to go).

 

I also liked how he repeated his line from the pilot, "Run, Barry, run!", only with a more smug and sinister tone this time.

 

All of this is plausible. Killing himself made it more dramatic to watch and also he was a fan favorite. Which pissed people off.

 

Disappointing that I had to end the season on a 9/10. Too many questions left unanswered, plus I am not a fan of cliffhangers in general (*cough* Empire Strikes Back *cough*). I just think they should have answered the questions instead of all of those conversation scenes (which were good, but there were too many for me) and more Iris/Eddie. Speaking of Eddie/Iris, their getting back together felt too much like Tommy and Laurel from S1 of Arrow as well, right down to Eddie's sacrifice. However, the rest of the episode was great.

All complaints aside, this is still better than any other TV series out there currently, Daredevil included. I have faith the writers will answer my questions when the show comes back.

*By questions, I mean what will happen to the city, and the rules regarding time travel - the lack of clear rules for time travel more so, as that lack has left me confused.

 

It was my worst nightmare when I saw this episode ran a couple of minutes long, because I'd already set the recording, and I knew I would have to go to the CW's site to watch the end of it. It took at least a half an hour to watch those last two minutes of the show. If I can do anything to avoid using that damn site for the rest of my life, I will definitely do it!

 

A little bit late on the response, but here's my two cents:

The reason they were supportive is because they see it as the "right" thing to do - in the sense of righting a wrong, and because the "original" timeline was one where Barry's mother was never murdered - even in the knowledge that this would likely change their lives significantly. This likely served as the impetus for their subsequent activities/last minute conciliation with their significant others (Eddie and Iris getting back together, Caitlin and Ronnie getting married) as for them, it was essentially the end of the world. Eddie and Iris wanted to be together, and Caitlin and Ronnie wanted to be married, at least briefly before their reality was wiped from existence.

I think this is addressed in the show somewhat with the singularity happening. Basically, Eddie triggered a Grandfather paradox; resulting in the wormhole reopening to form the Singularity, or in other words reality collapsing on itself.

 

So according to Tptb, the entire first season is an alternate reality that will be address in season 2. I hope this means that we'll see what the original timeline was like pre Eobard Thawne alteration.

 

Do we have a precise quote by any chance? I ask as such statements run the risk of being taken wildly out of context and/or severely misinterpreted. I mean, it almost sounds like all the character development we got until now gets erased.

 

Said Kreisber, "Part of the fun of The Flash is when you have people dabbling in sci-fi physics, they’re significantly altering the world. We established in the finale that the entire series of The Flash is, in itself, an alternate timeline that’s been skewed from the real one. Wells setting off the accelerator created all the metahumans, and the results of the singularity will also have long-term effects."

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/19/flash-season-1-finale-eddie-death-rick-cosnett-spoilers

 

Cheers. I thought as much. The statement doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know. Namely, that the timeline had been altered by the Reverse Flash's actions in the past and that the Singularity will likely have long-term consequences; nothing more. I don't think the this is meant to be interpreted as "the entire first season is an alternate reality that will be address in season 2" in the sense that the events of season one are in any way reset back to the original timeline or some such.

 

Oh. I just realized that if Barry succeeds in stopping the singularity, it would make this timeline stick, because he woild prevent feality from resetting or correcting itself. Right? Or am I being dumb again?

 

Eobard is from like 100 something years into the future if Barry's identity is a comment knowage thing in the future he would have already known it...
but the way he talked about how he discovered his name, it didn't sound like something he just read about in a book, or went the museum in the future (even farther beyond the future he's from)

 

Okay, while that might seem a reasonable consequence of Eddie's actions - but we've seen that Barry can actually travel to the past and change the future without catastropic results (e.g. he took out Mardon and saved the city) as did Thawne who has made a bunch of alterations to the timeline. I guess it is a Grandfather paradox, but that's what irks me a little is that the effect of time travel doesn't seem to be consistent.
It's not that Eddie did it (I liked that, it was a cool twist on the old self-sacrifice by subordinate male protagonist trope), but that the effects are hard to reconcile with previous time travelling shown on the program.

I mean, like I said before, it's a show about a guy who can outrace bullets, so being realistic isn't really important (hell, I'm *****ing about time travel, which is as unrealistic as it gets). What I would prefer is that the writers establish some reasonably consistent, clear time travel rules and them come up with clever ways for the characters to get around them.

cheers.

 

I don't know if this has been already pointed out but have you noticed the necklace that appears on Eddie's neck when he enters into the wormhole?
If I manageI'll post an image

 

He was wearing that throughout the show. It has no significance.

Spoiler

 

Yet.

 

You are not at fault.
Time travel story logic =

Writer error?
If he did a good job at concealing his identity, or Specter (Hal Jordan) helped fix that.

 

Time travel stuff can seriously confuse and turn off a whole lot of people. I honestly hope they don't over play that card and have fandom turn on them wholesale like this season of Arrow.

 

Well. honestly with Reverse Flash gone, the only other villain that really uses time travel is Abra Kadabra. Maybe they will wait awhile for him. or use him on LOT.

 

Well, even though I have only been watching TV shows consistently for the last few years, I have seen some damn good shows and some amazing finale's in that time. And this is one of if not the best of them all. The emotion in this episode were just amazing, and numerous times I had serious water in my eyes.

Despite being a grown man, I often get tears in my eyes from movies, but never has a TV show done it until now, bravo The Flash. Gustin was amazing in this episode, and Cavanaugh was even better, great stuff and I hope we get to see him again.

Eddie's sacrifice was a sucker punch, even though I knew it was coming, and Barry not saving his mum was an even bigger one. I would like to know why the other future Barry told him not to save her though.

I really don't know how they are going to top this season, but I have faith they will come up with something. And Legends Of Tomorrow can't get here soon enough either. Really hope Arrow can get back on track next season as season3 was seriously lagging behind The Flash. Amazing show capped by an amazing finale, 10/10.

 

Wouldn't they have to set the original timeline in 2020 five years in the future when Barry would have originally became the Flash without Thawne's interference? They would also have to erase everything that Barry did or has done with Arrow, so when they meet again Barry & Oliver will be strangers to each other.

 

Yes you're right but when he enters into the wormhole the necklace is very tight on his neck and not loose... it seems they wanted we notice it ..maybe it will explain how he'll survive.
RF is always a step forward, maybe he had thought a sort of plan B and the necklace means something

 

I think Eddie going into the wormhole means he is going to come back, possibly even as the RF, his body could end up anywhere, even somewhere his wound could be healed and him brought back to life. Of course that could also could mean Eobard could return.