The Flash The Flash season 3 episode 1 - "Flashpoint"

[BestGirl]

I'm gonna be really annoyed if there are any filler episodes this season, because this episode should've been a two-parter.

 

[Lencho01]

I thought it was an ok episode.

Flash running on air had me rolling, though.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Flash running on air had me rolling, though.

Of laughter? Please tell me it was rolling of laughter.

 

[iambranded]

it was decent...but so many questions after this tho

 

[Lencho01]

Of laughter? Please tell me it was rolling of laughter.

Yes. And then Rival's comment was the icing on the cake.

 

[KillerMcQueen]

I'm gonna be really annoyed if there are any filler episodes this season, because this episode should've been a two-parter.

You're gonna be annoyed then, filler is an inevitable part of network tv.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Yes. And then Rival's comment was the icing on the cake.

I loved that homage to old comics, because I loves those and their crazy feats.

Everyone here should know that Barry Allen made such amazing stunts as walking on clouds, he did it again in the New 52 era.
More amazing feats are Flash running on:

• Flashlight beam, moving upwards.
• Pebbles he threw up (not barfed) in the air to run on, because they move in slowmotion while he is speeding up.

 

[SCC]

Missed opportunity to not show the original Wells and Ronnie in this timeline

 

[Thome216]

I was disappointed at how easily Wally got beat by him.

Keep in mind, that Barry was losing his memories and powers, so he was more on-par with Rival for strength, except for the sudden optimism boost from Iris.

Can't see how Iris and Joe wouldn't be talking to each other anymore...seriously, why though? How could someone else's relationship be affected by Flashpoint. It seems odd. I hope this isn't permanent.

I think this is the way that everyone else is going to find out that Barry basically abandoned them and ran away to a new, happier timeline. He has to explain to them that Thrawn is somehow responsible for whatever happened between Joe and Iris, and that yes, Thrawn is now still alive thanks to his time-meddling.

That's going to be a major point of angst in the coming season.


I'm still having trouble with how easy he chose to erase the new timeline, when he had pretty much everything he wanted. Or being so relieved at being back in the (somewhat) old timeline.

I have to look at it as him going through a mourning phase. The three months spent with his parents, seeing them happy and finally in a way having that quintessential childhood that we all yearn for, could be seen as a catharsis.

He never got over his mother's death and then his father suddenly died, and he hid away from what was 'reality' in a fantasy. And at the end, he drew the fantasy to a close.

I can live with that, if only they hadn't rushed through it so quickly!

 

[haephestus]

To be honest, I was pretty disappointed by this episode. To be fair, I probably had unrealistically high expectations for how they would adapt "Flashpoint" or at least for how they would approach what should have been a major and ground breaking storyline.

Firstly, I wish they would try to explain how time travel and re-written realities works in the series. The last time Barry changed the timeline, which resulted in the Pied Piper becoming an ally instead of an enemy, I don't remember seeing him suffering from the effects of his memories being re-written. But, maybe that's because he had access to the Speed force in both timelines whereas in the Flashpoint he shouldn't have had access to the Speed force?

Secondly, I didn't understand why Barry rejected the Flashpoint reality. I thought he didn't want to be The Flash any more? Sure, Joe was an alcoholic, but it seemed to be a recent development and I presume that it was due to Francine's death (since in the Flashpoint storyline, it seems as though Francine never ran away). And, sure, Wally was injured. But, if they took him to an actual hospital with trained medical personnel instead of trying to treat him in a tech billionaire's office and ensuring his eye health, then he would have had a far greater chance of recovering. Other than that, the Flashpoint timeline seemed to be pretty great and Barry would have simply forgotten his old life.

Not to mention the fact that the Flashpoint timeline is presumably the closest to the original timeline which we've never seen. That is, the timeline which existed before the Reverse Flash went back in time to kill Barry's mum and in which Barry didn't become the Flash until a little later in life (when he wasn't prone to making such selfish and terrible decisions). So, since it was closest to the original timeline (although bizarrely, Wells apparently abandoned his particle accelerator experiment in the Flashpoint storyline for unclear reasons), why wouldn't Barry accept the Flashpoint timeline?

I was also unclear about when Barry return to his "regular" timeline. Joe and Wally indicated that Barry's father had only recently died. But, Barry spent three months in the Flashpoint timeline. So, did Barry travel to the equivalent point in time in his regular timeline or did he travel back in time three months? I don't understand whether the fight between Iris and Joe was meant to have occurred in an unseen three month period or whether Barry has somehow otherwise stuffed up the regular timeline.

Thirdly, as others have mentioned, the Barry and Iris romance felt extremely forced.

Fourthly, they really didn't seem to have put a lot of thought into the Flashpoint timeline. Why was Barry such a "loser" who had never had a girlfriend in this timeline? Surely growing up happy and healthy with his parents and being a good looking guy with a stable job would have resulted in past girlfriends? And Barry's mum really took being attacked and almost killed by super / magical humans pretty well. I would have thought that such a traumatic experience may have a lasting impact - a need for security, an interest in the paranormal / unexplained. But, she seems to have forgotten the attack even though it happened in her reality, but was thwarted by The Flash. And why was Wally "Kid Flash" in a universe without The Flash? Did journalist Iris name him "Kid Flash" in the papers to annoy him? Also, how competent are Wally and Iris in this reality? They've apparently achieved the same amount of heroics as Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Joe, Wells and Iris with all the resources of STAR labs in the regular timeline.

Finally, please no more Speed-based villains. It's getting repetitive and dull. The Rival, with his black costume and desire to be the "fastest" speedster who "terrorised" the city for no real reason, was nearly identical to Zoom. With so many years of comic book stories, surely there are other super-powered or super-weaponised villains which they could introduce? Or they could track more "regular" heroics, like trying to evacuate people from a burning building, rescuing people from car crashes, etc.

All that typed, I only complain so much because I like the show so much. I just want to see it achieve its potential instead of being stuck repeating its past successes until they start to feel more like failures.

 

[The Caped Knight]

The Flash has a good aery of villains in his rogue's Gallery : Top tiers are [Reverse Flash, Grodd, Weather Wizard, Captain Cold and Heatweave, Trickster, Captain Bomberang, Mirror Master]

 

[Dark Raven]

I thought Iris was going to be erased from the timeline when Barry returned from Flashpoint and that Joe and Wally wouldn't know what Barry was talking about.

I agree it felt rushed and should have a least been a two parter.

 

[Mike_D202]

All the hype for this episode and it was pretty lackluster. The only real issue he had in the new timeline was [BLACKOUT]his memories of his timeline being erased and Kid Flash not healing fast enough (?)[/BLACKOUT]. That didn't really need to warrant a "oh my god everything is terrible I have to go back" mindset.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I still cant believe that they had Barry decide so easily to get rid of his flashpoint. He had just spent 3 months living his "perfect" life. Both of his parents were alive and he barely sheds a tear at the thought of having to lose them yet again.

 

[Web-Head]

Missed opportunity to not show the original Wells and Ronnie in this timeline

Yeah but I felt that Caitlin was kinda shoehorned in.

 

[haephestus]

I still cant believe that they had Barry decide so easily to get rid of his flashpoint. He had just spent 3 months living his "perfect" life. Both of his parents were alive and he barely sheds a tear at the thought of having to lose them yet again.

I agree. I also thought that, having decided that his mum needs to die, Barry should have been present for that moment and should have tried to comfort her in his dying moments. Instead he just "disappears" when the Reverse Flash kills her. Why couldn't he have provided his mum with some measure of comfort? Reassured her that her son was safe and would grow up to be a (somewhat stupid and selfish) hero?

If Barry is going to decide to kill someone, even if he's not plunging the knife, and especially when that someone is his own mother, he really needs to own that moment and accept responsibility.

I was also surprised that, having told Iris and the rest of Team Flash the truth, Barry didn't do the same with his parents. I think he could have been honest with them, although explaining why he had to revert to a timeline in which they were both dead because of ... "reasons" would probably be difficult.

 

[haephestus]

Yeah but I felt that Caitlin was kinda shoehorned in.

I agree. Instead of however many fight scenes between The Rival and Kid Flash, they could have just had the first fight be between Kid Flash and Killer Frost (Caitlin). That would have been more interesting. Or really play with the timeline and have Caitlin exercising Firestorm powers as a villain (i.e. Ronnie is in her head, but they share Caitlin's body).

 

[Dark Raven]

Yeah if Catlin were a villain who actually killed Kid Flash, that might be more of a reason to revert back to the previous timeline. As it happened, Wally wasn't actually dead and might not have died. And he's been pining away for both parents so Wally dying might have been a small price to pay.

 

[TheFuture]

All the hype for this episode and it was pretty lackluster. The only real issue he had in the new timeline was [BLACKOUT]his memories of his timeline being erased and Kid Flash not healing fast enough (?)[/BLACKOUT]. That didn't really need to warrant a "oh my god everything is terrible I have to go back" mindset.

Joe was a drunk and estranged from his kids and vice versa.

You could also argue Cisco and Caitlyn had a poorer quality of life because they didn't have each other anymore.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

"The more you use your speed, the faster you lose your memories of past life"
That line is the thing I dislike most in this episode, cause he had 3 months in this world using his speed, and only started losing old memories recently, and he was only losing them while mentioning them.

 

[!Superman!]

and also why does Barry care if he loses his memory of the other timeline?

he has a new life. A better life. I really dont understand why he used this memory loss as a reason to go back to the way things were.

The writers really did a bad job explaining the reason or at least give a better reason for barry to go back.

If i could go back to a timeline where everything is better than now i wouldnt care A BIT if i forget my other timeline. I would be happy to forget the crap i had to live with. Seeing both my parents die, see all the destruction all the villians did to my world.

How can this memory be a reason to go back so you wont forget it?

Now he is back in a world that is shi*

Good job barry (writers).

Didnt like that episode at all. It makes me angry that he would so easily let his mother die again.


This new/old timeline he is in is different because of the flashpoint so he will have to do something. Wouldnt surprise me if we once again go back to his mother and barry stops Reverse Flash again XD

And the villian suit was crap too. They could at least make the lightning on the suit glow or flash.

 

[jihado86]

very enjoyable episode but full of logical contradictions regarding time travel, I won't elaborate, too lazy for that right now, but it's frustrating and they've been doing that especially in the 2nd season.

 

[jihado86]

there are three different ways to handle time travel in TV & Cinema, or let me say 3 alternatives :

1- Whatever Happened, Happened. (Example : Lost)
2- The slightest change in the past creates a new timeline (aka parallel universe) without replacing the actual one.
3- The slightest change in the past will change the events of the same timeline (Example : Back to the Future)


once you chose a concept, you must stick with it, and use only IT.
in The Flash, they mixed all these concepts, sometimes they use number 2, sometimes number 3. (Well, they directly didn't use 1) Which made the show a big mess.

 

[BH/HHH]

So based on those early reviewers that said the Flash Season 3 was the worst of the 4 premieres, the other 3 must have been really ****ing good. Because I thought this premiere was amazing and by far the best Flash premiere of all three seasons so far.

9/10

 

[BH/HHH]

I'm glad it was revealed that Iris and Joe are no longer speaking. I was about to be pissed that last season's cliffhanger was resolved so easily.

Question: why wasn't it "Harrison Wells" who killed Barry's mom? When did he get replaced by this new guy?

He was never Well's when he killed Barry's Mum in any timeline, the season one episode "Tricksters" showed in flashbacks that it was Thawne as Reverse Flash who killed Barry's Mum and we saw he was stuck in the past. It was in that episode (after killing Barry's Mum) that he stole the appearance of Harrison Well's.