Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: barry allen, cw, entertainment, grant gustin, Harrison Wells, john wesley shipp, television, The Flash

The Six Important Moments From The Flash – Fast Enough

*** This article contains spoilers for the most recent episode of The Flash ***

So THAT is what the writers of The Flash consider a season finale. We had a few episodes in a row that most other shows would consider good season finales. But the crew of Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim obviously wanted to take it to the next level. The took it big and set the show up for a huge second season. And at times I wondered if they were going to fast (no pun intended), that maybe the show hadn't earned some of these moments yet… but then I thought about it in terms of comics. Yes the show has only been on for 8 months but if you think about each episode as the equivalent of an issue of a comic, then last night was issue 23 and that seems like enough time to build a universe, create the rogues, introduce the speed force, have a major betrayal and a series regular death. Here are the six important moments from The Flash – Fast Enough.

1) This isn't your typical episode. It's more about Barry Allen and his choices rather than about the Flash. It starts with Barry confronting Harrison Wells / Eobard Thawne. Barry wants to know why the Reverse-Flash killed his mom and it was all because Thawne hates The Flash of the future and when he couldn't kill young Barry, he decided to give him a tragedy to live with. But Thawne explains that now he has given Barry a gift… the ability to go back and save his mother while Thawne would get the chance to go home.

2) The show has given us a unique set up from the beginning. Barry has had three fathers, Henry Allen who is in prison, Joe West who raised him and Wells who mentored him. The Wells relationship ended in betrayal, but the other two are strong and bring two of the best scenes of the year. When Barry tells Henry about what he is thinking of doing, Henry tells him no. As much as Henry would love to have his wife back and not be in prison, changing the past would cause nothing but unknowns and could negatively effect Barry too. He would prefer to live the life he has with the son he has now then risk changing it all. A bit later we get a similar scene where Barry echoes that idea when he speak to Joe about not growing up with him and Iris and how Joe was a second father to him. Both of these moments help shape the choice Barry has to make later.

3) Though it seemed shoe-horned into the episode, the wedding of Caitlin Snow and Ronnie Raymond was very important. It showed Barry that the world is full of people finding their happy moments and his action could take those away. Does Barry have the right to change the world he grew up in just to save his mother? Its the one question no one asks but you know it has to be rolling around Barry's head constantly.

4) In the scene between Cisco Ramon and Thawne, you get another father / son moment. A relationship that was also destroyed by Thawne's betrayal. But the scene also answers one question… how did Cisco remember the other universe that Barry changed? How did he remember Wells killing him? Turns out Cisco was affected by the particle accelerator explosion just like Barry. But Cisco can see through the vibrations of time… or something like that. Thawne tells him that Cisco is basically a metahuman and will have an adventurous and honorable life. This leaves us one step closer to Cisco becoming Vibe.

5) Barry is conflicted about what to do, but can't pass up the opportunity to save his mom. So he goes along with Thawne's plan and goes back in time. But he doesn't save her. He stops himself… or rather the other version of him lets him know to not do it. So instead of saving his mother, he comforts her as she dies. He lets her know that her son has grown up to be a good man. It is a heartbreaking scene that is very well written and acted.

6) Barry returns to the now and destroys Thawne's time bubble, trapping the Reverse-Flash in the current time. They fight and it looks like Thawne is going to kill everyone… and then the man he called insignificant made a decision. Eddie Thawne chooses to end his own life instead of letting his descendant kill the ones he cares about. And as Eddie dies, Eobard ceases to exist. Good gesture, except now there is a big rip in time and the wormhole is trying to eat all of the earth. And we'll pick it up from there in season 2.

So where Arrow ended with Oliver driving off into the sunset, The Flash ends with Barry trying to fight a wormhole in the sky. And there are now so many questions. If Eddie is dead (he got pulled into the wormhole so you never know) and Eobard never existed… then what does the new world look like? Nora Allen should be alive if Thawne wasn't there to go back and kill her. So Barry should have grown up with his parents, not obsessed with the weird. Without that event and Joe would he become a forensic scientist? With no one to kill and replace Harrison Wells, would the real one go on to create the particle accelerator and would it have exploded? Would there be a Flash? And if Eobard never goes back in time and does horrible things… would Eddie Thawne have a reason to kill himself? And if Eddie doesn't kill himself, then wouldn't Eobard be born after all?

Mr. Berlanti… you have some serious explaining to do.

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