The Flash Season 3, Episode 2: Paradox

After last week's premiere, I was worried that we were going to get an entire season of Barry Allen fine-tuning the timeline until he finally undid all the terrible changes he inadvertently made. Thankfully it looks like that's not going to happen. Instead of trying to fix things and just mess them up further, Barry's apparently decided to live with this somewhat familiar, but still broken timeline.

Tom Felton makes his debut this week as Barry's fellow CSI Julian Albert, along with new villain Doctor Alchemy. I wonder… both characters just happen to appear in the same episode. Are they one in the same? Is Albert secretly Alchemy? I'm sure that's what the producers are wanting us to think, but it's probably a bit too obvious.

I was going to congratulate the writers on finally giving us a Big Bad who ISN'T a speedster, as super-fast villains on The Flash are frankly getting a bit old. But then I canceled the celebration when Alchemy announced he was "preparing this world" by handing out superpowers to everyone who had them in the Flashpoint timeline. In essence he's creating supervillains to fight the Flash. Sound familiar? It should— it's the exact same plot that Zoom implemented last season (well, ONE of his many plots, at least).

I thought the STAR Labs Gang took the news that Barry selfishly altered their lives VERY well. Probably much better than I would have. At least we were spared another patented CW Believe In Yourself Pep Talk this week.

Lastly, according to the internet, the ratings for this episode hit an all-time series low, drawing in just 2.75 million viewers. Not good! I wonder… is The CW only counting viewers who watch the show live? 

I generally watch the show live, but on occasion I stream it on Roku or other sources the next day. If an old fogey like me can figure out how to stream a TV show, I'm sure hundreds of thousands, if not millions of young whippersnappers are doing the same. If The CW isn't tracking those streaming viewers, then they need to start, STAT, as they're seriously throwing off the ratings.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

After he tried to restore the timeline last week, Barry discovers he didn't quite fix things the way he'd planned. Among the changes: Joe and Iris aren't speaking, and Cisco is cold and distant toward him. In fact the whole STAR Labs Gang are a bunch of sullen jerks.

After several inquiries, Barry learns that Iris is mad at Joe because he didn't tell her her mother was still alive. Cisco's angry with Barry because he won't go back in time and save his brother Dante from dying in a car accident. And Barry finds out he and Iris aren't a couple in this timeline. 

He also discovers he has a new roommate at the Central City Police Department—  a CSI named Draco Malfoy, er, I mean Julian Albert. He's a young hotshot who isn't charmed by Barry and doesn't particularly like him. When Albert is examining a mysterious human "husk" found by the river, Barry offers to help him figure out what it is. Albert curtly declines his help, saying he can do it himself.

Barry jogs over to Star City to chat with his pal Felicity Smoak, and tell her what's been happening on his show. Felicity wonders if any of his changes have bled over into her own series. Barry checks her computer and finds out that in this timeline, John Diggle's daughter is now a son, which is really going to confuse Arrow viewers who don't watch The Flash. Felicity encourages Barry to tell his friends what he's done.

Meanwhile, Edward Clariss, who we met last week, begins having visions of his life in the Flashpoint timeline. He sees the name "Alchemy" scrawled in the window of a bus. Later on he meets a mysterious hooded figure who calls himself— you guessed it— Alchemy. Clariss asks him if he can make the visions stop. Alchemy says he will make the visions come true, and turn Clariss back into The Rival.

Barry uses wacky sitcom tactics to manipulate everyone into having dinner at the West house, so they can all patch things up and get back to normal. It goes about as well as you'd think.

Just then Cisco's metahuman alarm (which apparently exists in this timeline) goes off. Barry speeds off and finds The Rival waiting for him. The Rival remembers the Flashpoint timeline from last week, and isn't happy with Barry for wiping it out. They battle at superspeed to fill up some of the runtime, and then Clariss disappears.

Barry goes back to STAR Labs, where Iris demands to know why he's acting so strangely. He tells her that all their problems are his fault, and decides to try and fix things again. He runs back in time— I guess to save Cisco's brother?— but before he can do so a hand appears, grabs him and drags him out of the time stream.

The hand belongs to Jay Garrick (the one from Earth-3), who takes Barry to a diner in 1998 (?). Somehow Jay knows about Barry's timeline-meddling, and tells him to knock it off. He says he did the same thing when he was younger, and learned the hard way that no matter how hard you try to fix time, it'll never be perfect. Jay says they're not gods, just men with powers who have to live with their mistakes and move forward.

Barry returns to the present, and tells the STAR Labs Gang how he selfishly altered the timeline for his own benefit, which inadvertently altered their lives for the worse. They're all pissed at him, and rightly so.

Barry deduces that The Rival is hiding out at the old Prescott Sawmill. He heads there and is confronted by The Rival, as well as Alchemy, who blasts Barry with some sort of ray (I think from his Philosopher's Stone?). The telemetry in Barry's suit triggers an alarm at STAR Labs. Iris convinces the Gang to get over their anger and help Barry.

Alchemy tells Barry that he's "preparing this world" and helping people meet their true potential. The Rival then begins beating the living crap out of Barry. Just as he's about to deliver the killing blow, Cisco shows up in his Vibe gear and blasts The Rival. Barry thanks Cisco, who apologizes for taking so long. 

The Gang's seemingly back to normal, as no one's mad at anyone anymore. The only one who still looks worried is Caitlin, who seems to be secretly developing icy powers...

Thoughts:
• The first two episodes of this season— Flashpoint and Paradox— can be combined to form the title of the comic book arc this storyline was based on.

• Barry catches a generic crook he dubs "The Thief." He takes a bag of stolen jewels from him and returns them to the store, a second or two before the police arrive.

Wouldn't it have been better to hand the stolen jewels over to the cops instead? Seems like they'd be evidence, and without them the police might not have a case against The Thief.

• Barry has a new "roomie" at work in this timeline— Julian Albert. He's played by Tom Felton, aka Draco Malfoy of the Harry Potter films. Once again Felton plays the Designated Asshole™— a character who hates the hero and makes his life hell for no other reason than because the script says so.

I'll give Felton credit, it's a role he plays very well. Hopefully he's not like that in real life. Maybe someday he'll actually get to play a nice character.

• Last week in the Flashpoint timeline, I noted that it looked like the Particle Accelerator never blew up— or if it did it was repaired. In this semi-restored timeline, one of the pylons is damaged again.

• Barry decides to try and fix the timeline again, and starts running into the past. Note that once again, there's still no sign of the Time Wraiths, the ghost-like caretakers of the time stream. Like I said before, it's as if they only show up when it's convenient to the plot!

• During Barry's second attempt to alter time, he's yanked out of the stream by Jay Garrick. Is it ironic that Jay takes Barry back to 1998 in order to give him a stern lecture about the dangers of altering the timeline?

Yes, there's a line about how Jay "punched" Barry out of the timeline, and they probably just happened to end up in 1998. But even if Jay had no such intentions, he could have stepped on a butterfly or something and inadvertently altered history.

Why would they have dropped out of the time stream in 1998 anyway? Barry was heading for the night his mother died, which, as we've seen many times, happened in 2000.

I'm betting the only reason the writers picked that year so they could toss in a reference to Dawson's Creek, which premiered in '98. When Jay and Barry enter the diner, the show's even playing on a TV in the background! Not to mention the fact that actor John Wesley Shipp played Dawson's father on the show.

Lastly, how the hell did Jay know what Barry was doing? Jay lives over on Earth-3, for corn's sake! Did he build some kind of Barry-scope, to secretly spy on him?

• Again with the Back To The Future charts! Barry tries to explain his timeline-meddling to the STAR Labs Gang by drawing a diagram yet again. This is at least the third time he's done this.

• So how do the human skin husks figure into the plot? When Alchemy makes someone "reach their full potential," do they shed their skin like a snake?

• Due to Barry's time-shenanigans, Arrow's pal John Diggle now has a son instead of a daughter. I would not be surprised if someone out there complains about this, calling it "gender overwriting" or something like that.

Dig having a son actually lines up with things over on Legends Of Tomorrow. In the Star City 2046 episode, Diggle's son appeared as a future version of Green Arrow.

• Last week in the Flashpoint timeline, The Rival's headquarters were at "the old sawmill on Williamson." In this episode The Rival's headquarters is at the Prescott Sawmill. I'm assuming they're the same place, and exist in both timelines.

• After meeting Alchemy and hearing his plan, Barry says "I think everyone who had powers in Flashpoint is going to get them back." Note that we then immediately cut to a shot of Wally. Obviously Wally's going to become Kid Flash in this timeline as well before the season's over.

• Cisco, er, I mean Vibe shows up in the nick of time to save Barry. His "vibe rays" looked a LOT like freeze blasts to me. In fact that's what I thought they were at first, until I remembered which superhero show I was watching and that Cisco has vibration powers.

By the way, can this version of Cisco still "vibe?" If so, then he should be able to remember the original timeline.

• After the battle we're told that Barry took The Rival to Iron Heights Prison, instead of throwing him in STAR Labs' Illegal Secret Super Jail. Maybe the Gang doesn't have their little prison in this timeline?

The most interesting development of this episode— Caitlin's ice powers are manifesting. Does that mean she'll be turning to the dark side as well?

The Flash Season 3, Episode 1: Flashpoint

The Flash is back for Season 3!

Season 1 of the series was pretty good, while Season 2 was very, very uneven. I'm hoping Season 3 will get the show back on track.

In this premiere episode, we see the fallout from last season's finale, in which Barry very selfishly decided to alter time and save his mother. I'm very surprised that this new Flashpoint timeline only lasted one episode. I figured they'd drag it out for several months, finally setting things right in the mid-season finale. 

I suppose that could still happen though. At the end of the episode he restores the timeline, but finds some of the details still aren't quite right. I have an uneasy feeling the writers are going to have him constantly tweaking reality for the remainder of the season. If that's their plan, it's gonna get old real quick.

I was a bit disappointed to see yet another evil speedster in this episode. What's that make now, three? Four? Twenty if you count all the versions of Reverse Flash?

I used to read The Flash comic back in the late 1980s (after Barry Allen was killed off and Wally West became the new Flash). I quickly grew bored with it though, because virtually every supervillain Wally fought was another speedster. The TV series is coming dangerously close to going down that same path. 

On the other hand, speedsters are really the only type of villain who should be able to give Barry a run (heh) for his money. He can literally move so fast that everyone else appears to be frozen in time. He could literally round up every criminal in the city in between heartbeats. Like it or not, speedsters are the only real threat to someone like the Flash.

I wonder... since all The CW "Arrowverse" shows are connected, will Barry's meddling have an effect on their timelines as well?

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
After Zoom killed Henry Allen in the Season 2 finale, Barry decided enough was enough. He ran back in time and altered history by preventing the Reverse Flash from killing his mother.

Barry's now seemingly living in a paradise. His mother's alive, and his father was never falsely accused of her murder. But that also means he was never taken in by Joe, and didn't grow up in the same house with Iris.

Barry sits in Jitters, waiting for Iris to show up so he can awkwardly ask her out. He's interrupted by a news report that the Flash is battling a villain called The Rival. Whaaa...? Barry zips away at super speed to the scene of the action. He sees Wally West, aka the Flash, battling The Rival, a black-clad speedster. The Rival gets away, and Barry tells Wally, (who doesn't know him in this timeline) better luck next time.

Barry returns to Jitters and works up the courage to talk to Iris. She doesn't know him in this timeline either, and he awkwardly asks her out. Amazingly she says yes. Barry goes to work and speaks with Captain Mendez, his boss(did he accidentally erase Captain Singh from this timeline?). Mendez asks where Det. Joe West is. Barry makes a lame excuse for his absence.

Later that day Barry takes a bag of Big Belly Burgers to an abandoned warehouse (the only kind that exist in Central City). Inside we see he's holding Eobard Thawne (aka the Reverse Flash) captive in a glass case that somehow dampens his powers. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen! Thawne taunts Barry, telling him that this new timeline is just an illusion, and soon he'll be begging him to kill his mother again.

The next morning, Mendez is furious that Joe's absent yet again. Barry rushes to Joe's house and sees he's sleeping off a hangover. He cleans him up at superspeed and rushes him to the police station. Joe, who's now fully awake, tells Barry he doesn't need his help. Iris then walks in for her lunch date with Barry. Joe assumes Iris is the reason he's taken such a sudden interest in his well-being.

On their "date," Barry says it's like he's known Iris for years, and she says she feels the same way. Suddenly Barry doubles over in pain, as his memories begin disappearing. Just then they hear that the Flash and The Rival are fighting again. Iris says she has to cover the event and excuses herself. 

Barry rushes to the scene of the battle. He sees The Rival throw the Flash out of an upper story building. Barry tries to create a superspeed updraft to save him, but his powers unexpectedly fade, and the Flash lands in a dumpster. Um… was that some kind of metaphor or symbolism? Are the writers saying this version of the Flash is garbage? For some reason Barry lifts the Flash's mask and is shocked to see he's really Wally West (to the surprise of absolutely no one in the audience). Wally comes to, realizes Barry unmasked him and rightly asks, "What the hell, dude?"

Wally takes Barry to his apartment, where they meet Iris, who helps her brother solve crimes. Wally says he became the Flash after his car, that contained a new nitro formula, was struck by lightning. I guess that's not any more nonsensical than Barry's origin. Barry says he wants to help them capture The Rival. Iris says the only man who can help them is Cisco Ramon.

After developing several popular apps, Cisco is now the richest man in the country. His headquarters are in the former STAR Labs building. He tells Barry, Iris and Wally that he doesn't want anything to do with stopping The Rival, as he fears retaliation. Barry sweet talks him into helping, and says they're meant to be a team. Barry then doubles over again, as he loses more of his memories.

Barry visits Thawne again, who tells him that this new timeline is starting to write over his old life. Thawne's apparently immune from the same effect due to the cage he's in. He says eventually Barry will forget all about the original timeline, and won't even remember that he's the Flash. Eventually this timeline will set like cement, and nothing will ever be able to alter it again. 

Barry goes back to Ramon Industries and reveals that he's the original Flash. He then uses his superspeed to kidnap Caitlin Snow (who's an ophthalmologist in this timeline) to complete the STAR Labs Gang.

The New Gang deduces that The Rival's hideout is in an abandoned (of course) sawmill on the edge of town. Barry and Wally head there and confront The Rival, who reveals he's really Edward Clariss, whoever the hell that is. After a prolonged fight, Wally beats him. Unfortunately he turns his back, and The Rival runs a large pipe through his side.

Clariss tells Barry that if he can beat him, he can take Wally to the hospital. Barry agrees, and they begin another superspeed fight. Clariss creates two F3 tornadoes, which overpower Barry. Iris, who's been monitoring the fight, gives Barry a pep talk, saying she felt incomplete until she met him (oy!) and she believes in him (double oy!). This is apparently just what he needed to hear, because he gets his strength back, Popeye-like. He uses his speed to dissipate the tornadoes and knocks out The Rival. Barry bends down to check on the comatose Wally, and The Rival rises up and starts to kill him. Suddenly a gunshot rings out, and The Rival falls dead to the ground. Barry turns to see that Joe shot him (just like he shot the Weather Wizard way back in the very first episode). 

Later in the hospital, Barry's puzzled to find out that Wally isn't healing at superspeed like he should. He realizes what he has to do. He takes Iris with him and visits his parents one last time. He then goes to the warehouse and releases Thawne. Barry and Thawne speed off together. 

At the Allen home, Barry sees his younger self stop the younger Thawne from killing his mom. The current Thawne then steps up and kills Nora Allen for the third or fourth time. It's all very confusing. The timeline resets itself to normal.

Barry returns to the West home. Inside he sees Joe and Wally hanging out, celebrating the defeat of Zoom (which happened at the end of last season). Barry asks where Iris is, which infuriates Joe so much he walks out. When Barry asks what the hell, Wally reminds him that Joe and Iris "don't talk." Barry wonders what he's done, as the audience wonders if this entire season is going to consist of Barry trying to fine tune the timeline.

Later that night, Edward Clariss (who's alive and not The Rival in this timeline) is awakened by a voice in his head (I think) and sees the word "ALCHEMY" etched in his mirror.

Thoughts:
• As you might expect, very little about this new timeline business makes any sense. Especially the fact that Barry still has his Flash powers. Did the particle accelerator even blow up in this timeline? Did it still cause lighting that struck him in his CSI lab? If so, why is he even a CSI in the first place in this timeline? In the old timeline he became one to help find his mother's killer and prove his father's innocence. Those events never happened here, and he shouldn't have been driven to pursue the forensic sciences.

In fact, it seems like Barry— and Eobard Thawne, I guess— are completely unaffected by the changes to the timeline. Barry went back in time twenty or so years to the night his mother was murdered and saved her. Everyone in the world seems to have been living an altered existence for those twenty years, except for Barry, who seems completely unchanged. He seems completely immune to the changes he made, as he remembers the original timeline, and even retains the superpowers he acquired there.

Also, when Barry has breakfast with his parents, his mom asks him, "Lately you hug me every morning as if it's the first time you've seen me in months." Whaaa…? That implies that Barry's just now enjoying the changes he made decades ago. As if he time traveled back to 1996, altered reality, then came back to 2016 to enjoy the benefits.

If that's so, wouldn't he remember a new, wonderful childhood spent with his loving parents? So why does he act like the timeline's only been around a few months? And why does everyone else in this altered timeline experience different pasts that they can still recall? Did Barry travel twenty years into the past, alter the timeline, then jump back to the present and overwrite New Timeline Barry?

See? None of this makes any sense.

And I'm not even going to begin to try and sort out how and why Eobard Thawne is still around. Nora Allen's murder scene has become so convoluted I can no longer follow what's going on. Maybe Thawne's a time remnant?

• Why aren't the Time Wraiths coming for Barry after he blatantly screwed around with the timeline? Gosh, it's like they only exist when the plot calls for them or something.

• As Barry tries to work up the courage to ask Iris on a date, we see a report from Channel 52 News on a screen behind him. That's yet another reference to DC Comic's New 52 line of comics (that came about as a result of the Flashpoint storyline).

• The first time we see Kid Flash, he's rapidly vibrating his face to hide his true identity. Note that he does this even though he's wearing a mask. If he has to disguise his face even in costume, then maybe it's time for a better, full-head mask like Barry's.

I know the "open head" mask of his costume is based on the one in the comics, but it seems like a bad idea here. Comic book Kid Flash is white, while the TV version is black. According to the most recent census, blacks make up just 12% to 14% of the U.S. population. That significantly narrows down the choices for anyone trying to figure out this Kid Flash's true identity. Add to that the fact that his mask completely exposes his specific hairstyle, and he might as well not bother with a disguise at all.

• When Barry and Iris reminisce about elementary school, they mention they both had Mr. Hinkley for math class.

Hmm. I don't know how things are done in Central City, but when I went to elementary school way back in the Before Time, I sat in one classroom all day and had one teacher who taught every subject.

• Barry alters the timeline by preventing Eobard Thawne from killing his mom. He then constructs an elaborate prison cell and keeps Thawne captive in it, indefinitely.

I don't think Barry's completely thought out this situation. Is he planning on keeping Thawne in this tiny cell for the rest of his life, without a trial? That seems as bad (or worse) as what Thawne did to Barry's family. Not to mention highly illegal! The law tens to frown on private citizens abducting and imprisoning one another. 

And what about the practicalities of keeping someone a prisoner? Is Barry going to feed Thawne a sack of Big Belly Burgers every day? Is he gonna bring him clothes after his Reverse Flash suit rots and falls off? What's he gonna do if Thawne gets sick? Or if someone buys the abandoned warehouse and wanders inside? And what about bathroom facilities? C'mon, don't say you didn't think about that too!

• At one point Thawne mocks Barry, saying, "What should be call this brave new world you've built for yourself? I was thinking, "Flashpoint." And we have a title!

• Apparently Barry's boss Captain Singh doesn't exist in the Flashpoint timeline, and has been replaced by Captain Mendez.

Mendez is played by actor Alex Desert. I was racking my brain trying to figure out where I'd seen him before, and finally had to look him up. Of course! Desert was on the 1990 Flash series, where he played Barry Allen's best friend Julio Mendez!

I guess this is another example of how Barry's universe features characters with the same names as those from the 1990 Flash series, but are somehow completely different people.

• In this timeline, Joe's a slovenly, borderline alcoholic who rarely shows up for work. Barry doesn't want to see him fired, so he uses his powers to help him out.

OK, it was funny when Barry got Drunk Joe out of bed, cleaned him up and whooshed him to work, until you stop to think about just what was involved. Did Barry really carry the unconscious Joe into the bathroom, strip him naked, scrub him down in the shower, brush his teeth and dress him again? Yikes.

• For such a large metropolis, Central City seems oddly devoid of traffic. At one point Barry and Iris are able to causally stroll down the middle of a downtown street!

• The Rival turns out to be someone named Edward Clariss, whoever that is. 

Believe it or not The Rival actually appeared in the comics, wayyyy back in 1949. In fact his first appearance was in the Golden Age Flash's last issue.

In the comic, Edward Clariss was a university professor who just happened to duplicate the formula that gave Jay Garrick his Flash powers. He then began a campaign to make the Flash's life a living hell. Visually he looked pretty much exactly like the Golden Age Flash, but with a darker colored costume.

• One of the policemen interrupts Barry and Iris' "date" by telling them the Flash and the Rival are going at it over at the Werther building. I misheard that as Wertham, as in Frederic Wertham (the guy who said comic books caused juvenile delinquency).

There's an artist named Werther Dell'Edera who draws some of the Batman books over at DC, but that seems like a pretty obscure reference. Sometimes a cigar is just a penis. CIGAR! I meant cigar.

Later on Cisco tracks down The Rival to the old sawmill on Williamson. The series just lovvvves to name Central City's fictional streets after real life comic book creators, so that's likely a reference to Joshua Williamson, currently writing The Flash for DC Comics.

• Cisco says he doesn't want to get involved with the plan to stop The Rival. Barry endears himself to him by repeating a story about how Cisco helped his older brother Dante out of a jam.

It's lucky for Barry that this version of Cisco apparently has the same history as the one he knows. Cisco could have had an entirely different childhood in this timeline.

• Cisco says, "You know what happens when you mess with a speedster?" He then mimics a vibrating hand and punches it into Iris' shoulder.

Um... how the hell does this Cisco remember that? In the original timeline, Cisco had a vision of Harrison Wells, aka Eobard Thawne, vibrating his hand through his chest and killing him. I don't see how that could have possibly happened to this version of Cisco, and he should have no memories and knowledge of it.

Does this Cisco secretly have vibing powers too?

• When The Rival creates two F3 tornadoes with his superspeed, Cisco says, "This guy's like a weather wizard or something!" Clyde Mardon, who could control the weather, did something very similar back in the very first episode.

In a similar vein, after Barry seemingly defeats The Rival, he rises up and tries to stab him while his back is turned. Joe shoots The Rival in the back. Joe did the exact same thing to Clyde Mardon in the first episode as well.

• It wouldn't be The Flash without an "I believe in you" speech. When the new timeline causes Barry to start losing his powers, Iris gives him a patented The CW Pep Talk. Sure enough, it gives him the strength to rally and beat The Rival.

• Iris seems to handle all of Barry's shocking revelations very well. Shortly after she meets Barry he reveals he's really the Flash, he kidnaps Caitlin Snow and reassembles the STAR Labs Gang, he takes her to a warehouse where he's holding a costumed man prisoner (!) and matter of factly says his mother has to die in order to reset the timeline. Iris simply says, "Well, that all sounds just fine."

Yeah, yeah, I know she says something about how she feels they belong together, and she may even be subconsciously remembering the original timeline, but still... it's a wonder she doesn't slowly back away from Barry and call the cops.

• Barry goes to see his parents one last time before he frees Thawne. His mother senses something's wrong and says, "Barry, you're scaring me." Barry replies, "No. There's nothing to be afraid of."

• When Barry goes to see his parents for the last time, his mother says, "Barry, you're scaring me." Barry replies, "No. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Well, nothing that is, except he's about to unleash a superpowered killer who's going to stab her with a knife for the third or fourth time. But other than that, nope, nothing to be scared of.

• I wonder if Michelle Harrison, who plays Nora Allen, is getting tired of coming back to the show to film her death scene over and over.

• Once the timeline is reset, Edward Clariss is no longer The Rival, but it looks like he's going to become Dr. Alchemy. He was a villain from the comics who, as you might have guessed from his name, could transmute elements from one to another.