It’s been a crazy couple of days with Barry Allen. First on Monday, he appeared on Supergirl and we soon learn that he was on another Earth. The tone there was fairly light but now in Tuesday night’s episode “Flash Back”, it’s back to business and Zoom. Warning, spoilers ahead…
I won’t necessarily call this a throw away episode because it does further the overall story arc of the season but it was less than stellar and as with most time travelling stories, a bit confusing. The gist of this story was having Barry travel back in time to ask faux Harrison Wells aka Reverse Flash about how to gain more speed. What?? That’s exactly my feelings. Why risk the present with such an absurd plan as to talk to the enemy you had already defeated in order to defeat your current one? The pros certainly didn’t out way the cons.
“Flash Back” was perfectly named because much of this was a reflection of the past year for Team Flash. Time travelling is tricky business and Caitlin and Cisco plot that out for Barry before he travels back. Earth-2’s Harrison Wells is dead set against this mission. One seemingly little change could have rippling effects on the present. It also creates a moral dilemma, which I’ll discuss shortly. The focal point in time the team focused on, revolved around Hartley who first appeared in Season1 and was a one time member of S.T.A.R. labs before being fired by faux Wells when he discovered that the particle accelerator was unstable (something faux Wells had orchestrated). Unfortunately he was caught in the explosion and he was left with superhuman level of hearing. He would create gloves that emitted sonic waves. The reasoning why he was chosen as a focal point in time was glossed over but it does create a fun side story to assist the main.
One of the moral or ethical dilemma’s that I mentioned earlier was, when you have the power to manipulate time as Barry has shown in the past, the temptation to right some wrongs will always be present. Should Barry warn Caitlin and Cisco about faux Wells? In doing so, does that help save Eddie who made the ultimate sacrifice in Season 1 and gives him and Iris a future together? The show has tested these waters before and I think they’ll continue to do so. Thus far the consequences have been favorable but the day may come when the price for to fix the present will cost the future.
By far and away the best part of this episode was being reminded just how badass faux Wells was who’s real identity as the Reverse Flash, Eobard Thawne. Before giving future Barry the information that brought him to the past to begin with, he warns him that the only thing Wells cares about is getting back to his timeline, nothing or no one else matters. I’ll even kill to make that happen. It’s a terrifying thought that Barry must be mindful of going forward.
A touching scene brought a sense of closure for Iris as Barry gave a video of Eddie that he took when he went to the past and said he had stumbled on this and thought it would make her happy. She has been reluctant to move on since Eddie’s death but seeing this and hearing Eddie say that he loves her one more time may give her the strength to move on.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
