The Flash - Season 1

[Greg Cox]

Speaking of his friends, what was with the dumbing down of Caitlin? How does she not know what a singularity is? This episode unfortunately cemented the fact that Caitlin and Iris are little more than love interests on this show.

Yeah, you have to wonder if that line was originally intended for Iris, or Joe, or Eddie . . . but somehow got assigned to Caitlin for convenience's sake?

Granted, she's not specifically a physicist, but the show really hasn't drawn such fine distinctions up to until . . aside, I suppose, from Cisco generally being the gadget guy.

Speaking of Cisco, I liked that we got an explanation (or at least the start of one) for why he alone was having flashbacks to the other timeline.

 

[Gryffindorian]

That was weird. Everyone knows what a singularity is. So what is it?

 

[Christopher]

Speaking of Cisco, I liked that we got an explanation (or at least the start of one) for why he alone was having flashbacks to the other timeline.

And Wells couched that explanation in terms of "vibrations," which fits the standard DC gibberish about different timelines having different "vibrational frequencies" as well as Cisco's Vibe identity.


Also speaking of Cisco and his Douglas Adams references ("So long and thanks for all the fish"), I broke up when someone on another board pointed out that, as of the end of this episode...

Eddie's in the space-time continuum!

 

[ITL]

Also speaking of Cisco and his Douglas Adams references ("So long and thanks for all the fish"), I broke up when someone on another board pointed out that, as of the end of this episode...

Eddie's in the space-time continuum!

*cue Chesterfield sofa*

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I am also very curious about that image of Barry in prison in the future. Its interesting on all the sites I follow I have seen no mention of that. Probably because there was so much info to digest in this single episode!

I think that's a reference to The Flash on trial for murdering the Reverse Flash storyline from the comics.

 

[FPAlpha]

Since none of you know me personally i can say this:

I honest to god tore up when Barry met his mom and they could talk. I really had tears in my eyes and this has only happened a very few times with very powerful movies (like Schindler's List) and never has happened with a TV show.

Goddammit that finale was so awesome. Disregarding the few logical loopholes that inevitably appear whenever time travel is happening that was one monster performance in the cast.

Gustin really took it home in this one and he had some good performances over the course of this season but this finale was his utter best. There were so many scenes with him.. meeting his dad, talking to Iris, to Joe and then he gets to talk to his mom

I loved how they made one question central to the episode.. is it worth it to give up the good things in your life for a chance to have a different life that you don't know how it will be.

I think we'd all like the chance to correct past mistakes, maybe knock some sense into our younger versions so they take a different, maybe better path but if that meant giving up all that makes your life now worthwile is a hard choice to make and i think it was done very well in this episode.

Since i'm no DC man i had to spoil myself a little bit about comic book characters and who they are on the show so i caught some of the things but certainly not most but i don't mind.

If it were a Marvel show and they'd redo an iconic character that i love i'm sure i'd get a little bit bored because i'd instantly spot the easter eggs and knew what was in store for some of the characters.

So being a comparable noob concerning Flash i still managed to be somewhat surprised some of the time which is good.

They blew the door wide open for season 2 and it'll be a hard summer show wise knowing i have to wait months before it resumes (and damn was that an awesome visual when Barry Allen took on a friggin Black Hole! ).

Excelsior! (loved the small nod to Stan )

 

[Greg Cox]

Okay, this is extremely nerdy and nitpicky, but was I the only one to find the "Excelsior" gag kinda out-of-place on a DC show, as opposed to a Marvel one? It's not like Stan Lee ever had anything to do with the Flash . . ..

Not sure how you make a Julius Schwartz or Carmine Infantino joke, though.

 

[FPAlpha]

Okay, this is extremely nerdy and nitpicky, but was I the only one to find the "Excelsior" gag kinda out-of-place on a DC show, as opposed to a Marvel one? It's not like Stan Lee ever had anything to do with the Flash . . ..

Not sure how you make a Julius Schwartz or Carmine Infantino joke, though.

I took it as a sign of respect towards one of the greatest in superhero comicbooks.. after all, people involved in the genre are at the end one big family who love doing what they do no matter the company.

 

[sojourner]

Okay, this is extremely nerdy and nitpicky, but was I the only one to find the "Excelsior" gag kinda out-of-place on a DC show, as opposed to a Marvel one? It's not like Stan Lee ever had anything to do with the Flash . . ..

That's what makes it funny. The juxtaposition of a catch phrase by Stan Lee being dropped on a show by DC comics. And the fact that he only talks about "saying" it.

 

[Christopher]

Okay, this is extremely nerdy and nitpicky, but was I the only one to find the "Excelsior" gag kinda out-of-place on a DC show, as opposed to a Marvel one? It's not like Stan Lee ever had anything to do with the Flash . . ..

Not sure how you make a Julius Schwartz or Carmine Infantino joke, though.

They gave us a Time Sphere, the Flash Museum, and Jay Garrick's helmet. There was so much DC referencing here that a stray Stan Lee nod isn't going to tip the balance that much.

Besides, we've seen Cisco and other characters reference Star Wars, Terminator, Back to the Future, Hitchhiker's Guide, and countless other bits of pop culture. Maybe Marvel comics and movies exist as fiction within the show's universe. Just as Superman exists as fiction within the Sam Raimi Spider-Man universe, for example.

 

[Icemizer]

Here is one I that I just thought of. What happened to the future Flash? Once he left Thawne in the past his future no longer existed, he couldn't go home. And why would he leave a now depowered Thawne alive in the past where he could do all sorts of evil things. Was the Future Flash powerless and stuck as well and has remained in hiding all this time? Thinking of time/alternate reality travel is bad for the brain.

 

[Avon]

if he never existed, the flash wouldn't have needed to be there in the first place

 

[JoeZhang]

The way I see it - that flash has to be the *original* version of the flash from the original timeline - so he can still exist with his mother alive in his original timeline because he has no reason to travel in time and his existence does not rely on reverse flash.

 

[DEWLine]

But I'm inclined to give the characters a pass and write it off as some clunky story construction. In an ideal world, they probably should have had Wells reveal the possibility of accidentally creating a singularity AFTER the mission was already underway.

"Oh, did I forget to mention . . . "

Considering that Thawne wants there to still be a home to go back to, the episode as produced and aired still works for me.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The way I see it - that flash has to be the *original* version of the flash from the original timeline - so he can still exist with his mother alive in his original timeline because he has no reason to travel in time and his existence does not rely on reverse flash.

Nope. The writers are assholes. No consistency to their rules.

Future Barry ordering the murder of his mother, seems to indicate that he as well too is from the same time line where his mommy died? If Killing his mommy gelled with Future Flash's history then saving his mommy would have erased him from history like what happened to the Reverse Flash later on.

Future Flash killed Eddie.

What that "look" he gave the 20something version of himself meant was "If you let mommy die, then spaz out and break your deal with Thawne for no reason, then Eddie is going to kill himself to save the day, and "we" can finally bang Iris. Yeah baby! Super sonic Bang! That's what I'm talking about!"

Serioulsy? What a #### faced little jerk.

By the way, wouldn't a vasectomy have worked just as well in ending the Thawne line? Vasectomies are reversible? Well that would just mean that there would be a temporal cold war fought on Eddies Junk by Atom sized Chrononauts as his vasectomy is reversed and rereversed and rerereversed and so on, by Time Travellers from several sides of history.

Never trust someone from the future, their agenda can and probably will incorporate acceptable losses that could include you, everyone you know and half the fricking planet.

Oh.

The end of Wicked (Musical based on the Wizard of Oz), the Witch faked her death by bucket of Water, because her opponent was an 8 year old from 1900, who'd fall for such a bullshit hornswoggle like "my only weakness is water" because she was 8.

Did Wells fake his death?

Wells had Eddie locked up for days. How long does it take to brainwash a decent bloke into thinking that Looper is a seamless, well thought out movie with no plot holes than that the Wicked Witch of the West can can fly through a rain soaked twister but be felled by a bucket of water?

 

[CorporalClegg]

The problem isn't just with the literal physical destruction of the world. The thing is, by going back and saving his mother, Barry was ending the make-up of the world as everyone knew it.

It's impossible to know what the magnitude of change would be. It certainly wouldn't be just a matter of everything is the same except Nora is alive and Henry isn't jail and everything else is the same. And I doubt it a matter of Edith Keeler syndrome or like The Flashpoint Paradox, but the ultimate effect on peoples' lives is more than large enough that Barry has no business playing God like that.

No one could argue that he ignored this out of misguided youthful arrogance, which is why older, wiser Barry stopped him from doing it. But the adults in the room should have stopped him from going back in the first place, let alone everyone else who had something to lose in the venture.

Add the real possible (or probably) literal end of the world on top of that just makes the whole thing seem reckless, shellfish, and wholly unheroic.

But that's okay. The most destructive force in the universe is nothing compared to the mighty speed of Barry Allen...

It's such a mess, and I'm a little disappointed so many are giving it a pass because DC stuff.

 

[Greg Cox]

But I'm inclined to give the characters a pass and write it off as some clunky story construction. In an ideal world, they probably should have had Wells reveal the possibility of accidentally creating a singularity AFTER the mission was already underway.

"Oh, did I forget to mention . . . "

Considering that Thawne wants there to still be a home to go back to, the episode as produced and aired still works for me.

Oh, I can see Thwane being willing to risk everything to get back to his own time, but I'm sure he'd want to warn the STAR gang about the singularity issue AFTER things were already underway and it was too late for the Flash to change course.

Best-case scenario: The Flash succeeds, the singularity is averted, and Thawne gets back to a future that still exists.

Worst-case scenario: The Flash fails, the world is destroyed, and Thawne goes out in a blaze of glory, having at the very least gotten his revenge on the Flash and his allies.

Sounds like super-villain thinking to me. And, hey, it beats spending the rest of your life trapped in solitary confinement for the rest of your life . . ..

 

[JD]

I enjoyed the finale. It wasn't perfect, but I didn't think the issues were serious enough to ruin it.
I was kind shocked they spent so much time considering, and building up to the time travel. I was expecting Barry to just take off and do it, so I was happy he did give it as much thought as he did.
We definitely got some great performances here.
The explanation for Cisco remembering the other timeline was cool, and a nice set up for his future as Vibe.
I was kind of shocked that Barry was stopped from saving his mom so quickly, and simply. I guess he must have assumed Future Flash had a good reason.
Eddie's death was a big surprise. Although, I do have some issues with the whole paradox that brings up. I wonder if that will addressed?
I thought the end with the blackhole was pretty cool, and I especially got a kick out of Hawkgirl's cameo.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Reverse Flash can walk through walls.

He was only exactly as trapped as he wanted to be trapped.

 

[Servo]

The problem isn't just with the literal physical destruction of the world. The thing is, by going back and saving his mother, Barry was ending the make-up of the world as everyone knew it.

It's impossible to know what the magnitude of change would be. It certainly wouldn't be just a matter of everything is the same except Nora is alive and Henry isn't jail and everything else is the same. And I doubt it a matter of Edith Keeler syndrome or like The Flashpoint Paradox, but the ultimate effect on peoples' lives is more than large enough that Barry has no business playing God like that.

You do realise that going back and saving Nora would have been restoring the original timeline, right? Nora was alive in Barry's original timeline, before Eobard changed everything. Eobard is the one who played god when he went back in time and tried to erase Barry by killing him as a child, and then ended up killing Nora instead. That created a divergent timeline where everything we've seen in the show occurred. They even implied that Barry became the Flash earlier in this timeline because of Eobard's actions.

This was the Yesterday's Enterprise dilemma all over again, and Barry made the same decision Picard did.