A recap of the end of an uneven second season of The Flash put simply: Our titular hero, Barry Allen, became so dissatisfied with the aftermath of his defeating Zoom by foot race that he cavalierly went back in time to stop the Reverse-Flash from murdering his mother. Thus, he changed all history, erasing all that had happened in the previous two seasons. It's about as selfish an action and decision as one could make. 

 

 

The bright side to that action taken by Barry Allen is that it now sets the table for this show to depict arguably the most famous storyline in the history of the Flash comics: Flashpoint. So now, of course, Barry has to live with whatever changes in the timeline that spring forth from his decision to save his mother Nora. They are fundamental, though likely temporary, changes. And most of them don't really make any sense. That is what you get when a show like this wades in deep with time travel paradoxes to be used as the crux of storylines.

 

What I liked about the Flashpoint Paradox animated movie about the Justice League released a couple of years ago was that Barry Allen knew immediately that the alternate timeline he created by letting his mother live was wrong. So he spends the rest of the movie, along with the iconic members of the Justice League, trying to fix the damage that he created. The live action series tries to do that, but only to a certain point. The writers want to show that there's something wrong with this alternate timeline that Barry has created, but hold off on doing so until about mid-way through the episode. Like "Welcome to Earth-2" from last season, the writers want to revel in the myriad differences and changes from the original timeline that have sprung up from Barry's incredibly selfish decision to save Nora Allen from being murdered by the Reverse-Flash.

 

 

For the most part, things are pretty good with Team Flash. Both of Barry's parents are still alive (and seem like the most decent, good-hearted people in the world), Wally has taken up the Flash mantle, fighting odd villains like the Rival, with Iris being his only (secret) support system, Cisco is rich and running his own Apple-like tech company, and Caitlin is a pediatric opthalmologist. Only Joe gets the bad part of this alternate timeline, and the worst thing about him is that he's somehow a drunk who rarely shows up to do his job as a detective. Barry struggles to bridge loose connections with both Joe and Iris, and it would be understandable for them to ignore the guy since they never grew up with him.

 

All the time, it feels like Barry is detached from this timeline. Sure, he has his parents, but that doesn't seem like it's enough for him. He seems to want his old life back. Which begs the question as to why he keeps the Reverse-Flash alive and in a power-dampening cell that no one else knows about. The only reason I can think of is that both Barry and the show needs the Reverse-Flash to be alive in order to explain what is happening to Barry when he starts to lose his memories of the original timeline. That gradual loss of memories is the odd impetus for the latest in a series of selfish decisions by Barry to once again change the timeline. Only, it's not really a change of the timeline so much as a restoration of the original timeline by having the Reverse-Flash kill Nora all over again.

 

 

It would be cruel to go to this well again, except the show has already done so before. It's become really frustrating to see this show, which was once quite good with its handling of multiple storylines, spin its wheels again and again. Everything is back to normal now, except for an estranged relationship between Joe and Iris, which isn't the most earth-shattering development. One gets the sense that's only the tip of the iceberg.

 

The "Flashpoint" storyline will be dragged out through the beginning of this season, mainly on this show, but the producers have hinted at it possibly affecting the storylines on the other DCW shows of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. Supergirl may not be as affected by "Flashpoint" because that show takes place on another Earth. I'd rather the show stick to what it's good at rather than take these constant tangents that feel more like a lark than anything else. Change is not necessarily a good thing, and this premiere proves that point to a tee. It's not a promising start to a show that has been floundering for a good while now.