SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
If this episode made me realise anything, it’s exactly how much Barry screwed up. The episode was basically centred around driving that home. It was pointed out at every opportunity; from the beginning when Harry showed up and scolded Barry for going back in time and changing the timeline again, until the end of the episode when Barry told Frankie that nothing that happened to her was her fault.
Damn right it’s not her fault. Barry caused all of this.
Everything this season – Alchemy (sorry, Dr. Alchemy), the new metas and the problems that they bring with them to Central City – is his fault and this is just a repeat of last season; Barry did something at the end of the previous season that introduced new, havoc-wreaking meta-humans and the season’s villain to Central City. Season one is the only season in which he has not been directly responsible for all of Central City’s meta-human problems.
He is always making the same mistakes and doing the same things. He never learns.
If this episode made me feel anything, it was frustration toward Barry because of all of that. Really, Harry was all of us when he found out that Barry had changed the timeline…again.
Harry’s comment about having never been in the speed lab makes me wonder if Flashpoint didn’t affect Earth-Two.
Harry and Jesse’s arrival and the revelation that she now has speed powers brought Wally a bit of anguish. It’d been hinted at last week, but I suppose now there’s solid confirmation that Wally will get his speed powers from Dr. Alchemy. I wish he wasn’t so reckless and desperate about getting his powers. Like Joe said, he can still help people as a normal human being.
But if Frankie’s explanation of how she got her powers is any indication of what will happen, the more Wally has dreams about his life during Flashpoint when he was Kid Flash, the more painful his not having his powers and being Kid Flash will be for him. I suppose, then, that his behaviour makes sense as it is a reflection of said pain.
Frankie’s meta-human of the week story was meh. At least she got more development than Edward Clariss did and he was on the show for two, whole episodes. Her character wasn’t particularly interesting, nor was her story.
I’m glad that this is not yet another season of “will they, or won’t they” between Barry and Iris, that they’re actually trying at a relationship now and that their inevitable happily ever after is not being drawn out.
Barry went way overboard with the flower heart and spelling her name with flowers thing. He doesn’t need to try to impress her. She already knows him. And of course their first date is awkward and gets interrupted by and ultimately ends early because of him needing to fulfill his duties as The Flash.
Random thoughts:
- Stop screwing up Barry.
- Barry scolded him so good that Joe didn’t need to say a thing!
- Barry: “How do we keep from messing things up when all we wanna do is help?” By not going back in time every time something goes wrong!
- Why didn’t the other Team Flash think of panic buttons?
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 PM on The CW.
