This episode and the previous one really make up a single story, don’t they? “Flashpoint” and “Paradox” - I think the writers are trying to tell us something.
Finally someone told Barry to stop messing with the timeline and he actually listened. It only took Barry’s father’s doppelganger to do it. When “Jay Garrick” revealed himself last season, I thought he looked too young. And indeed he was because he wasn’t Jay Garrick at all. Now that we know the real Jay Garrick, I think he looks spot on. I like John Wesley Shipp’s grizzled, no nonsense take on the Flash.
The poor Rival only got to appear in two episodes, and he was killed in each one. Dr Alchemy isn’t a speedster, though he’s got the power to create one. Wally had better watch out.
Since Cisco’s got a handle on the vibration powers, I wonder if he gets visions in this timeline. If not, look for Barry to make some comment about them and accidentally give something away.
Legends is going to crossover, and since they time travel and change things, I wonder if Cisco’s brother’s going to come back, and if so, will Barry realize something’s off.
Hey, here’s an idea: wouldn’t it be great if it turned out that Cisco’s brother was Dr. Alchemy somehow?
I like that they got rid of the annoying Arrow-esque inter-cast angst in one episode. It was too easy, too quick and I didn’t care. I don’t watch Flash for angst*, I watch it for fun, superheroics and inter-cast banter.
I wonder if the thing that Dr Alchemy is trying to get the world ready for is the Crisis, which could (in theory at least) merge Supergirl’s earth with Barry’s.
*I don’t watch Arrow for angst either, I’m just (barely) willing to put up with it.
I liked that Barry owned up to his selfish behavior. So now the new status quo is this slightly altered timeline. I guess this is kind of the equivalent of how shows will sometimes do time jumps and then later fill in the details.
That was an especially dense episode of reveals, wasn’t it?
[spoiler]I’m glad Golden Age Flash is still accessible to the Season 3 narrative. He’s too great a comics character (whose helmet was too great a Season 1 finale cliffhanger) to waste on Zoom’s dispatch alone.
Thanks to the new timeline, Cisco’s/Vibe’s powers have apparently taken a big leap forward from the POV of the show’s viewers. Big ups for empowering Cisco.
Still think Caitlin is unconvincing as a villain, so I wonder what the writers are going to do with her revealed cold powers. Killer Frost must be around the corner, I guess [/spoiler]
Speculation: since it’s an alternate timeline, I hope the original pre-Thawne-encounter Dr. Wells can make his way to STAR labs to reunite the Season 1 Flash Scoobies. Of course, Harrison Wells could be running a diner or something in this timeline … doesn’t mean he can’t cross paths with the gang, though
So far, I am liking Draco Malfoy’s … erm, Tom Felton’s** character, Julian Albert as a non-meta (so far) foil to Barry. Not sure yet where they’re going with Julian … setting him up as vaguely “bad” so he can flip to “good” later on? Or so that he can intensify to “super-bad villain” later on? I guess we’ll see
Question for the house: any reason Eddie Thawne can’t be incorporated into the Season 3 timeline? Someone we might see around in later episodes?
*** I swear … Felton should just have “Draco Malfoy” put on his driver’s license :D*
Thanks to last night’s next episode teaser, we already know Earth-2 (?) Jessie Quick is coming back to the cast. Can her dad – Earth-2 Dr. Wells – be far behind? Or maybe Earth-2 Jessie encounters Earth-1 Harrison Wells and something sparks somehow?
I’m glad that Barry got past the ‘don’t tell anyone what happened!’ thing quickly…I’d have been annoyed if this was going back to the season one issue of his making his life harder than it needs to be by refusing to talk to anyone.
While this is an alternate timeline, it is almost (but not quite) the same as the one Barry left in Season 2. Which means that Harrison Wells is still dead, having been replaced by Eobard Thawne. This also means that Eobard, after dropping Barry off in the new Old Timeline, went back to That Night to discover he had lost his speed, etc. It’s best not to think about it too closely.
Incidentally, I find this timeline with sad Cisco even creepier than that other timeline with rich Cisco. The changes are minor but unsettling, like Diggle having a son rather than a daughter. It’s the Uncanny Valley of timelines.
It goes a little further than that…the first Dr Alchemy’s first name is Albert. (Or Alvin…yay continuity. >_>)
I don’t want Alchemy to be Dante (if Cisco has to have a supervillain brother, I’d prefer they introduce Armando into this universe), but I’d prefer he not be Julian Albert, either.
It’s a good thing they didn’t want Barry to tell them the changes in the timelines. He would have had to admit that Dante’s death was a change from the original. IOW, Barry’s selfish behavior caused his death & he refuses to try and fix it.
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