in defense of the flash 2x23/s3
listen. i realize that not everyone is excited for/supportive of the flashās choice to work with the flashpoint arc. but itās anĀ importantĀ theme to be discussed; you know, for barry to realize the gravity of his abilities and the choices that he makes with them. in season one, he went back in time to save his mom in the finale, but decided not to at the last moment because his future self warned him against it. he returned to his time and didnāt fully become aware of the way that his choice couldāve impacted time.Ā (itās also important to note that the wormhole was stable and things wouldāve been fine had eddie not killed himself to save barry and the team. the only reason things malfunctioned was because of that choiceābarryās running through time did no harm.)
we see a little of the impacts of dabbling with time in s2, but itās mostly in the flashback episode (2x17?), where it only really offers with hartleyās return and the erasure of his villainous presence from s1. most of s2 is about barry grappling with zoom and also learning how to let people back into his life the way he so easily had before, though, so we donāt need to worryĀ about time travel. and yeah, barry eventually comes to terms with the loss of his motherāsomething thatās traumatized him for his whole life, something heād never thought he could escape (āhow am i supposed to make peace with that?ā). we see immense growth there, just from 2x21; the speedforce changes barry, makes him whole again, in a way, and he heals a little bit through it. but thatās torn to pieces by the end of 2x22.
zoom kills henry in front of him. henry, the central focus of his abilitiesābarryās opening speech in season one was about finding the man who killed his mother in order to free his father from prison. henry being free has always been the ultimate goal for barry. and he is! in 2x01 heās released from prison and barry is so! happy! he leaves, which breaks barryās heart, but heās free and heās alive and well and thatās all that barry can really ask for. and we see that he really starts to come into his own without having to worry about freeing his father. again: more growth. barry loves his dad. unconditionally. heād lost so much time with him over the past 15 (?? idk if thatās the exact number) years, and so every moment with his dad is precious. henry comes back from hiding out in the woods to be part of barryās life again and to join team flash. and itās great, for an episode or two. so zoom killing him? is going to really fuck barry up, for lack of better phrasing. barry was the reason that henry came back to central city. can you imagine what barry thinks? that heās the reason that his father, the last living relative he has (that we know of), is dead? that knocks him down several pegs. losing henry, in such a close proximity to accepting the loss of his mother, sends all of that development spiraling. and how would it be okay to be written any other way? barryās closeness to his father is amplified because of the forced absence the two experienced. nothing about his acceptance of his motherās death meant that he would be okay losing his dad, too. in fact, that acceptance brings them closer. barry understands how his father thinks, now. theyāve bonded in that way too. and zoom takes that away only an episode later.
so is it any wonder that barry, broken and hurt and traumatized from zoomās actions, would choose to go back in time and save his mom? heās lonely. heās sad and heās angry and heās been beaten up by the universe so goddamn much. he loves iris and he loves joe and he loves his friends, but thereās only so much they can do to patch up his broken heart caused by the loss of his loved ones. heās literally never been this broken down. he tells that to iris. heās so far from okay that he canāt even feel positively about him and his team defeating zoom. he just wants to feel okay. thatās why he saves his momāheās lost so many of his loved ones, and been unable to save so many of his friends and family members, and heās been carrying that weight for most of his life. he just wants to save someone and have it matter*. (*not that the people he hasĀ saved donāt matterābut his parents are some of the most looming figures in his life, and heās watched them both die. he chose not to save one, and couldnāt find a way to save the other.)
why am i rambling about all of this? BECAUSE THE FLASHPOINT ARC IS WHAT TRULY MATURES BARRY TO BECOME THE BEST MAN/HERO HE CAN BE. barry, for once in his life, is selfish about the way he uses his powers. he does the thing heās always wanted to doāsave his mom. he gets to do that. and he gets this new life along with it, one thatās remarkably different from his old one. and you think, from here, heād be happy with it. right? spoiler alert: heās not. he quickly realizes that he has to change things back to become the flash again, and (at least in the flashpoint paradox movie) to save the people he cares about from ending up in the post-apocalyptic future he finds himself in. he has to choose between having his mother in his life, alive and well, and having the life he loves so much but involves so much emptiness and death. this is gonna change barry forever. narratively, heās going to need to come to terms with who he is and what he wants to beāthe flashpoint arc is what allows him to do this to the best of his ability. he realizes that the changes that he makes impact other people beyondĀ himself. he learns to be truly selfless when it matters most. he learns that loss will always be a part of his story, whether he tries to avoid it or not. i saw somewhere that one of the writers said that this was gonna be a season about caitlin but honestly? itās barryās emergence. heās the flash now, sure. but after flashpointāafter everything he goes through, all the decisions he makes and the people he gains and losesāhe becomes The Flash.
