The Flash: Season 2 Finale

Run, Barry, RUN

         Quite an episode! Very shocking season 2 finale. I didn’t cry when I saw who was under the mask (the real Jay Garrick who is Henry’s doppelgänger) but my heart still break all the

same. But let’s break down on why Barry decided to change the past and how that’s going to effect next season.

I feel like this race should be on pay-per-view!

       First off, Barry witnessed the horror of watching his father die. Zoom is perhaps the most evil speedster so far. The Reverse Flash is a stalker playground bully compared to this psychopath! The Flash always has that emotional heart that lacks in other super hero shows. Though I’m going to be honest and say I saw Henry’s death coming. It was the best way to break Barry, hitting him straight through the heart. Zoom kept trying to compare himself to Barry but that’s how it is with most super heroes and their villains: 2 sides of the same coin but Barry has a surrogate family that gives him a lot of emotional support. That’s the source of Barry’s strength: his family. After going through the Speed Force Barry came out more hopeful and sure of the future but he never counted on losing another parent. I suppose his only consolation over losing his mother was that his father was still alive. Joe was a great surrogate parent but he’s not Barry’s real dad. Though it still shocked me when Barry took a trip back in time to save his mother. It’s probably the first selfish thing he’s ever done with his powers. This action will definitely have major repercussions.

Team Flash vs Team... well just Zoom

     What will those repercussions be? I know it’s hard to admit but bad things do happen for a reason. Sometimes the darkest road leads you to meet new people, make new connections, form bonds, even start families. You may have suffered a loss of a spouse but after a mourning period you meet someone new and have children. If your spouse never died you may never have become a proud parent (maybe your first spouse didn’t want children or you never really talked about it). If Henry never went to prison then Barry would never have gotten so close to Iris and Joe. He became a forensic scientist because of his mother’s murder. He may never get struck by lightning. He may never even become the Flash! Nora’s death is a fixed point in Time. It’s a turning point that helped shape Barry’s course in life on his way to becoming The Flash. And anyway I feel it’s pointless.

This did it. My heart broke here

        Barry and Oliver are very similar but with very key differences. Oliver watched his own father commit suicide. He watched his mother be murdered but their deaths were to save him so Oliver was able to harden himself and move on. Barry suffered loss but never witnesses something so traumatic as Zoom and Oliver as your parents’ dying in front of you. In Barry’s case he’s more of a victim than anything though. Before he even became a hero Barry was a target. His enemies took his parents because of their jealousy and spite. Barry said, “Everyone else gets to cheat why can’t I?” Barry has such a big heart that he bruises and feels loss more deeply than anyone on the show so it was completely understandable when he decided that maybe just this once he could bend the rules (not counting when he went back in time and Time Wraiths went after him).

Now Barry has no one... except for Joe, Iris... and Cisco
and Caitlyn and Wally

     Though I understand why Barry did what he did, I can’t help but feel he chose wrong. As much as it hurts Nora’s death served a purpose. How many lives has Barry saved because of the path Nora’s death set him on? How many will die if he doesn’t become the Flash? The Particle Accelerator may still go off but it’s uncertain if Barry will still be The Flash. I think if Time wants Nora to die then she’ll die. I feel that Barry will understand that his actions will have terrible consequences or maybe just mild repercussions? I don’t know I just know stomp on a butterfly and the whole building comes crashing down.