in defense of the flash 2x23/s3
listen. i realize that not everyone is excited for/supportive of the flash’s choice to work with the flashpoint arc. but it’s an important 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 didn’t fully become aware of the way that his choice could’ve impacted time. (it’s also important to note that the wormhole was stable and things would’ve been fine had eddie not killed himself to save barry and the team. the only reason things malfunctioned was because of that choice–barry’s running through time did no harm.)
we see a little of the impacts of dabbling with time in s2, but it’s mostly in the flashback episode (2x17?), where it only really offers with hartley’s 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 don’t need to worry about time travel. and yeah, barry eventually comes to terms with the loss of his mother–something that’s traumatized him for his whole life, something he’d never thought he could escape (“how am i supposed to make peace with that?”). 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 that’s torn to pieces by the end of 2x22.
zoom kills henry in front of him. henry, the central focus of his abilities–barry’s 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 he’s released from prison and barry is so! happy! he leaves, which breaks barry’s heart, but he’s free and he’s alive and well and that’s 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. he’d lost so much time with him over the past 15 (?? idk if that’s 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 barry’s life again and to join team flash. and it’s 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 he’s 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? barry’s closeness to his father is amplified because of the forced absence the two experienced. nothing about his acceptance of his mother’s 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. they’ve 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 zoom’s actions, would choose to go back in time and save his mom? he’s lonely. he’s sad and he’s angry and he’s been beaten up by the universe so goddamn much. he loves iris and he loves joe and he loves his friends, but there’s only so much they can do to patch up his broken heart caused by the loss of his loved ones. he’s literally never been this broken down. he tells that to iris. he’s so far from okay that he can’t even feel positively about him and his team defeating zoom. he just wants to feel okay. that’s why he saves his mom–he’s lost so many of his loved ones, and been unable to save so many of his friends and family members, and he’s been carrying that weight for most of his life. he just wants to save someone and have it matter*. (*not that the people he has saved don’t matter–but his parents are some of the most looming figures in his life, and he’s watched them both die. he chose not to save one, and couldn’t 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 he’s always wanted to do–save his mom. he gets to do that. and he gets this new life along with it, one that’s remarkably different from his old one. and you think, from here, he’d be happy with it. right? spoiler alert: he’s 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, he’s going to need to come to terms with who he is and what he wants to be–the 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 beyond 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? it’s barry’s emergence. he’s the flash now, sure. but after flashpoint–after everything he goes through, all the decisions he makes and the people he gains and loses–he becomes The Flash.
