Flashpoint

*For the eponymous event, see Flashpoint (event).*
"*You know what you have to do. You have to take me back to that night and let me finish what I started."
"You go to Hell!"
"You're taking both of us there! Now who's the villain, Flash?! Now who's the villain?!*"
—Eobard Thawne mocking Barry Allen about changing the timeline

## Information

### Written by

**Story by:**
Greg Berlanti
Andrew Kreisberg
**Teleplay by:**
Andrew Kreisberg
Brooke Roberts

## Chronology

### Followed by

"Paradox"

"**Flashpoint**" is the first episode of the third season of *The Flash*, and the forty-seventh episode overall. It aired on October 4, 2016.

## Cast

### Starring

* Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash
* Candice Patton as Iris West
* Danielle Panabaker as Dr. Caitlin Snow
* Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
* Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West/The Flash
* Tom Cavanagh (credit only)
* Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West

### Special guest star

* Matt Letscher as Professor Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash

### Guest starring

* Alex Désert as Captain Julio Mendez
* Michelle Harrison as Nora Allen
* Todd Lasance as Edward Clariss/The Rival
* John Wesley Shipp as Dr. Henry Allen

### Co-starring

* Keri Adams as Bethany Snow
* Michelle De Broel as Barricade Cop
* Lillian Doucet-Roche as Attractive Woman
* Ian Farthing as CFO
* Dimitri Tsoy as Uniformed Cop

## Plot

Barry Allen is in CC Jitters, muttering to himself that "today is the day [he talks] to her". Iris enters and stands in line for a drink. Barry moves to engage her but news of the Flash fighting Rival distracts them both. Barry runs off and chases two speedsters around the city before all three stop in an alley.

A speedster dressed all in black - The Rival - is standing opposite another figure in a red and yellow suit. The police identify this new figure as the Flash as he and Rival fight. Rival throws lightning in an identical manner to that of Barry before escaping as the new Flash saves the police and Barry.

The Flash professes a dislike of Rival and Barry assures him that he will catch Rival next time. The Flash disappears as Barry smiles.

Following the title card, Barry has returned to Jitters and approaches Iris from behind. He uses super-speed to steal her purse under the guise of returning it to her in order to strike up a conversation. It soon becomes clear that in this new timeline, Barry didn't see Iris after elementary school.

He nervously asks her out for a drink to which she accepts.

Despite his mother not having died in this timeline, Barry remains a CSI at the CCPD. Instead of Captain Singh, a Captain Mendez is there instead. After asking for an update on the Rival situation, Mendez is distracted by an absent Detective West. Barry attempts to cover for him and asks for an early evening to 'have dinner with an old friend'.

A flashback covers the night that Barry save his mother from being killed. Barry then dragged the attacker back to the future and to an abandoned warehouse, where Barry has currently arrived at. The old friend in question is actually a bearded Eobard Thawne - the Reverse-Flash.

Barry has used the same techniques as Zoom in order to trap Thawne in a speed-proof cell. Barry leaves Thawne with food and gloats over how he had managed to get everything he and Zoom took. Thawne, however, says that this world he created is a "mirage" and demands to be released as their common enemy - time - is closing in. Barry happily ignores him amidst claims that he will one day beg Thawne to kill his mother.

The view then skips to the next day. Barry is at home with his parents and enjoying breakfast. Nora and Henry gently try to recommend that Barry move out and find his own place. Barry then reveals that he actually has a date with Iris. When back at the CCPD, Barry discovers that Joe has not returned to work again and Captain Mendez is threatening disciplinary action. Barry speeds over to the West house to find a hungover Joe sleeping on the sofa.

He cleans up the sleeping man and transports him across town and into the lift at the CCPD. Joe is seemingly unaware of what happened but asks Barry why he cares - Barry and Joe are not friends in this timeline. Iris then arrives for their date and Joe believes he has figured it out. Iris tells her father that she wasn't even sure he still worked for the CCPD and goes out with Barry. Whilst walking, Barry experiences a sudden loss of memories from his previous timeline.

News of another Flash-Rival fight prevents Iris from pressing the issue. Both run off in separate directions. Barry arrives in time to find the Flash plummeting from a window. He is able to generate a strong enough vortex to slow his fall and discovers that the new Flash is actually Wally West.

Wally takes Barry back to his apartment and reveals that Iris also knows and both ask how Barry knows who Wally is. Instead of telling them the unbelievable truth, he claims that his work as a CSI lead him to find Wally. He offers to help him with Rival but Iris claims only one person can help them. The outside of an undamaged S.T.A.R. Labs is shown before it is revealed to now to be called Ramon Industries. Flashpoint Cisco patented a lot of his inventions and made billions.

This Cisco developed the same type of suit for Wally as he did for Barry but chose to avoid directly helping afterwards. He claimed that fighting against speedsters inevitably ends up with “a vibrating hand going right through your rib-cage”. Barry uses a story his Cisco told him in an attempt to sway him but suffers another loss of memories. In order to find out what is happening, he returns to Eobard Thawne.

Thawne reveals that he hasn't suffered it and while wondering why, he ecstatically says that Barry's use of his speed is causing him to lose his memories and the more he uses it, the faster he will lose them. Unless he frees Thawne to kill Nora, he will forget everything and be unable to return time to how it was before.

Barry does the one thing that he can still do. By snatching people at super speed, he brings Wally, Iris and Cisco to Ramon Industries. He then reveals his existence as the Flash and explains that he is from another timeline. The group does not believe him and Barry brings in another one of his friends - Caitlin Snow. The Flashpoint Caitlin is actually an eye doctor for children but she is able to pinpoint Rival using the city's cameras. Flash and Kid Flash go off to fight him.

Rival is surprised to find another speedster and is so sure of his win that he tells them his real name - Edward Clariss. Wally takes an early lead in the fight but is stabbed in the back when he turns around. Barry then fights Rival but ends up losing more memories and suffers a strong blow to the chest. Rival takes advantage of the distraction by creating two F3 tornadoes.

Barry calls for help and Iris reassures him that he can do it. He unravels both tornadoes by running around the insides, and then defeats Clariss, who calls Barry the fastest . Joe West shoots him in the back and Barry reveals his identity before telling him about Wally.

Caitlin delivers bad news upon their return to Ramon Industries - Wally isn't healing as he should. Barry feels responsible and asks Iris to help him set things right. The pair drop by Nora and Henry and Barry silently wishes his parents goodbye and tells them he loves them. He and Iris then go to Thawne.

Thawne is adamant that Barry say exactly what he wants to hear. "I need you to kill my mother." He is let out of his cage and given his ring, while both claim to hate each other. Although Barry tries to run them back to the past, another wave of memories causes him to collapse and Thawne - claiming that he is the hero now - carries him back despite claiming that he wants to kill him. Barry from that night has just finished calming Nora down before the new Reverse-Flash steps in and kills Nora, both the previous versions of him and Barry disappearing as time is rewritten.

A now clean-shaven Thawne takes Barry to Joe and Iris's house through a time portal.

Although time has now returned to the previous state, Thawne indicates that things will have changed for Barry and promises to return soon.

Barry enters the West house and discovers that Joe and Wally are both their former selves. When asking where Iris is, Joe becomes upset and leaves. Wally reminds Barry that Joe and Iris don't talk with each other before leaving as well. Barry is horrified that he might have somehow caused the schism by meddling with time.

In the final scene, Clariss is in bed with a woman. A sourceless voice, out of nowhere, tells him that it is time to wake up and the word 'ALCHEMY' is cut into his mirror.

## Production

Shooting ran from July 6 until July 18, 2016.

## Gallery

### Videos

The Flash Season 3 Comic-Con Trailer (HD)The Flash Season 3 "Run Devil Run" Trailer (HD)The Flash 3x01 Sneak Peek "Flashpoint" (HD)The Flash 3x01 Sneak Peek 2 "Flashpoint" (HD)The Flash 3x01 Sneak Peek 3 "Flashpoint" (HD)The Flash 3x01 Sneak Peek 4 "Flashpoint" (HD)
## Trivia

* This is the first episode of the series to not feature Tom Cavanagh (although he briefly appeared in archive footage near the end).
	+ This leaves only five cast members to appear in every episode: Grant Gustin (Barry Allen), Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow), Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon), Jesse L. Martin (Joe West) and Candice Patton (Iris West).
* The name of the episode is a reference to the famous storyline in DC Comics known as *Flashpoint*, which launched The New 52 in 2011. This episode is also the second adaptation of *Flashpoint* after the 2013 animated movie *Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox*.
	+ The opening narration of the episode references the letter that Thomas Wayne writes to his son at the end of that comic.
	+ When talking about the new timeline, Eobard Thawne coins the name "Flashpoint" and like the last comic's last issue, Thawne accuses Barry Allen of being the villain.
* The majority of this episode takes place 3 months after the events of the episode "The Race of His Life", and since the events of the previous episode take place on May 24, 2016, that would place this episode somewhere near the end of August 2016.
* This is the first appearance of Wally West as Kid Flash.
* Ramon Industries was revealed to be the S.T.A.R. Labs building that always looks partially destroyed when seen due to the particle accelerator explosion is completely intact in this reality. The Ramon Industries building also bears resemblance to Thawne's S.T.A.R. Labs building in "Doomworld", possibly from reusing footage from this episode.
* Cisco being is a wealthy inventor is a callback to "Welcome to Earth-2", where he he thought of his Earth-2 doppelgänger to be a wealthy inventor.
* When Barry takes everyone to Ramon Industries, Cisco is using a VR headset and says "Unbelievable, it's like I'm really there." This could be a reference to Cisco's vibes. When he does vibe, it does seem like it would give him a type of VR experience.
* The way that Barry explains "Flashpoint" resembles a scene in *Back to the Future: Part II* where Doc Brown explains how alternate 1985 happened. The design drawn by Barry is the exact same design drawn by Doc on his blackboard in the scene from that movie.
* The scene in which Barry and Edward Clariss face off is similar to when Barry first battled Eobard Thawne in "The Man in the Yellow Suit".
* The scene where Clariss is about to kill Barry but is shot by Joe is similar to the "Pilot" episode of the series where Barry goes up against Clyde Mardon. However, there are a few minor differences:
	+ Barry's mask fell back while he unraveled Clyde's tornado, and then, as he was about to shoot Barry, Clyde was shot in the chest by Joe West.
	+ In this case, Barry unwound Clariss's tornadoes, Clariss was about to attack Barry from behind with an electrified punch, only to be shot in the back by Joe. Barry then removes his cowl and reveals his identity to Joe.
	+ Cisco says Clariss is "like a Weather Wizard or something," a nickname he had given in the previous timeline to Clyde's brother weeks later, though when he did so he implied that he'd wanted to use the name on Clyde.
* The way Clariss walks up to Barry, who has his back turned, in an attempt to kill him and ultimately gets shot in the back is a foreshadowing as to how Savitar meets his demise; in the season finale ("Finish Line"), Barry has his back turned on Savitar, who appeared to be passed out. However, Savitar attempts to kill Barry but Iris shoots him in the back.
* Barry tells Thawne he hates him, though in "Running to Stand Still" he had chosen to forgive him for everything he had done, not wanting to hate him anymore. It's likely that interacting with Thawne again and Thawne saying he would kill Barry's mother "With pleasure" is what brought these emotions back out in Barry.
* When Thawne and Barry return to the present, Barry notices the first change in the time continuum in that Iris and Joe don't speak. However, the first tip to this anomaly (the first of many) is that Thawne remained in this time; if things were the same, Thawne would have faded back into the time stream where he ceased to exist.
	+ It's possible that Joe and Wally hanging out at the West house was this timeline's version of the get-together from the previous episode, "The Race of His Life". In the following episode, "Paradox", Felicity Smoak says that Barry came back to the moment he left (repeating what Barry himself had told her off-screen). The episode also implies that Barry and Iris never had the conversation on the porch, and it's revealed that Cisco and Barry's relationship was damaged in this timeline. Taking all this into account, it would make sense for Iris and Cisco to not have attended the get-together at the end of the season 2 finale, leaving only Barry, Joe, Wally, and Caitlin. Caitlin's absence could be explained by the fact that she may not have wanted to come to the get-together if not everyone was there, especially since Cisco is one of her best friends on Team Flash.
* Despite being the episode in which the Post-Flashpoint timeline is created, it is not the first episode to feature events taking place in this timeline. At the end of the *DC's Legends of Tomorrow* season 1 finale "Legendary" (which aired five months before "Flashpoint" and one week before "The Race of His Life"), Rex Tyler visits the Legends, which is later revealed in "The Justice Society of America" to be a result of Eobard Thawne altering the timeline after Flashpoint.
* This episode depicting Barry's ideal life with his parents alive is similar to other episodes in the Arrowverse:
	+ In the *Supergirl* episode, "For the Girl Who Has Everything", a Black Mercy causes Kara to wake up in a dream world where Krypton was never destroyed, so she never came to Earth and still lives with her loving biological family, including her aunt Astra.
	+ In the *Arrow* episode, "Invasion!", the Dominators cause Oliver, Thea, John, Sara, & Ray to wake up in a dream world where Oliver and Sara never got on the *Queen's Gambit* and none their friends or family died.
	+ In the *DC's Legends of Tomorrow* episode, "Doomworld", the Spear of Destiny creates Eobard, Leonard, Damien, and Malcolm an alternate world where they are free to do whatever they want, with their loved ones still alive.

## Goofs

* During the opening scene, the TV spot for Channel 52 is titled "The Rival vs. Kid Flash". This is an error since the populace refers to Wally as "The Flash" since Barry isn't there to take the title. Only Iris, Barry, Joe, and Cisco refer to Wally as Kid Flash.
* When Iris starts to roll her eyes at Cisco refusing to help them, in the very next shot she's not rolling her eyes.

## References

1. ↑ Grant Gustin (@grantgust) - Twitter

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