It’s an inevitable part of any season of The Flash—sometimes occurring multiple times per Big Bad arc. Barry comes up with a terrible plan. Everyone else knows it’s terrible, but Barry insists he has to do it anyway. And pretty much every time, that plan blows up in Barry’s face. It’s just a part of his character we’ve had to accept over the years, and it’s no different in “Timeless”…at least until the last minute.
Barry’s plan to defeat the Forces without helping Nora kill them is to travel back in time and prevent them from being created in the first place. Their creation happened the same night Team Flash fired up the Artificial Speed Force, which explains the different colored lightning that emanated from the rooftop beam. Barry and Iris both have a little bit of all the forces inside them, as they are effectively the parents of Fuerza, Psych, and the Still Force. Hey, it all worked out so well last time Barry and Iris were parents, so why not?
Traveling back in time is one of the big no-nos for Team Flash, as Cisco is quick to remind everyone. Doing so could create another Flashpoint, screw up the timeline, and cause more problems than it solves. Iris is definitely not down for this plan, and Cisco has his strong doubts as well. Barry thinks he can prevent any timeline confusion by…well, going back in time and finding Harrison Wells in the year 2000, relaxing at home with his wife. It’s a little strange to see Tom Cavanagh here just a week after the news that he’s already left the show, but we were promised guest appearances and here’s the first one.
You may recall that “Timeless Wells,” as he’s been dubbed here, has the ability to relive any point in his life, and he seems content to use this extraordinary power to watch old West Wing episodes with his loved one. He does agree to help Barry, as he can use his timelessness to protect the current timeline with a time bubble and…well, he just seems to be making up his powers on the spot, but it’s fine. The question now is not whether Barry can pull off his mission, but whether he should try to do it at all.
Iris doesn’t think so, so she enlists Team Citizen in a plan to track down Nora and try to talk some sense into her. Kamilla is able to use her Cisco-enhanced camera to view Iris’s force energy and use it as a divining rod to track down Nora. The search leads to the old Allen house where Barry’s real mother met her end, and leaves us wondering once again why nothing has been done with this house in the years since. Presumably Barry owns it now and is just leaving it intact in case he ever feels like revisiting the worst night of his life.
Nora isn’t there, but Psych is, leading to Iris’s fear-induced vision of Nora telling her she’ll never be good enough for Barry. Meanwhile, Dion shows up at STAR Labs just in time to temporarily derail the time travel plan. Turns out he’s not too excited about the prospect of being separated from the force that has made him a god.
What Barry really needs at this point is a good old fashioned pep talk from Joe. Hey, it’s been a while! Joe makes an analogy between his attempts at parenting Wally and Barry’s relationship with the Forces, but it doesn’t sink in right away. What separates this occasion from most of Barry’s previous botches is that it does eventually sink in, after he and Wells go back in time and nearly complete the deed. At the last minute, after witnessing the birth of the Forces, Barry decides he was wrong all along, and chooses to let them live. Growth!
It’s not all for nothing, however, as Barry and Iris realize they have the power to bring Alexa back to life. More importantly, we’re finally given a proper goodbye scene between Cisco and Wells, even if there’s no way of knowing for sure whether this will end up being their final scene together. After all, a Timeless Wells could show up at any…uh, time.
Stray observations
- Remember back in the third episode of this season when Wells appeared to see something in STAR Labs that was never explained? Tonight we learned that he saw himself, and evidently decided there must have been a good reason for him to be there, so there was no need to tell anyone else.
- Caitlin mentions that Frost was locked away for life earlier this same day and gets no reaction at all, not even from Barry, who wasn’t around for any of that. Really touching stuff.
- Wells nudges Cisco toward accompanying Kamilla out to San Francisco, which could mean Carlos Valdes’s exit from the series is imminent.
- In last week’s review, I mentioned that the next season of The Flash would be the last. It turns out I must have read that in a newspaper from an alternate timeline, because I can find no evidence of such an announcement now. I guess there’s no telling how long the Flash will run.
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Barry’s not going to help the Speed Force anymore…so what if she brings in a ringer? What if she brings in someone else connected to the Speed Force? Someone willing to help her carry out her plan. Someone that would enjoy a speed boost. What if she brings in Zoom?They’re already setting up Cisco’s exit.I will say that the argument between Barry and Iris is consistent for them. He’s overly self-righteous, and she gets mad at him for not including her in the decision.It’s funny that Iris is the tall one at Team Citizen.
It’s amazing how all of these people can tell Barry that he’s wrong, and he just doesn’t catch on.I THOUGHT that what was going to happen was that Barry would accidentally create a causality loop where instead of destroying the forces, he creates them.So the classic car is going to be a way to track down Psyche.I feel that Psyche will come save Deon. Together they’ll be able to drive off Nora.
They’ve been setting up Cisco’s exit for a really long time. Like when he got a new girlfriend he was suddenly serious with and gave up his powers willingly.
Yeah Carlos has wanted out for a long time lmao
So much (up till now) pointless brooding from Cisco!!! It’s like, fine, marry a mermaid on your summer abroad in Atlantis! Just do it! Why does everyone have to get miraculous powers and be like, “bummer.” And either they’re really playing this badly, or somehow Frost has to be freed soon. Or both…Not unmaking the other forces just felt like… wait. How is this a bad plan? Theyve been around for 3 weeks and done nothing but murder. What about them screams ‘redemption arc’!? Anyway, you’ve got my money, let’s ride this pony.
Maybe we’ll find out later, but I’m wondering if Cisco saw in his vision that he left Central City and wasn’t quite sure how to process that, or saw something like his eminent death that he’s now running away from?
The Speed Force finding another speedster to help her is interesting.Also, I suppose we should be asking: does Thawne’s Negative Speed Force also have its own sentient avatar? Or is that basically what Thawne himself is now?
This episode was at the very least engaging. I was on the edge of my seat either yelling at the Paragon of Stupid….err I mean “Love”, or terrified for team Citizen’s infinitely smarter but still ill-fated idea to track down the forces and reason with them. It’s kind of surprising that the tracking down to reason with them wasn’t Barry’s idea in the first place considering that’s a play straight from the CGI budget cap playbook. Is it just me or has the show not really made a stellar effort to explain why Iris is so integral to the speed force? It’s just kind of weird since we know there are other speedsters in the multiverse (or there were). Is there a reason Barry is so special? Did the speed force choose all of the speedsters in the multiverse but just just sort of had a favorite child? I guess if they’re going the route that Barry created the Speed Force and thus the Speed Force created Barry I suppose that makes sense but just barely and you’d have to ignore a lot of time travel lore already established. Does this mean the Barry from the DCEU isn’t THE Barry? He dies in Crisis? They really need to start thinking this stuff through I swear.
Is it just me or has the show not really made a stellar effort to explain why Iris is so integral to the speed force? It probably has something to do with Iris having once wielded Barry’s speed at one time. That may have left its mark on her.
The Speed Force they recreated can only interact with Prime Earth speedsters now, & Barry was the first one to exist without time travel. Presumably the other multiverse have unique Speed Forces Post-Crisis.
There’s nothing to indicate that. The only non-Earth-Prime speedster that we know of post-Crisis is the Jay Garrick Flash on Earth-2, and he’s dead. I’ve speculated that a new speedster hasn’t popped up on Earth-2 because the Speed Force was dead.
We don’t know anything about Earth-2 speedsters yet either.
There is no other multiverse in the show as of today. That’s not established show canon.
The end of COIE showed that there is a reborn multiverse consisting of things not part of the Beeboverse like Stargirl & Doom Patrol. The inhabitants of Prime-Earth are unaware of it though.
>Is it just me or has the show not really made a stellar effort to explain why Iris is so integral to the speed force?
Iris is the Paragon of Sidling, that’s why.I don’t fault the actor, but there’s always going to be some tension between a “non-powered SO or squad member” role and ready, plausible access to the superpowered meat and potatoes of a show like The Flash. The writers, meanwhile, have squandered multiple opportunities to give her her own non-powered niche. Every time they seem to have a good idea – at least in the broad strokes – they get bored and half-ass it.
From having briefly had Barry’s powers, Iris had a tiny spark of Speed Force in her. They used that tiny spark, together with Barry’s connection to the Speed Force, to recreate it. So while there may not have been an intrinsic link between them before, there is now (though, given the Speed Force is supposed to exist outside conventional time, who knows what “now” even means).
I understand the show’s logic, it’s just not not even trying to be consistent.
Speaking of other speedsters, where IS Wally now?
I’m so glad I wasn’t playing the “Dammit Barry” drinking game tonight, because I would’ve had a massive hangover in the morning.
“In last week’s review, I mentioned that the next season of The Flash
would be the last. It turns out I must have read that in a newspaper
from an alternate timeline, because I can find no evidence of such an
announcement now. I guess there’s no telling how long the Flash will run.”I mean, well played sir, well played.
Cisco – “I’ll always be there to support you Barry.”Also Cisco – “I need to leave Central City.”(May have got quotes slightly wrong as I am going off of memory.)
“I’ll always have your back….See ya, bye!”
Couldn’t help but laugh at the way they were setting up Cisco’s departure. Appreciated seeing Wells again, and hope to see him again at least one more time (I assume in the finale he’ll be back). Also glad to finally see some recognition that the Speed Force isn’t a person, and isn’t Nora–but not enough, as far as I’m concerned.
Agreed about Cisco’s departure. It would have been great if they let Carlos leave when Cisco made the decision to take the cure or when Cisco started adventuring around, but nope, he is leaving because his 1-dimensional girlfriend wants to… OK.
Meh, I’m fine with it. Maybe I’m a sucker for romantic, ride off into the sunset kind of things, but whatever. I was laughing more at the timing of it all.
I wish the series would’ve stuck to the new forces being entities of their own instead of this weird hybrid where they’re possessing people. It just muddies the issue of whether Barry preventing their birth is a good thing (ie. freeing the people under their influence) or he and Iris are now “parents” to these 3 strangers who have these forces. Joe’s pep talk and relating it back to Wally might’ve worked better if Wally had stuck around (and I know that was the actor’s choice and beyond the show’s control). Also if they hadn’t felt the need to insert the voiceover to hammer home Barry’s change of heart. The “remember my lesson” voiceover is usually used when the mentor dies, not when they give you a talk every week.One card they’ve kind of stopped playing is that the speed force looks like Barry’s mom. The subtext is always there, but I just figure they’d talk about it more now that the speed force is evil/untrustworthy, and they don’t.As much as I appreciate Timeless/OG Wells and Cavanagh putting in a few guest appearances…he’s almost too genial for this point in the series. I’m so used to having a prickly Wells that the character just doesn’t pop as much when he’s this agreeable.
Yeah, the new Forces inhabiting people makes things so muddled here. Like, if the Strength Force was somehow extracted from Alexa, would it still be a self-aware being with its own wants and needs, or is it just a power source making Alexa a metahuman, no different from dark matter?
Right, I was totall on Team Barry in this episode. The Speed Forces are not people, they are *possessing* people.
It is just a touch weird that after Wally was so distraught about the Speed Force dying that no one as far as we know has told him that they did a Pet Sematary with it.
I’ve officially given up on trying to figure out what this show is about anymore. Characters come and go at random, are introduced for no good reason, contracts are expiring, and plotting makes no sense (like it ever did). Barry may be the Fastest Man Alive, but he’s also the Dumbest.
Given Gustin’s apparent reluctance to re-up for Season Eight, I think the showrunners should just say “the hell with it” for Season Seven, stop making the show so damn dark, stop it with the Big Bads, stop it with having stupid characters make stupid choice after stupid choice, return to the more light tone of the first couple of seasons, and go out on a high note. But they won’t.
I think season 8’s a done deal, season 9 and beyond is what’s being speculated on. Arrow also had some similar issues post season 5, with main cast members starting to drop off and the overall direction getting a little more unfocused. I always thought the energy was better on Arrow though, whereas everyone on Flash is starting to look like they’d rather be elsewhere. Arrow also capped off with a solid final batch of episodes leading to Crisis that carried the show out on a high note.
I think once Willa Holland and Colton Haynes bailed on Arrow & the remaining cast actually wanted to be there (well except for Stephen Amell who had to be talked into the final season that tied into Crisis) things improved & the last season in particular was strong
They really should have replaced Barry with Wally seasons ago.
I wonder if they can’t get Gustin to re-sign, if the plan is to move on with either Wally or Impulse/Bart (or even, god forbid, Nora).
I think Cisco is a great character but if Carlos Valdes wants out he should go. More screen time for Allegra, Cecile, & the perpetually under-utilized Caitlin (why did she spend this episode apparently hanging out with the strength force’s host’s dead body?)
So the whole time I never quite got what the argument against stopping the other forces from coming to existence actually was? Like, Iris & Cisco were both, “Well, this is the wrong choice” without any articulation of why it was a wrong choice? (Also “you’re going to change the timeline” feels like a lame thing if we’re talking about, like, less than three weeks ago. The whole problem with Flashpoint is Barry changed a MAJOR EVENT of his life from twenty years ago, causing all sorts of ramifications.)
I’m a big enough person to admit I was wrong that they would never pay off that scene of Wells looking off in the earlier episode. But the pay off was fairly pointless, which isn’t much better. Still, I will always welcome a Wells visit. I find I like original recipe Wells quite a bit and I wish we had more time with him.
The whole approach tonight was at best some Idiot Ball storytelling and at worst vaguely anti-abortion. Even if it would’ve been a flawed idea, that nobody even suggested alerting the other Forces and offering some variant of protective custody was an early red flag for me.
As far as the Barry/Iris argument, for once I was closer to being on Barry’s side of things; Speed!Nora already (as far as they knew) killed someone and had declared her intentions of using Barry to do so again. “Talking to her” as a counterpoint sounds pretty ridiculous. Plus, Nora is long dead — if anyone should’ve stuck up for her it should’ve been Joe, who had more of a history with Barry’s actual parents.
As far as Cisco’s story, I’m most surprised that (in canon) it took him this long to get to this point. Workplaces, and workers, are supposed to evolve. Hell, if anything he should be more of a roving consultant for the other heroes and their own support teams now that they’re all (at least vaguely) aware of one another and even working together at times.
Can someone explain where this “Timeless Wells” came from, like what previous episode? I don’t remember this at all, unless they’re saying that after they recreated the speed force, that’s what Wells turned into and somehow Barry knows he’s in the year 2000 (?).This plan makes no sense.
Rewatch the episode where Iris creates the second artificial speed force (not the one where Nash dies) and it should explain everything.
Wells sacrificed himself to activate the artificial speed force in the season premiere.At the end of the next episode Wells materializes where “original Wells” died 20 years ago.In the next episode (the final Mirror Monarch episode), Wells arrives to help Barry. At the end he puts himself into a time loop so he can relive any point of his life, particularly the time he was still married to his wife.