The Flash – Paradox

By: Stacy Miller

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) as The Flash reset the timeline at the end of last week’s season premiere episode Flashpoint, but he realized everything wasn’t as he had left it before he changed it. The episode Paradox opens with a frustrated Barry running all the way to Star City (super speed comes in handy) to talk and share his feelings with “Arrow’s” Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards). He tells her what he did to the timeline and how there are changes even though he restored everything. In addition to Iris and Joe (Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin) being estranged, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is angry with Barry for not running back in time and saving his brother’s life. In this altered timeline, Cisco’s brother was killed by a drunk driver. Cisco is not the fun-loving character he used to be and not the successful rich guy from the Flashpoint timeline. He’s just angry.

Also in this restored timeline, or as I like to call “restored timeline but not really,” Barry has a new co-worker. He is Julian Dorn (Tom Felton), Central City’s head CSI expert who also has knowledge of Meta Humans. It’s obvious that Dorn is not impressed by Barry. Felicity finds that surprising as, “Everybody loves Barry Allen. You’re like pudding and everyone loves pudding,” she says. Well Felicity, maybe Dorn is more of an ice cream man.

It also seems that Central City’s timeline wasn’t the only one changed. Over in Star City, John Diggle (David Ramsey) now has a son instead of a daughter. Barry needs to fix all these problems caused by the changes he made. He decides to first start with repairing Iris and Joe’s relationship. To this end, Barry arranges a dinner so they can sit down, eat and talk. He does this by telling both Iris and Joe what they want to hear from the other. Obviously, Barry didn’t think about what would happen when they actually talk during dinner and learn the truth. Cisco and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) also join this sit down summit, I mean dinner. But it’s a strained meal to say the least.

The dinner is interrupted by a Meta Human causing trouble. It is Edward Clariss (Todd Lasance) a/k/a The Rival from the Flashpoint timeline. He is angry with Barry for messing with HIS timeline. Fortunately (for him), he was visited by a mysterious person called Doctor Alchemy who was able to give him back his powers in this timeline and is determined to make The Flash take him back. The Rival and The Flash battle, but Clariss escapes before Barry can bring him in. He later learns that Clariss is part of a case Julian Dorn is working on involving human husks.

Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp), Barry’s father Henry’s doppelganger, appears and takes him to a diner in the 1990s to have a talk about the trouble with playing with the timeline. Every time The Flash does so it damages the space time continuum, which isn’t easily repaired. Jay basically gives Barry the same speech that Uncle Ben from Spiderman gave to Peter Parker stating “with great powers comes great responsibility.” Barry’s responsibility as The Flash is to save people and work towards good, but not think he can change the bad with a reset into the past. Although Jay isn’t actually Barry’s father, this is dad-like advice from a trusted face. I hope that Jay will continue to make appearances throughout the season as it can’t hurt for Barry to get a lecture on what’s right and what’s wrong every now and then.

When he gets back to his own timeline, Barry tells his friends about the Flashpoint timeline. Everyone is surprised, to say the least, except Cisco. He’s now angry with Barry for going back in time to save his own mother and not helping Cisco’s brother. Barry tells Cisco that changing the timeline was wrong, regardless of the reason.

Barry as The Flash has another battle with The Rival who brought a friend to the fight this time: Doctor Alchemy (Tobin Bell). Two against one, no fair! Barry appears to be no match for this team up. Fortunately for him, he gets a little help from his friends. Or should I say friend. Cisco arrives wearing his power glove and is able to defeat The Rival and Doctor Alchemy.

Towards the episode’s conclusion, Iris tells Barry that even if she doesn’t remember what she was like in Flashpoint she’s certain that they are meant to be together and will find a way to make that happen. I agree with Iris. She and Barry seem to share a romantic destiny in whatever timeline and will end up together no matter what it takes. That’s the good news. The bad news seems to be that Caitlin may become closer to her Killer Frost destiny as it looks like the Ice Queen’s powers are starting to come out.