Flash, Season 3: My name is Barry Allen and I'm the dumbest man alive

[Pronounceable]

We all knew it was coming.

Just jump to 1:42. Do it.
...
While I more or less despised everything they did in the latter half of second season, this trailer has some promising things and one solid golden point: A brand new Iris that has nothing to with the pile of crap that existed previously. Who knows how long that'll last. I also dig Cisco1.5 and what little we see of Vanilla Eobard. No Harry III but I suppose you gotta keep some stuff for the actual airing.

Spoiler: bonus content

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[Dragonexx]

Just jump to 1:42. Do it.

Scene being referenced.

[BlueHerring]

Love the title and the article reminds me of that one Simpsons episode where Homer tries to make breakfast, but everything sets on fire (including the cereal).

[Freemason Than]

I'm ... sorta interested, I guess?
The Flashpoint Paradox is a good story, but it feels very shoehorned here. The way they set it up at the end of season 2 didn't make a whole lot of sense, and the series didn't really need a pseudo-reboot to shake things up to begin with.
If anything, it looks like they'll be retreading familiar ground instead, what with focusing on Barry saving/not saving his mother for the umpteenth time already. And the main villain will most likely be an evil speedster, again (for the third time in a row, at that).

At least the different character dynamics seem interesting.
I'm actually worried the most about them ramping up the amount of lame crossover episodes even more.

[Zmeoaice]

I sure hope we see the Harrison Wells who isn't a jerk face.

Anyways, I wouldn't mind this universe actually being the one the Flash takes place in from now on, the only thing that gets to me is the new Cisco who I don't like.

Wally becomes Kid Flash, that's cool.

[lord_khaine]

Well.. that did actually look kinda interesting. Had not been interested in the Flash serie before, but i am now.

And the main villain will most likely be an evil speedster, again (for the third time in a row, at that).

Well.. it kinda has to? I mean, unless Flash is juggling multiple idiot balls, then there is not much that should give a person trouble when he can move at lightspeed. At least not in a physical confrontation.
I do understand how boring repeated mirror matched must be for those that have been along from the start.

[Freemason Than]

I agree that it's hard to challenge the Flash, but you don't necessarily need a speedster to do it, for the same reason you can still challenge Superman with Lex Luthor, or Batman with the Joker.

The Flash has a very interesting and varied rogues gallery - enemies who can control the weather, use mind control, use sound-based weaponry, can generate freezing fields, can duplicate themselves, create holograms or turn invisible, and so on. They don't even need to be all that combat-capable. You can target the Flash by uncovering his secret identity, going after the people he loves or abusing the fact that even the fastest man alive can't be everywhere at once.

Many of these villains have actually already appeared on the show, but they've been treated only as minor foes (some of whom even got killed off in their debut episodes) or had them quickly turn away from a life of crime. Since this is an alternate continuity though, any of these villains could make a much more threatening reappearance. But I doubt they'll be main villain material here either, considering the source material.

[lord_khaine]

Oh yeah certainly, alternative modes of attack is much more viable than putting the flash in a situation he can run or punch his way out of.

Unfortunately that wont give as good a season finale as having him run or punch an opponent down, hence the need for a physical confrontation. And it kinda also need to be an opponent the flash can use his speed against, since thats what a lot of fans want to see, so no telepathic villian either.

[Pronounceable]

Audiences' thirst for Grodd is unquenchable, so telepathy will always be in.

Sad that he can't be the main baddie just due to cgi costs. Flash already got beaten several times because he ran out of effects budget, they couldn't possibly manage a Grodd season.

[BlueHerring]

Well.. that did actually look kinda interesting. Had not been interested in the Flash serie before, but i am now.



Well.. it kinda has to? I mean, unless Flash is juggling multiple idiot balls, then there is not much that should give a person trouble when he can move at lightspeed. At least not in a physical confrontation.
I do understand how boring repeated mirror matched must be for those that have been along from the start.

Well, for starters, this Flash perpetually juggles the idiot ball, and really only gets things done thanks to either Cisco, Joe, Iris or Wells motivating him to unlock his Move Of The Week.

And he doesn't actually move at light speed. I think his top speed is Mach 4, maybe 5?

But yeah, they really need to bring in the Rogues more often, and stop using other speedsters as villains.

Also, Wally's Kid Flash costume looks really weird, and resembles the RF costume quite a bit.

[dancrilis]

I could easilly be wrong here but I suspect that this will at most last a few episodes and than back to pseudo-normal again.

[BlueHerring]

I could easilly be wrong here but I suspect that this will at most last a few episodes and than back to pseudo-normal again.

Honestly, it'll probably last - at most - until December, or whenever they break the show off for a month.

[Janus]

and the series didn't really need a pseudo-reboot to shake things up to begin with.

If the Flashpoint Paradox can somehow Make Arrow Great Again, it'll be worth it all.
.....I know Arrow can't be fixed without changing the executives in charge, but I can dream, dang it.

Spoiler

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#NoLaurelNoArrow

[TheOldCrow]

Okay, I just watched 301, and I don't get flashpoint.

Spoiler: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time

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If Barry's first reality is a product of time travel, then changing it back isn't changing it to how it is supposed to be. How is Reverse Flash so omniscient about how it works and what the consequences will be? Weren't Barry and Iris friends before his parents were murdered, or am I remembering this wrong? How did Nora living turn whatsername into an eye doctor?

[Starbuck_II]

Okay, I just watched 301, and I don't get flashpoint.

Spoiler: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time

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If Barry's first reality is a product of time travel, then changing it back isn't changing it to how it is supposed to be. How is Reverse Flash so omniscient about how it works and what the consequences will be? Weren't Barry and Iris friends before his parents were murdered, or am I remembering this wrong? How did Nora living turn whatsername into an eye doctor?

I think, no, because Barry changing after the fact, meant the time force was upset with Barry and separated certain things from him as punishment..

[ryuplaneswalker]

Audiences' thirst for Grodd is unquenchable, so telepathy will always be in.

Sad that he can't be the main baddie just due to cgi costs. Flash already got beaten several times because he ran out of effects budget, they couldn't possibly manage a Grodd season.

Get a dude in a Monkey Suit. Get THIS dude have someone voice over it like they did Vader and there you win.

[Pronounceable]

Okay, I just watched 301, and I don't get flashpoint.

I also did. What I got is that these writers are still terrible and dumb and it was a complete waste of any potential they could've had.

[TheOldCrow]

I think, no, because Barry changing after the fact, meant the time force was upset with Barry and separated certain things from him as punishment..

Hmmm, perhaps you are right about the Speed Force being involved.

Spoiler: Wally

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Wally just happening to get hit by lightning and getting Flash powers despite Star Labs not going Kaboom does seem awfully suspicious. Unless that is just random writing (and it might be), then the speed force is creating a Flash at that moment in time no matter what.

I also did. What I got is that these writers are still terrible and dumb and it was a complete waste of any potential they could've had.

Yeah, not sure what their point was. For some reason it is bad to interfere with time travelers interfering with the timeline. But interfering with time by allowing time travelers to interfere with the timeline is a good thing. For reasons. I guess?

Spoiler: Caitlyn and Cisco

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The difference with Caitlyn and Cisco must be due to Wells and Mrs Wells not getting murdered, rather than it having to do with Nora not getting murdered. Fake Wells was never there to manipulate their lives. Of course, this doesn't explain how Star Labs got bought up by Cisco in this new timeline. This is still obviously not the timeline Reverse Flash originally went back to change. The new universe is also different. Maybe the moral is supposed to be time travel of any kind makes it impossible to get back the right universe... so by all means lets let the Reverse Flash go because he won't possibly continue to mess around in time! Plus those Legends of Tomorrow idiots are trashing the universe on a weekly basis.

[random11]

I think that as a rule of thumb, if a series reaches an episode about time travel (if it's not the main theme of the series), it's an indication that the writers are out of ideas.
If I'm not mistaken, Flash had four time travels, three of them led to some sort of a reboot.

Also, are the DC universe heroes allergic to love/happiness, or are the writers just incapable of writing a superhero that has a relationship that lasts more than 5 minutes?

[Dragonexx]

The Flash established time travel in the first episode and it's been a constant thing throughout the series.

As to the romance, both Marvel and DC seem to be against heroes being in stable relationships in the comics, last I heard. I can't fathom why though.

[Rogar Demonblud]

We've gone back to the Iron Age. Heroes are deeply screwed up people who basically have no idea how to function normally. Makes it kind of hard to have a relationship.

Also, editors seem to think that having relationships takes away from The Action! Given the ceaseless churn of disasters and reboots, I'm wondering if this isn't just a sign that they're in a terminal tailspin.

[random11]

The Flash established time travel in the first episode and it's been a constant thing throughout the series.

As to the romance, both Marvel and DC seem to be against heroes being in stable relationships in the comics, last I heard. I can't fathom why though.

No, it was established as a possibility and as a plot point that will happen, but it was never supposed to be the main focus of the character.
The fact it was used so frequently beyond the first introduction only shows how fast they ran out of ideas.
The result? We have a hero that constantly learns that time travel should not be used, only to repeat the same mistake, and then fix the damage for an entire season just to break the universe again.

I'm trying to imagine how things will look from the mother's perspective after season 5:

Reverse flash: I'm here to kill you!
Flash: (punches him), It's okay, I saved you.
Another flash: No, you must let it happen, the universe is in danger!
Yet another one: Screw that, you're saved again.
Evil masked speedster: I'm here to kill the mother, who is the last one on line?
Mother: You know what? You decide if I'm supposed to die or not, I'm making a cup of tea.


As for the relationship, on a very basic level the idea is to keep the status-quo, keep using the same sexual tension and emphasize the same motivations from the beginning.
So while the "why" is understandable on a very basic level, I consider it to be a huge missed opportunity. Instead of constantly rebooting using time travel, changing the level of relationship between characters can create something new while supporting character growth.

Every superhero show does the same mistake on some level, but without any doubt the DC TV universe takes the gold medal. "Arrow" alone can take the prize, and it's only made ridicules when it's repeated over and over for all the others.

[Blue Lantern]

The Flash established time travel in the first episode and it's been a constant thing throughout the series.

As to the romance, both Marvel and DC seem to be against heroes being in stable relationships in the comics, last I heard. I can't fathom why though.

If I had to guess is the Joss Whedon school of thought, "Happy people make boring television".

AKA- It is harder to create drama if you can not use the stereotypical soap opera relationship angst and many writers don't want to make the effort.

[Hopeless]

Why not just reveal every time

Spoiler

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he tried to change things he pulled a Reboot Star Trek movie until he realised he was just creating unnecessary parallel realities and thanks to Reverse Flash found his way back to his actual reality?

At least that would explain how and why the Reverse Flash lost his powers and was stuck in the past if he ended up pursuing Barry through ALL of those parallel realities so when he finally succeeded he realised he had drained his own powers as he was more dependent on that siphoned speed energy than Barry was!

As far as I'm concerned the whole deal with Flashpoint was revealing that Batman's dad was even scarier than his son is!

[GAZ]

With regards to Barry's time traveling shenanigans changing seemingly unrelated things, I really wish they had Flash and RF discuss it because the Flashpoint Paradox cartoon had a decent explanation. It is not Nora Allen living or dying that directly changes somebody else's occupation, but that fact that Barry went back and changed anything at all. The act of breaking the time stream like he did ripples events around the break in both directions, no matter if the two events are connected or not.

I also wish that the show had spent more time in the Flashpoint world and done more with the actual Flashpoint story. Like I get that Thomas Wayne, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman are off limits. But couldn't they have used the characters they do have to get some of the same cool story beats? Barry going to Star City to find Oliver and find Robert Queen as the drunken murderer Arrow instead? Meanwhile the big war going on is between Grodd's Gorilla City and Kara or Astra's New Krypton. Besides being bigger and more epic, this would have also helped drive home the point that Barry's kinda being a selfish jerk by subjecting the world to this just so he can personally be happy with his mommy.

Complaints aside, I love this show and I'm glad it's back.

[norival1992]

I'd prefer Kid Flash or Jesse Quick to stay without powers for a few seasons.

[theNater]

Besides being bigger and more epic, this would have also helped drive home the point that Barry's kinda being a selfish jerk by subjecting the world to this just so he can personally be happy with his mommy.

Yeah, the new universe doesn't really seem all that bad; definitely not "let my parents be killed" bad. A metahuman war or something would really help sell that.

[Swaoeaeieu]

Spoiler: episode 3

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so last week barry "fixed" the timeline only to find out he broke Joe and Love interest. he also finds out sisko is now sad, and also other problems! gasp and shock, this new new world is terrible. Causing Barry to be true to his title and try to mess it up again. thankfully someone stops him and tells him to grow a pair and deal with problems instead of constantly making things worse.
then he fixes all the broken feelings, but oh no, there is a new bad guy bringing in problems from the other Flashpoint world.

also Felicity.

So yea... new episode. I didnt really see it before, but that dumbest man alive stuf is starting to become very obvious now. Also a lot of this drama seems forced. Will there be an interesting vilain this season?

[huttj509]

"You should tell them."
"I can't, we're a CW show."

[random11]

Stupidity aside, I have a very big problem with this from a basic story perspective.

We spent two seasons getting to know the characters and their interactions with each other.
Now, not only I need to relearn everything, it also seems that every dramatic moment the new characters had happened off screen.
How am I as a viewer supposed to care about the characters?