The Flash: 4 Things We Learned from the Season 3 Premiere [SPOILERS]

The Flash is back, and everything is different because of Barry Allen's choices during the Season 2 finale. However, can Barry live in this unfamiliar, parallel timeline, or did Allen's decisions makes everything worse?

At the end of Season 2, The Flash went back in time and saved his mother from Reverse Flash. However, this wasn't supposed to happen. Nora Allen was supposed to die. Season 3 picks up in the present day, but everything has changed because of Barry's actions.

A lot has changed for the Season 3 premiere, but what does all this mean for the overarching story and plot this year? While a lot has changed, here are the moments that are going to affect the rest of the upcoming episodes.

Warning: Spoilers for the Season 3 premiere ahead!

The Rival Wasn't Just a One-Shot Villain

In what was dubbed the "Flashpoint" universe, Wally West is The Flash and his arch-nemesis is a speedster called The Rival. His real name is Edward Clariss, and he just wants to be the fastest man alive and to have a worthy adversary. A chunk of the episode revolves around this new villain, with Barry and Wally fighting him.

After the timeline is reset (more on that below), and Barry returns to the world the world he once knew, there is a post-credit sequence. Clariss is lying in bed with his wife, and he hears a voice call out to him. He wakes up and sees the word "Alchemy" being carved into his bedroom mirror.

There's a lot that could be at play here. Maybe Clariss is the seasonal villain Doctor Alchemy in this world and Mirror Master (who will also be a part of this season) is reaching out to him. Maybe Clariss is Mirror Master and Alchemy was talking to him. The most likely scenario is that Clariss will become The Rival though. We do know Clariss is in the season for more than one episode.

Time Can Set & Become Unfixable

This whole episode deals with time and how it can be manipulated. Barry saved his parents from Reverse Flash, and in doing so, it altered the present day completely. However, as the episode moved forward, Barry's memories of his past life started to disappear. Why is this happening?

Barry talks to the Reverse Flash, who he has locked up in a glass cage that dampens his powers. Reverse Flash explains that every time Barry uses the Speed Force, his memories start to fade. The current time line they are in is setting and becoming permanent, and Barry's memories of the prior world are being purged. If this keeps up, everything will be erased, including what Barry's learned about the Speed Force.

This moment is the most important part of the series thus far. Barry has been on a quest to find out who killed his mother and a way to stop it from happening. In Season 1, he decided that he couldn't change the past. However, in Season 2, he said "screw it" and did it anyway. Barry learned that if you change the past, it will alter the present, and according to Reverse Flash, if you do that, time will snap permanently into place, and you won't be able to change it back.

Reverse Flash is Alive

As you've already realized, Reverse Flash is alive. Barry went back in time to save his mother, and after doing so, he brought Reverse Flash to the present. Strangely enough, Barry's most infamous villain is also the voice of reason throughout the entire episode.

After Reverse Flash explains to Barry why Nora Allen needs to die, he brings Barry to the past, and once again, kills Nora, in order to change the present back to what Barry was accustomed to. Barry saw his mother die one more time. How many times can this show traumatize the character?

More importantly, Reverse Flash escapes, and here's where it gets a bit tricky. At the end of Season 1, Reverse Flash met his end. As the audience learns towards the end of the "Flashpoint" episode, not everything Barry knew about the timeline is the same. Does this mean Reverse Flash could be back as well or is that moment a fixed point in time as well? Considering these two characters cross paths quite a bit, we're sure this isn't the last time we've seen him.

The West Family Dynamic is Different

After Barry lets Reverse Flash kill his mother, he goes back to the present, to where he lives with Joe, Wally, and Iris West. However, Iris isn't there. Joe, Wally, and Barry share a beer to remember Henry Allen's life, since Henry died at the end of Season 2.

Barry quickly finds out that Joe and Iris aren't on speaking terms. Something big happened, and Barry has no clue what it is. Joe seemed really upset when Iris was brought up, and it's something that this timeline's Barry would know about. That means not everything in this timeline was exactly like Barry left it.

Our guess is that Reverse Flash is screwing with Barry again. Why would something be changed in this timeline otherwise? In addition, it's the nature of the character. He's always had a rivalry with Barry and will stop at nothing to completely ruin his life.

Overall, the Season 3 premiere of The Flash may have seemed like a throwaway, villain of the week episode, but it offered so much more, especially in the way of character development for Barry. He finally realizes he can't change the past without losing everything and everyone he knows. It also put him between a rock and a hard place as he had to team up with the man who ruined his life.

More importantly, it sets the tone for the rest of season. These moments may not be front and center, but we do learn that there are multiple threats to the Flash family. Barry may be distracted by the situation with Iris, so he won't be on top of his game. This episode didn't have the same impact the Season 2 premiere had, but it is a great start to the season.

I really hope Flash doesn't plan for another season of Barry doubting his abilities. It's time for the character to grow rather than revert back to where he was at the beginning of the season. I'm tired of Barry learning the same lesson and not doing better next time.

Damn I missed this show.

Let's hope this season won't revolve around Barry training to be faster in order to defeat the main villain, who actually wants to use the former's speed for his own diabolical reasons.

@inferiorego: Bro like,WTF?!??

Us West coast people haven't seen it yet.

So here's some food for thought, why not wait till us WC people see it before dropping this thread??

P.S. I didn't read it, just pissed that us WC ppl are not thought of.

@emperorxhadesx420:

Why are you complaining if you didn't read it? It very clearly says "spoilers"

@buttersdaman000:

Some people are weak willed.

@emperorxhadesx420: Then move to the superior coast.

Really hope they don't drag the whole will they won't they thing another season, we already know they will, just bite the bullet already and let something good happen.

@buttersdaman000: Bro, I'm complaining because he should wait till its shown on the West Coast.

Or does that bother you??

@emperorxhadesx420: It bothers me. Read the friggin headline before you decide to proceed. What ever you screwed up is on you.

Lol the Rival was such a trash tier villain, he was only as fast as an F3 Tornado and he owned Kid Flash. Hopefully, they get better because he was fodder.

This was a horrible start to the season and might even make me drop this show.

A decent start to the season.

In addition to the notion that time can become fixed a certain point after it's changed, I hope they'll introduce the idea that repeatedly going back to the same point and in time and altering the time stream can have some kind of cascading/ripple effect in timestream integrity. That way, Barry can't kep going back to the moment of his mother's murder and trying to "fix" things (we're up to about 4 or 5 trips at this point) At some point he's just going to have to live with the consequences. (However, I get the feeling that his not going to accept a life w/o Iris that easily).

He doesn't have to wait. He can write the review a day early for all I care. There's a spoiler warning right there. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't click. I assure you all the rationale users on the west coast simply waited to open the article.

@buttersdaman000: I didn't read the article special case. And why don't you allow the staff to answer for himself??

I certainly don't want cheerleaders doing it for him.

The Reverse Flash makes the show. By the end of the show there will be 20 Reverse Flashs and Flashs. Also since Reverse Flash left the house and managed to travel to the future does this mean that the real Harrison Wells is alive?

Wow!! What a sloppy episode!!

Who says Reverse Flash had to have done anything to make Iris and her dad's relationship have gone bad? Barry's now broken the time barrier multiple times, changing history back and forth over and over. You think that doesn't come with its own share of consequences?

Can we stop with the motivational speech cliché already?

It's getting boring after 2 seasons now.

It's literally how all fights go down:

Flash: Herp Derp. I have no idea what I'm doing lols.

Flash's team: You can do it, Barry!

*Job done*

Not the best start to the season. It was less Flashpoint and more like everyone had a bad week. And why exchange the main Flashpoint for a slight less changed Flashpoint by the end of the ep? Just didn't work for me at all.

Maybe this is a start of a set of eps where Barry is constantly trying to put things right so we will get multiple versions of Flashpoint until ultimately he changes things so much we get a hell world and then we need the huge crossover episodes to fix it.

That could be cool.

This season premier started off strong.... and then it all went downhill after the pep talk, Jesus Christ.

Flash should've stomped Rival. Cisco said Wally was Mach 2, Barry at EoS 2 was what, 10 times faster than that? Unless Rival was holding back all the time around Wally, Barry should've stomped.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I loved the dynamic between Eobard and Barry in the S3 premiere. Such great dialogue. So, is The ORIGINAL Wells back? Or, since they technically restored the timeline, is what Eobard did to wells a fixed point in time?

@sbr999: That made me LOL xD

@emperorxhadesx420: or just refrain from clicking on a thread that says "spoilers" before you see the episode. That works too

No more speedforce users please.

I can't wait for DCEU Flash. He seems to be a loner, no team in his ear giving him pep talks and telling him to "run". Like, no sh*t, he should run.

@supremegeneration: Well, he beat him pretty easy til that Flashpoint mind thing kicked in.

@the_stegman: Not really. Right before that, Rival had more punches in. Then twisters, then Iris inspiring cos plot, THEN Barry stomps.

Not a good episode. No more time travel please.

@emperorxhadesx420: by your logic:

"Does it hurt you?? Is it go make any difference now or later??"

Then you're in the wrong. If it makes no difference then why whine about it?

@emperorxhadesx420: I'm not a retard. I was tested.

@emperorxhadesx420: Dude take a chill pill and go watch the show then come back and comment like a civil adult

Why? Why the glarking hell change history only to erase change after just frigging episode? Why?!!
Hell, CW is breaking through bottom.

@emperorxhadesx420:

OMG please just shut up, they don't have to wait for west coast people to write an article. quit being a child, what make you think you're so special that they should wait until you've seen the episode ?

This was such a lousy episode, I´m really disappointed, also, the pep talk is very annoying, at this point Barry is practically useles unless he gets one.

Strangely enough, Barry's most infamous villain is also the voice of reason throughout the entire episode.

well, given that this is the same universe as Arrow, i assume that nobody would shut the hell up about how they shouldn't trust him

@emperorxhadesx420: You could have seen it on The CW's app. I believe the episode was on there before it aired on the west coast. Seriously though, you're on a site about comics, that often talks about shows based on comics, and you decide to check out the site on the night they premiered one of the higher rated shows based on a comic BEFORE you saw the episode. I was on the site before I saw the episode, but I didn't go to the article. I just avoided it.

LOL Flashpoint should be Season 5 at the very least, not a lousy Season 3

Er, I know I'm probably just restating what was explained in the show/recap, but the timeline doesn't become fixed because of some magic science, the timeline becomes fixed only because the people who remeber the original timeline, Barry and Thawne, would eventually have those memories overwritten and thus eliminating the opportunity to make more changes.

Maybe I misread, but the recap and others make it sound like an effect of time itself when it's about the memory affected.

Or in other words, Thawne could always write a letter to himself stating when to go back and who to kill and even if he forgets the original timeline, could follow his own instructions and repair it. Time and abilities aren't cemented, but their memories.

Well I for one loved the episode. Everything about it, except the pep talk thing. After 2 seasons I feel like Barry shouldn't be doubting himself anymore. He's stopped a black hole from opening for Christ sake. Other then that it was excellent. Rival was entertaining & the fight scenes were dope. Solid start to the season IMO. I just hope they don't do the whole Barry doubting himself thing this entire season again or else it will drag. Is it just me or does this show need more Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash? That dude seriously makes everything better lol he is just so damn good.

Oh & the only reason the Rival was a challenge for Barry was because he clearly wasn't at his top form. Thawne told him the more he used his powers the more he'd lose his memories of his past life & that meant losing his speed as well. Like when he was trying to save Wally from falling with the arm twister thing but messed up. The episode was hinting at him not being in top form the entire time. Just wish they hadn't killed it with the whole Iris giving him a prep speech thing. Still loved every moment of the episode though. Especially drunk Joe lol

5th Thing We Learned: Wally is only "Kid Flash" for one episode (and not even the whole episode).