Season three of The Flash is knocking it out of the park in terms of storyline. “Paradox” introduces more than Dr. Alchemy’s voice, we actually get to see the character. (Very Dr. Doom with that iron mask, but then DC and Marvel are famous for characters that “resemble” one another.) This episode has a clear moral to its story.
Learn to live with the changes you have made, in other words, stop trying to fix your mistakes and learn to accept things as they are. Pretty good advice for both time travel issues and real life.
After last week’s revelation that things are different in this new timeline, Barry learns just how far they have changed from his first reality. After having a moan to Felicity Smoak he learns that his mucking about with the timeline also affected the people in Star City.
Allen notes a lot of change. The many differences include, apart from changing John Diggle’s little girl into a boy, Cisco’s brother has died, Iris and Joe are not speaking, Caitlin has a cool secret and Barry has a new office-mate, Julian Albert.
His new co-worker dislikes Barry intensely and the feeling is, apparently, mutual.
In this alternate timeline, Dr. Alchemy is busy creating new super villains to take The Flash on. Clariss is given his speedster powers back and there are other “husks” found around the city.
Barry is upset when he learns that there is a lot of disharmony in this new world. He finally decides to go back in time again and change things once more.
He is stopped by The Flash (Jay Garrick) who tells Barry that he has been watching him. The two have a talk in 1998 and at the end of their conversation, Barry decides to live with the most recent changes he has made.
As he attempts to shape these versions of his friends and family into carbon copies of the other timeline’s people, Clariss goes on the attack. Using the help of Dr. Alchemy and the philosopher’s stone, sans Harry Potter, The Rival beats The Flash pretty soundly.
Just as it looks like Barry will be killed, Cisco shows up and saves the day. Clariss is put into jail and Dr. Alchemy is not best pleased that his speedster failed. The villain enters Clariss’ jail cell and from his screams it sounds like Alchemy has taken The Rival out of the picture.
Tom Felton is a nice addition to the cast of The Flash. After years of playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise, Felton has perfected the fine art of looking and acting snotty.
It will be interesting to see what other changes have been wrought by Allen’s tampering. The ripple effect already changed Diggle’s kid’s gender and there may yet be changes to other characters in this new timeline.
The Flash airs Tuesdays on CW. Tune in and see if Caitlin reveals her powers to Barry or not.
Cast:
- Grant Gustin – Barry Allen/The Flash
- Candice Patton – Iris West
- Kenyan Lonsdale – Wally West
- Jesse L. Martin – Joe West
- Carlos Valdes – Cisco Ramon
- Danielle Panabaker – Caitlin Snow
- Todd Lausanne – Edward Clariss/The Rival
- John Wesley Shipp – Henry Allen/The Flash
- Tobin Bell – Dr. Alchemy (voice)
- Tom Felton – Julian Albert
Guest starring Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak.
Mikes Film Talk 