And we’re back! After almost three months without a new episode, THE FLASH has returned. This episode centers on Barry and Iris’ children, Nora and Bart, with a new twist on messing up the timeline. It’s one of the better episodes in an already-excellent season, and it opens up a whole world of possibilities. Wanna know more? Follow us after the jump!

SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

NOTE: This review is posting prior to THE FLASH airing in the Pacific Time Zone USA. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, STOP HERE and come back after watching the show. You’ll be glad you did!

At the end of the “Armageddon” arc, we saw a picture of the CCPD crew that mysteriously included Nora and Bart. This episode let’s us know how that happened. But, there a LOT that goes on before we get to that picture.

You see, the help Nora and Bart gave in the fight against Godspeed changed the timeline. Jay Garrick is alive, but Joan Garrick has been erased from the timeline. They realize something went wrong and go to the Flash Museum to find out about any other changes.

One change is that Joe West becomes Chief of Police after being shot during a jewelry heist. He was not shot in the original timeline and never became Chief of Police, so that may be the important point in time that needs to be fixed to set thing right. Stop Joe from being shot and all will be well, right?

Wrong! The way this is “fixed” creates even more changes that need to be fixed. Mona Taylor realizes there are more metas than just her as a result of picking up on Nora and Bart’s thoughts. Inspired, she forms the Royal Flush Gang far earlier than what happened in the timeline before. And, their first heist is set to kill a lot of people unless they can be stopped. Bart is crushed, believing he is just a failure. Nora encourages him, but it’s still difficult.

This is where Avery comes in. Is she the future Flash of China? Don’t know – but she IS someone who is doing a lot of research into time travel. She helps them figure out that the heist the Royal Flush Gang is planning is now a fixed point in time – but the casualty count is not.

Nora and Bart work together to both escape notice and save the day. There’s a LOT more to this part of the show, but I don’t want to spoil it here. Just know that they do manage to save the day, and both Bart and Nora are true heroes here.

Throughout the episode, Bart and Nora pretended to be Interns at CCPD in order to get closer to the investigations and to save Joe. Before they can leave CCPD, these “interns” are added to the group picture – and that’s how they ended up in the picture we saw at the end of “Armageddon”.

After saying goodbye to Avery, Bart and Nora return to 2049. Jay is still alive and so is Joan. They confess all the timeline messes to Jay, who reminds them that their dad also made mistakes and still became a hero. They still can do the same.

We cut back to present day, and all seems well with Team Flash as they head off to Paris together. There is one more something that happens here, but we’ll leave that alone for now, as the show ends for tonight.

NOTES:

• We essentially spent time in the world of Season One. Of course there are differences, but that’s explained by Bart’s and Nora’s interference in the timelines.
• This is easily Jordan Fisher’s best performance as Bart Allen. All the emotion, all the heroics were spot on throughout the episode. I found myself cheering for him more than ever before.
• Jessica Parker Kennedy was also great as Nora. No surprise here, another great performance.
• Bart and Avery instantly have crushes on each other, and this looks to be something we will revisit in future episodes.
• Jay talks about having been stuck back in time for 16 years during World War II. Does that mean we’ll see more Justice Society? Hope so!
• We get Eddie Thawne again here – after all we’re in the timeline of Season One. The original Eddie Thawne, Rick Cosnett returns to play the role. We even get his first meeting with Iris, and the scene played out perfectly.
• And, we get the first attempts by Joe to date Cecile. A little advice from his future granddaughter helps, even though the first date still doesn’t happen for a while past tonight’s episode.

SUMMARY:

This episode started fast and kept the intensity up all the way through. A great script with a novel idea, and stellar performances make this a 10/10 for me. Of course, that’s just my opinion. What do YOU think? Leave your comments below!

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