'The Flash' Created Gideon, But Not Yet

This Tuesday's new episode of The Flash, "The Trap," started off strong with a thousand things coming our way super fast. The episode picks up immediately where last week's left off, with Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco hanging out in Harrison Wells' secret lair in S.T.A.R. Labs. They've activated the crazy futuristic newspaper that Wells loves to stare at in his free time, and then Gideon's voice is heard, followed shortly thereafter by an AI rendition of her, too. The trio start rapid firing questions at her trying to get as much information as possible, and then the computer drops a huge bombshell: Barry created Gideon. In the future.

WHAT. WHAT. HOW. WHAT. What do you MEAN that Barry created Gideon in the future? He's just as shocked as I am, and I haven't just learned that I created some sort of AI all-knowing computer in the future. Barry has, and that's why Gideon is willing to talk to him now, because he's basically her "creator" though they've never met before. But they will. In the future.

This raises all sorts of questions about The Flash and the timeline it's using. Cisco's placement of a "Marty McFly's Polaroid" reference makes me think that the time travel we were introduced to a few episodes ago is the key to all of this. So everything Barry and the S.T.A.R. Labs crew does now, and everything they do in the future, directly relate to one another and can be changed. We've already seen this happen a little bit, like when Barry managed to lose his speed ability for a while. We saw Wells' newspaper change to reflect a different future on April 25, 2024.

But still, back to the idea that Barry — IN THE FUTURE!!! — creates Gideon. I don't know if I'll ever be able to wrap my head around it.

Image: Dean Buscher/The CW