All season, it's seemed like The Flash was building to Barry saving his mom and in the finale, he finally had the chance. Barry said his goodbyes to Joe, knowing that by changing the past in such a way, he'd be altering the entire course of his life, and would never grow up with Joe as his surrogate father, but rather with his own parents. We were all ready to see him change things forever, but when he traveled back in time through a wormhole, Barry didn't save his mom, and because things were moving as fast as, well, the Flash, you might've missed a brief moment that showed why.
Before he time traveled, Barry was warned that there would actually be three of him at the scene of his mother's murder: the present-day Barry we all know, the 10-year-old who first witnessed it, and a version of Barry from further into the future, who went back that night to save the 10-year-old. Still with me? When our Barry first got to his childhood home, the scene we've been seeing play out all season from different angles had just begun: the Reverse-Flash and future Flash were circling Nora, as the youngest Barry screamed for her.
Our Barry opened the door, and saw his future self standing in the corner of the room, watching the scene unfold. He motioned to present-day Barry to wait, and he listened, going back outside and tearfully waiting. Future Barry then grabbed the 10-year-old and fled outside, just before Nora was stabbed by the Reverse-Flash. Once the dust had settled and the room was clear, present-day Barry entered, and said a beautiful goodbye to his mother as she died, undoubtedly leaving everyone watching in puddles of tears.
The simple answer to why Barry decided not to save his mother at the last minute is that his future-self warned him not to, but that of course leads to another question: Why did future Barry stop him? The most likely explanation is that future Barry had seen a timeline in which Nora was saved, and the consequences were so dire, he had no choice but to stop himself from changing the course of that fateful night.
Though heartbreaking, this is actually a very exciting development, because it suggests that at some point between now and the future the other Flash came from, Barry will experience a timeline in which his mother lived, which is the basis of the very popular DC comic Flashpoint. If fans stick with The Flash long enough — and how could we not when it delivers intense, thrilling episodes like this — this just increases the chance that we'll get to see a Flashpoint storyline.
We may not know exactly what the future holds for Barry Allen, but the Flash we met tonight does, and based on his few seconds of screen time, there's a lot to look forward to.
Image: Diyah Pera/The CW
