Flashback: Paradox (S03-E02)

The Flash is back this week, and has to deal with the fallout from Flashpoint. It’s time to dive into the episode, and find how the show is influenced by the comics.

PARADOX

Barry realizes the effects from Flashpoint are much greater than the bought. Meanwhile Barry meets his new co-worker, Julian Albert, and is surprised by Julian’s immediate disdain for him.

WHAT HAS CHANGED

Upon returning to the present, Barry has discovered not everything has returned to normal (thanks Reverse Flash).  So what has changed?

Joe and Iris

Initially Joe and Iris aren’t talking with each other, because Joe lied about Iris’s mother.  This was a point of contention last season, but it was resolved then, and by the end of this week’s episode the two have resolved their differences.

Dante is dead!

Cisco’s brother, Dante died many months ago in a car crash, and because Barry refused to go back in time to save Dante, Cisco has had a mad hate for Barry as he goes through grief counseling.   It seems like Barry should be attending these sessions, too.

Meanwhile Cisco continues to work on his Vibe gauntlet.

As we know from the comics, Paco Ramone (or Francisco “Cisco” Ramon) began life as Vibe when he gave up being the leader of his gang to join the Justice League Detroit (Justice League of America Annual #2). He was accepted because of his ability to emit vibratory shock waves.

We did get to see Cisco use his powers this week to help Flash defeat Rival during the third act fight sequence. This is probably the closest to seeing Vibe’s comic book powers to date.

Vibe was created in October 1984 by Gerry Conway, and Chuck Patton, but has had his origin tweaked a couple of times, most recently by Andrew Kreisberg and Pete Woods during DC’s New 52 run. Kreisberg, as you may know, is one of the producers of The Flash television series.

Felicity Smoak is not in a wheelchair?

Because I’m way behind on watching Arrow, I don’t know what happened to Felicity after she got shot and wound up in a wheelchair. She either A) got better, or B) Reverse Flash changed just enough that Felicity is now up and walking around again.

John Diggle, Jr. 

Last season on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, we were introduced to a new Arrow running around Star City: 2046. While we know that Arrow went by the name Connor Hawke, what we didn’t realize was that John Diggle and Lyla Michaels’s daughter Sara had turned into a boy – THANKS FLASH!

Connor Hawke is the second Green Arrow to operate in the DC Universe. In the comics, Connor is the son of Oliver Queen and Sandra “Moonday” Hawke, and he first appeared in Green Arrow Vol. 2 #0 in 1994.

Connor Hawke met Oliver Queen after Oliver came to stay at the ashram where Connor had been studying for some years. Oliver who had previously retreated to the ashram decades before, looking for peace after accidentally killing a criminal (in The Flash 2nd series #217), returned to the ashram under similar circumstances, haunted by the thought that he had killed his former best friend Hal Jordan, who, at the time, was involuntarily serving as the host of the supervillain Parallax. Thanks to Connor, who was a big fan of Green Arrow, Oliver was able to regain a semblance of inner peace and venture out into the world again, especially after numerous attempts on his life had been made.

The two started working together, with Connor serving as Oliver’s sidekick. During that time, Oliver discovered the truth – during his college years, Ollie hooked up with Sandra, and…. you know how that goes…

Barry’s Partner in CSI

Barry discovers he has a new partner in the science lab – Julian Albert. Albert has been assigned the metahuman investigation aspect of crime, and it is clear from the first moment they are together, that they do not get along.

Interestingly, DC Comics has no listing for a Julian Albert. This isn’t the first time a new character has been created for the series, Dr. Harrison Wells was not seen in the comics, and the creators used that to mask the fact that Wells was really Eobard Thawne (aka The Reverse Flash) in disguise.

While it would be rather disappointing if we get another season where a supposed friend – or, in this case, colleague – turned out to be the big bad in disguise, but Julian does share a name with the big bad.

Doctor Alchemy

Doctor Alchemy, aka Albert Desmond first appeared in Showcase #13 in April 1958 as Mister Element, but after being caught by the Flash, changed it to Doctor Alchemy in Showcase #14 in June 1958. In that issue, Albert learns of the Philosopher’s Stone and uses his new found powers to escape and vex the Flash for years to come.

For those that are worried that the villain in plain site is being used again this season, keep in mind that Albert Desmond does have an identical twin brother, Alvin, who also took up the mantle of Doctor Alchemy after his brother turned to the light and gave up crime.

It would be interesting if the identical twin twist was used this season as it would give Tom Felton a chance to show his mean side, and his evil side. For those that didn’t see it, Tom Felton is better known as Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter movie series.

As previously mentioned, Doctor Alchemy uses the Philosopher’s Stone (ha! another reason why Malfoy being the big bad would be ironic) to transmute any element into another element. While we didn’t see any lead being turned to gold in this episode, we did get to see Edward Clarris change from a normal person to one who remembers his previous timeline and regained his speed powers.

Doctor Alchemy was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.  Newer versions of the character were created by Mark Waid and Greg LaRocque in Flash #71, and by Geoff John and Albert Dose in The Flash #202.

Killer Frost

Speaking of remembering their previous powers, the final interaction with Kaitlin revealed that she has frost powers – the very thing she was afraid would happen when she met Killer Frost from Earth-2 last season.

Caitlin Snow as Killer Frost does exist in comics, and first appeared in Justice League of America #7.2 (aka Killer Frost #1) in September 2013. The issue was written by Sterling Gates with art by Derlis Santacruz, though the original creators of Killer Frost are

The issue revealed this is yet another version of Killer Frost, Dr. Caitlin Snow, a scientist sent to S.T.A.R. Labs Outpost #72 in the Arctic to work on a thermodynamic engine whose creator had committed suicide. Snow soon discovered the place had been infiltrated by H.I.V.E. agents. When they tried to kill her inside the engine, Snow frantically ripped off the coolant system, merging her body with ice. Transformed into a heat vampire, she killed the H.I.V.E. agents and continued to search for other sources of heat, eventually discovering that Firestorm’s blasts can temporarily heal her condition. When he was declared dead by the Crime Syndicate, she lost hope for a cure.

All version of Killer Frost have the ability to create objects composed completely of ice, as well as turn anything into ice with her touch.

BACK TO THE FUTURE II… AGAIN

1998

Barry thinks it is a good idea to try and repair the damage created with Cisco by traveling back in time to prevent Dante from dying in that car accident. Fortunately, Jay Garrick grabs Barry from the Timeline and the two have a sit down chat in the Motocar Diner in 1998. When the two enter the diner, we get to see Dawson’s Creek playing on the television.

1998 was the first year that Dawson’s Creek aired on a then three year old The WB Television Network. There can be a lot of similarites made between Dawson’s Creek and The Flash, and now we can add one more nod – John Wesley Shipp played Dawson’s father on the series. It’s certainly a nice nod to the actor, who really made this show by stepping up and telling Barry to stop clowning around with the timeline.

It should also be pointed out that Greg Berlanti wrote eight episodes of the first season,

The Timline is Split

Once again, we get a great sequence of Barry explaining time travel that looks an awful lot like Doc Brown’s explanation in Back to the Future II.

The More Things Change

Once again Barry and Rival duke it out at the Prescott Sawmill. The same location was seen last week where Flash was able to take down Rival. Granted, Rival didn’t die at the location, but if last week’s episode had similarities to season 1, then this episode seemed to reflect things that happened before as well.

Flashpoint Paradox

You may have noticed, but if you join the titles of the first two episodes this season, you get Flashpoint Paradox, the title of the animated movie that adapts the Flashpoint storyline from comics.

IT’S CALLED A SECRET IDENTITY FOR A REASON!

No new secret identities were revealed this week. Maybe Barry is learning?

• Dr. Harrison Wells (deceased?)
• Eobard Thawne
• Dr. Harry Wells (Earth-2)
• Dr. Caitlin Snow
• Dr. Cisco Ramon
• Detective Joe West
• Ronnie Raymond (deceased)
• Dr. Martin Stein
• Mrs. Clarissa Stein
• Hartley Rathaway (Pied Piper)
• Felicity Smoak
• General Wade Eiling
• Oliver Queen (Green Arrow)
• John Diggle
• Bette Sans Souci (deceased)
• Dr. Henry Allen (deceased)
• Iris West (in another timeline)
• Iris West-Allen (in the future)
• Iris West (via spark touch)
• Iris West (of Earth-2)
• Iris West (in yet another timeline)
• Leonard Snart (Captain Cold)
• Detective Eddie Thawne (deceased)
• Ray Palmer (The Atom)
• Brie Larvan
• Laurel Lance (Black Canary)
• Hannibal Bates (Everyman) (deceased)
• Gorilla Grodd
• Lyla Diggle (Harbinger)
• Jay Garrick (The Flash of Earth-2)
• Dr. Henry Hewitt
• Jefferson Jackson (Firestorm)
• Linda Park
• Malcolm Merlin/Al Sa-Her/Ra’s al Ghul
• Vandal Savage
• Kendra Saunders (Hawkgirl)
• Cater Hall (Hawkman)
• Thea Queen (Speedy)
• Patty Spivot
• Barry Allen (of Earth-2)
• Killer Frost (of Earth-2)
• Jesse Quick (of Earth-2)
• Supergirl/Kara Zor-El (of Earth-CBS)
• James Olsen (of Earth-CBS)
• Alex Danvers (of Earth-CBS)*
• Martian Manhunter (of Earth-CBS)*
• Winn Schott (of Earth-CBS)
• Cat Grant (of Earth-CBS)
• Lucy Lane (of Earth-CBS)
• Everyone at the DEO (of Earth-CBS)
• Dr. Tina McGee
• Wally West
• Nora Allen (no longer deceased deceased once more)
• Zoom (aka Hunter Zolomon)

And that should be everything! What did I miss? What did you catch? Use the comment section below to share your thoughts on this episode, and until next week – RUN, BARRY! RUN!

FLASHBACK: THE PODCAST

Matthew Peterson and I sit down each week to discuss this episode in detail on the Flashback podcast. If you are a Major Spoilers Patreon Member, look for the Flashback Podcast very soon!

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