The FLASH TV SERIES

[saul_on_the_road_to_damascus]

Yes, but which timeline?

He obviously came back to the time line where his mother had died and he was still joe's "Son" and sisco and caitlen's friend.

[krazijoe]

At the end, all we know is that everyone was alive, just not Eddie and RF.
There was an event that was happening but what caused it? Was time erupting because of all the issues with Eddie dying? Was it effecting everything that RF had done? So if/when Flash gets back there will be changes. There may still be a Firestorm, but his origin was different, maybe Cisco (who remembers stuff) creates everyone again by creating the issue with the particle accelerator? (assuming his powers were always there or another version of himself from another time stream reaches out to him(maybe that is too far out there)).
Maybe a Monitor influences Cisco to do it? Ooooo...Monitors...

[krazijoe]

He obviously came back to the time line where his mother had died and he was still joe's "Son" and sisco and caitlen's friend.

That could still be any timeline. I wonder if there are any clues given to us...Anyone notice any different colored eyes or hair? Or maybe we are all just reading WAY too much into this?

[CZor]

This was such a GOOD finale! There was emotion, action and tons of Easter eggs to give me multiple fangasms (Jay Garrick's helmet alone made my night!)

But yeah, I guess Eddie will become the new Reverse Flash and probably have no memory of Barry as Flash thus starting the hate Eobard gained in the future. Also I bet we will see the real Wells as a recurrent character next season (before dispersing into the timestream, Eobard returned to his old look) and also we need to see that Eobard as if he has become a Paradox (or the Looper rules are used) then we need to see a younger version of him show up to bring trouble to Barry.

Also it was cool and interesting seeing those images in the Speed Force: Flash Museum, Barry in handcuffs, Caitlin as Killer Frost (semi fan of the look). And perhaps my other favorite moment of the night: Eobard confirming that Cisco gained some metahuman abilities that night and is on the path to become Vibe!!!!

[Jim Kelly]

Eddie caused a paradoxical temporal loop. If Eddie kills himself then Eobard is never born but if Eobard is never born then there's no reason for Eddie to kill himself so Eobard is born then Eddie kills himself and Eobard is never born . . . ad infinitum. The timeline can't heal itself so there's a hole in time, which will take a Time Master to patch up. At the moment Central City is bridging the gap between these two temporal realities, so paradoxical events are co-existing, but this state of space-time can't hold.

That's one way of looking at it. But I prefer to think that time doesn't loop in on itself and it's more like a spring. One loop leads into the next. So one loop has 2024 Flash timeline loop which creates 2014 Flash timeline loop--both timeline loops coexist. Further timelines are created, but the other timelines are not destroyed.

Another way to think of it is like a tree with many branches. Each time something happens to create a new timeline that timeline branches off from the others, but the others continue. The Eobard Thawne who came back in time crossed over from one branch to the other--but the timeline that birthed him still exists, so he should still exist. However in the second timeline, through his own actions he's created a timeline where another Eobard Thawne will not exist. So by that logic, Eobard would still be alive yet if he wanted to return to his home time then he would have to cross over from the dead Eddie timeline to the live Eddie timeline.

[Zero Hunter]

I wonder if this will be their backdoor to keep Tom Cavanagh on as Dr. Wells? Since Thawne did switch back to his normal self at the end it might mean that he never killed Harrison Wells to begin with. With time going crazy like that it is hard to tell.

[Zero Hunter]

I loved how Thawne seemed to know what Jay Garrick's helmet was. "That is my cue to leave." He probably knows all about Earth 2 and that Jay wouldn't be too far behind the arrival of that helmet.

I loved that bit. Has any one else ever noticed that big gold mural in the police station? If you look at it close it sort of looks like a little easter egg to the JSA to me.

[Surf]

I loved that bit. Has any one else ever noticed that big gold mural in the police station? If you look at it close it sort of looks like a little easter egg to the JSA to me.

The Flash museum.

[Beantownbrown]

I loved that bit. Has any one else ever noticed that big gold mural in the police station? If you look at it close it sort of looks like a little easter egg to the JSA to me.

The production designer said it's an easter egg for the Justice League.

"I wanted to do a deco [themed] set and [the sculpting style of] bas-relief in the deco era was rampant and so was the Greek mythology in their sculptures," Harron explained. "So I said I'd like to put in an Easter egg that represents all each one of the Justice League members."

http://comicbook.com/2014/10/29/the-...justice-leagu/

[Jim Kelly]

I loved that bit. Has any one else ever noticed that big gold mural in the police station? If you look at it close it sort of looks like a little easter egg to the JSA to me.

I would've said that it's an easter egg for the Justice League--but maybe if there's an embargo on the Justice League, they'll get around that with the Justice Society. Perhaps Eobard already knows what's going to happen to him, which is why he tries to get out of that timeline before the split hits the fan. And maybe when he seems to be destroyed he's actually sucked into the Speed Force or an alternate universe--which explains Jay Garrick's hat. That would allow Harrison/Eobard to come back next season.

[PennyDreadful]

I wonder if this will be their backdoor to keep Tom Cavanagh on as Dr. Wells? Since Thawne did switch back to his normal self at the end it might mean that he never killed Harrison Wells to begin with. With time going crazy like that it is hard to tell.

This is true. If the real Wells is still alive in the revised timeline, that affects the histories of metahumans, Firestorm, Pied Piper, Caitlin, Cold, Heat Wave et al.

One plotline that was dropped and is now unlikely to be revisited: how did Piper know where Ronnie Raymond was and how to help him?

Another thing: maybe the changes to the timeline affect the new spinoff series? In other words, perhaps Cold and Heat Wave come by their gadgets through other means?

Finally: we see Caitlin as Killer Frost and the actress says they've already designed her KF costume. So I am guessing Caitlin's face heel turn comes next season.

We see that Cisco can remember alternate timelines. Maybe that's how he was affected when the particle accelerator went boom. So even if Barry returns and the timeline is different, Cisco would still remember other realities.

And finally: I still want that reality with Wally, Linda, Impulse, and Piper in it. With all the ways they're mining the Flash mythos, 1990s Wally!Flash shouldn't be ignored.

[Jim Kelly]

If there are multiple timelines and not just one (which seems to be the case), it occurred to me that Barry may not have returned to the exact same timeline that he left. He may be in one that is almost the same, but not quite. He never had the chance to observe any differences before he was plunged into saving the Earth from extinction.

[kalorama]

Then none of the Rogues exist anymore because without Thawne, there would be no particle accellerator explosion. Even Captain Cold, Heatwave and Golden Glider got their tech from Cisco, who would not have developed in but for his relationship with the Flash.

Not necessarily true. Because, again, we don't know what caused Barry to become the Flash in the "original" timeline. Even without Thawne's intervention, the "real" Harrison Wells still founded STAR Labs and built the particle accelerator. So it could be that that particle accelerator also exploded, rained "dark matter" and "exotic particles" down on Central City, and created both the Flash and the Rogues. It may well be that the accelerator explosion and the birth of metahumans are some kind of temporal constants that always happen, somehow, some when.

There are just too many variables and unknowns where time travel is concerned to definitively say "none" and "never," at least not without a lot more concrete info than we currently have.

[PennyDreadful]

I said it before and I'll say it again.

The TV series puts the post-reboot Flash comic to shame.

[Cthulhudrew]

So who should play Jay Garrick? I was hoping when they announced JWS that he would play Jay. Obviously that didnt happen. So should it be someone older like Craig T Nelson or William H Macy? Or someone younger like Timothy Olyphant?

They could still have John Wesley Shipp play Jay if they wanted to (alternate timelines and all that; maybe "Jay Garrick" is an alias? Or else just merge his character with the Jay Garrick Flash and have him still keep the Henry Allen name). I think he'd be perfect for the role.