The first half of The Flash Season 3 is now behind us like lightning in the Speed Force, but that doesn’t mean repercussions from Flashpoint are over. In fact, it looks like they might be very far from done. In last night’s midseason finale, villain Savitar revealed some heavy information about Team Flash’s future. Will these things come to pass? And will Barry ever learn to just live his life?
Last night’s episode title, “The Present,” turned out to have multiple meanings. It was the holiday episode, H.R. had S.T.A.R. Labs decorated, Joe was planning a family get-together (with his new girlfriend invited no less), and Barry looked like he might have forgotten to buy a gift for Iris. But we were also in “the present” as we realized late in the episode that Barry had traveled forward in time without meaning to.
But let’s back up a bit first. We finally got some backstory for Savitar and Julien in this episode which not only gave us Indiana Jones vibes but also Harry Potter references. Turns out, Julien had no idea he was also Doctor Alchemy, the conduit for Savitar. While trying to bring back his dead sister years ago, he unknowingly unleashed the “god” by opening a box containing the stone we previously saw this season. But Savitar is easily (?) defeated by…closing said box. Of course, you have to obtain the box first.
Seeing Harry Potter actor Tom Felton discuss the “Philosopher’s Stone” was great but Savitar’s motivations were the really interesting part of this episode. Thanks to Barry enlisting the help of Jay Garrick — Earth 3’s Flash — we find out Savitar was the first man ever granted speed and over time became the “god of motion.” In a flashback, we’re shown Savitar from behind (it’s hard to tell here but if Savitar winds up being played by a white actor later on in the show that’ll be a terrible move) holding the stone. We find out it’s based on Hindu mythology and had the power of creating metas (Before the world knew they were even a thing? This is giving me X-Men: Apocalypse vibes.). He’s been around so long and amassed so much power, he can seemingly travel to anywhere in the multiverse (not that it’s so hard for our heroes these days) but still needs someone to go first and prepare for his arrival. Why? That’s unfortunately not explained.
Then again, neither is Savitar’s creation of metahumans. The plan in this episode itself is to restore all the metas from Flashpoint to serve as “servants of Savitar” but as we’ve seen, Barry is really no match for him anyway, so they serve as believers more than anything else as he doesn’t seem to have a grander plan. Jay explains Savitar has come to his Earth because Barry has “grown powerful enough to challenge him,” but we also already know Wally is faster than Barry [Edit: I missed the caveat of him being faster than Barry was at the start of his training.] so why did Savitar help him get his powers and why isn’t he going after him instead? Well, because it’s actually about revenge. And even then, things get a little confusing.
Once Barry reveals his identity to Julien they enlist him to channel Savitar who delivers the group a frightening prophecy: “One shall betray you, one shall fall, one will suffer a fate far worse than death.” Is he just trying to rattle them or does he actually have future knowledge? Turns out, he has future knowledge. He also reveals that at some point in the future, Barry traps him for eternity (in the box and buried in India?). For someone who likes time travel stories, this is getting a bit wibbly-wobbly for me. “Everything you took from me, I want it back,” he says. So once again, everything is Barry’s fault. But their troubles aren’t over.
The team devises a plan to utilize both Jay and Barry’s speed to throw Savitar’s box prison into the Speed Force. It also has the unfortunate side effect of throwing Barry into the future where he witnesses Savitar killing Iris. At first, I thought we were seeing the future future, like, the one we’ve seen teased in that newspaper article, but it turns out it was only five months from now. Jay pulls him back to “the present” pretty quickly and scolds him about going to the future. I got the sense Jay had been down this road before. Part of me even wondered if he was Future Barry, carrying with him a certain knowledge and attempting to lead his younger self down a smarter path than he ran. I doubt they’d pull another switcheroo with that particular character but considering Earth 3’s Jay is the spitting image of Barry’s dad, what’s to say Jay’s younger self doesn’t look exactly like Barry? My head hurts.
Needless to say, despite the prophecy and what Barry saw in the future jump, Jay implores him to live in the now. To stop worrying about what might or might not happen. But on a show with time travel, are any consequences really final? Trying to change something may be what sets it in motion in the first place just as much as letting time tick by on its own. Will Barry finally choose to live in “the present” with his job back, his own apartment (a swank one thanks to his S.T.A.R. Labs cash) and Iris by his side? This is Barry Allen we’re talking about so probably not. But perhaps for the sake of everyone he loves, Barry should remember the wise words Doc Brown gave to Jennifer and Marty at the end of Back to the Future III: “Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one, both of you.”