This week on The Flash season premiere episode Flashpoint....
After going back in time and saving his mother’s life at the end of last season, we jump right into Barry’s life where he left it -- with a major shift. Right away, Barry is psyching himself up to talk to Iris when she breezes right past him, effectively ignoring him. Also immediately noticeable is a breaking news bulletin about a current fight going on between (Kid) Flash versus The Rival. Barry runs off before he can make a move but he quickly realizes that Kid Flash has it under control.
Running back to the coffeeshop, Barry finally works up the courage to talk to Iris and the two have the awkward reunion we all hope to avoid when we’re home and run into acquaintances from high school. He does manage to work up the courage to ask her on a date though and charmed despite his stuttering, she agrees.
Barry rides his good mood back to the office but slips out early, slipping back to the abandoned warehouse where he’s been hiding Eobard Thawne. He’s got him in a cage, speed dampened, and is feeling pretty confident, despite Thawne’s best efforts to rattle him. He does, however, remind Barry they share a common enemy: time. This alternate timeline can only be sustained for so long and, “one day soon, Barry, you’ll be begging me to kill [your mother] again.”
At the moment, though, Barry’s pretty distracted by the sight of his parents happy, together and alive.
Back at the office, Detective West is still missing, though Barry’s got an idea of where he is. He heads back to Joe’s house, only to find him passed out on the couch, bottles of alcohol and a sour smell on him. He rushes him through a shower and takes him back to work, though Joe is less than pleased with Barry intervening. He’s even less impressed when Iris shows up and he finds out she’s headed out for a date with Barry. The biggest surprise of this alternate timeline? The normally inseparable Iris and Joe’s now frosty relationship (or, really, lack thereof).
Fortunately, Barry and Iris’ undeniable chemistry remains in this timeline, their date going remarkably well until an altercation between The Flash and The Rival forces everyone to evacuate the nearby area. Iris makes a shaky excuse and the two part ways, Barry running straight into the action. Though he makes it in time to see The Flash get knocked out of a skyscraper window, he’s not fast enough to catch him. Going to the dumpster where he’s fallen, he unmasks Kid Flash’s identity: Wally.
Unfortunately, when he follows Wally back, he runs into Iris and she’s mildly suspicious about Barry’s intentions in asking her out. However, he manages to get her off the case when he gets Wally to explain how he got his speed: getting struck by lightening while racing in the car he’s injected with a special formula mix.
The trio makes their way to S.T.A.R. Labs - only it’s not S.T.A.R. Labs, it’s Ramon Industries. “Cisco’s made billions from his tech apps and bought out the building,” Iris explains to a confused Barry. Barry is a lot more excited by this than Cisco seems to be; Cisco is not interested in being a part of their Team Flash in this world. However, when Barry tries to convince Cisco to help, he has another memory flash -- and goes to Thawne.
Thawne explains that the new reality they’re in is beginning to overwrite his original reality. He calls it a “Flashpoint” side effect, explaining that Barry’s speed is accelerating the erasure of his memories. “The more you use your speed, the faster you lose your memories,” he laughs. “Pretty soon, you’ll forget you’re even the Flash.” He also explains that with the loss of his memories, the timeline will set, “like concrete.”
Desperate to avoid that, he gathers Wally, Cisco, and Iris, revealing his identity as The Flash. He explains how he went back in time and the repercussions of doing so, though no one is sure whether they believe him or not. After realizing Caitlin is still missing, he grabs her but she’s not even a scientist in this timeline, she’s a pediatric eye doctor. Fortunately, she does contribute a good idea regarding tracking their rival.
When Barry and Wally make it to the sawmill The Rival is camping out at, Barry tries to explain his plan but Wally’s hubris is ultimately his downfall; though he manages to knock The Rival out, he quickly recovers and stabs Wally through his ribcage, incapacitating him. He goes after Barry the second time and the two face off, Barry gaining an upperhand until another memory erasure episode knocks him down for a second. In retaliation, The Rival creates two tornadoes, similar to Barry's own first showdown with a fellow metahuman. After a pep talk from Iris, he manages to get his nerve back, take out the two tornadoes, and knock down the Rival, though Joe ultimately takes him out with a well-timed bullet.
Unfortunately, Barry’s actions in this new timeline come to a head when Wally’s vitals aren’t improving when they finally get him back to Ramon Industries, the team falling apart after the action dies down. Barry realizes he has to make things right and asks Iris for her help. He takes her back to his home and says goodbye to his parents, getting a moment with the two of them and Iris, like he's always dreamed of. He then takes Iris to where he’s hiding Eobard and does what Eobard predicted: he asks him to kill his mother.
He and Iris share a goodbye kiss but when he goes to run off with Eobard, he falters, his speed having failed but Eobard takes him back with him to right their timeline. The timeline stutters for a moment until Eobard returns and finishes his original mission: killing Barry's mother. He leaves Barry back in his original timeline with ominous parting words but Barry’s curiosity is overwritten by his relief at seeing Wally and Joe alright. When he asks about Iris, however, the shift from the alternate timeline is revealed: Joe and Iris still have a frosty non-relationship.
On the other side of town, Clariss, who was the AU Rival, is woken up by a strange voice ordering him "it’s time," while Alchemy is scratched into the mirror.