Barry goes to the pipeline to talk to Harrison in his cell. Harrison
explains that he was born 136 years in the future, and Barry asks why he
killed Nora. The villain says that in one possible future, they are
mortal enemies. Harrison finally learned Flash's secret identity and
traveled back in time to kill Barry as a child, eliminating the future
version that Harrison knew and hated. However, Flash followed him back
into the past and moved the young Barry out of the house to safety.
Harrison figured that he could traumatize Young Barry so thoroughly that
he would never become Flash. However, Harrison discovered that he lost
his ability to harness the speed force and became trapped in his past.
The villain needed Flash's speed to return to his own time, so he
created the particle accelerator to give Barry his powers.
Barry wonders why Harrison coached him into becoming faster, and
Harrison says that he needed him to become fast enough to create a
stable wormhole. Once Barry did so, Harrison could return home. Barry
wonders why he would cooperate, and Harrison says that if he does then
he'll give Barry what he wants: the chance to save Nora. Barry angrily
says that he wants to kill Harrison, and Harrison says that he's proud
to see Barry learned that lesson from him. He asks Barry if he wants
the chance to undo the evil that he's done, but Barry turns and leaves
without responding.
In the main lab, martin and Ronnie arrive
and Barry tells them about Harrison's offer. Martin points out that
Barry has already changed history once, and that was only a 24-hour
period. Now he's being given the chance to go back twenty years, and
they have no way of knowing Barry's life would be like if Nora lived.
Joe tells Barry that he has to change the past and walks out. Barry goes
after him and wonders if Joe is okay with the fact that in the new
timeline, Barry doesn't live him. Joe is happy that Barry would have his
father and mother back and can grow up with them. He says that Barry
has saved a lot of lives in the past year, and now it's time to save his
own life.
Barry goes to Iron Heights and meets with Henry, and
tells his father about Harrison's offer. Henry says that Barry can't go
back and change history, insisting that there's a natural order to
things and there's a reason for Nora's death. He insists that he's proud
of the man that Barry has become, and changing history could strip that
from him. Henry tells his son that Nora would say the same thing, and
hopes that once Barry becomes a father some day, he'll know how much
henry truly loves him.
In the med lab, Caitlin checks Ronnie
and confirms that he's stable. Ronnie says that he'd one running and
came back to be with Caitlin. He reminds her that she agreed to marry
him, and says that they should finally do it.
Iris finds Barry
up on the roof and he admits that saving Nora is the biggest decision of
his life. She says that Eddie told her how she and Barry get married in
Harrison's future, and Barry wonders if their living together in the
existing timeline may have changed things so that they never marry. They
hug and Barry asks what she thinks he should do. Iris tells her friend
that for once in his life, he should do what he needs to do for himself.
Later, Barry goes back to the pipeline and asks Harrison for details.
Harrison explains that they'll use the accelerator to fire a hydrogen
particle at a superspeeding Flash. If he's going fast enough, the
collision will create a wormhole opening up to Barry's past... and
Harrison's future. However, if Barry doesn't go fast enough then he'll
die in the collision.
Barry explains the plans to the others,
and Martin checks the calculations. The professor warns that Barry will
have to go at least Mach 2, and Caitlin points out that Barry has never
gone that fast before. Cisco is clearly unhappy that Barry is going to
change history and eliminate their friendship, but perks up when Barry
asks him to create a time machine.
Barry, Cisco, and Ronnie go
to the lab and Barry explains that Harrison gathered and hid the parts
to make a Time Sphere. Ronnie warns that tiles in the accelerator are
made out of tungsten, and highly flammable. Cisco goes to see Harrison,
who admits that he wished Cisco had been there with him when he built
the accelerator. He says that they can treat the tiles with cobalt resin
to prevent the flammability issue, and admits that he's disappointed
that Cisco doesn't understand his situation: being trapped with
barbarians. Angry, Cisco tells Harrison that he killed him in the
alternate timeline. Harrison says that that he's sorry: not that Cisco
died and remembers it, but that he didn't realize until now that Cisco
was affected by the accelerator explosion. Cisco doesn't believe him,
and Harrison tells him that he has a great and honorable destiny... and
he should remember who gave that life to him out of love. Surprised,
Cisco walks away without a word.
In the lab, Martin talks to
Eddie privately and wonders why the police detective believed what
Harrison said about his life being useless. He points out that the odds
against Harrison traveling back to the same time period as his ancestor
are a million to one. The professor says that Eddie is an anomaly: the
only person in the group who can choose his own story.
Once the
calculations are complete, Martin tells the others that Harrison didn't
tell them everything. The collision could create a black hole
singularity that would destroy the earth. They contact Harrison on
closed circuit and he admits that there's a risk. However, he reminds
them that they've trusted him all along and he's confident that it will
work. However, he admits that Barry will have just under two minutes in
the past to save Nora. Once Flash returns, they can close the wormhole.
Barry realizes that the window of opportunity won't give him enough time
to stop Harrison. However, Harrison assures Barry that he believes in
him and always has.
Barry and Joe talk privately and Joe admits
that he doesn't know what Barry should do. When Barry wonders if he's
fast enough to open the wormhole, Joe assures his foster son that he is.
Touched, Barry says that he's always been so concerned with his parents
that he never thought of Joe, and says that Joe is his father even if
he hasn't always acknowledged it. Joe assures Barry that he'll never
lose him.
At Picture News, Eddie visits Iris with
Chinese takeout and explains that before he dated iris, he was dating
another girl. She pulled a hamstring and called the date off. He was
coming home from the same Chinese takeout restaurant when he saw the
mugger stealing Iris' backpack. Eddie admits that he's finally realized
how many coincidences had to happen for the two of them to get together,
and that he has a destiny as well... with Iris. He says to screw the
future and they kiss.
After Barry runs to Caitlin's apartment
to get her wedding dress, Martin officiates at her and Ronnie's wedding.
They exchange vows and Caitlin tells Ronnie that she has everything
that she could ever need. They go inside and Barry prepares to make his
run. He says his goodbye and Iris hopes that the life Barry gets makes
him happy. Flash enters the pipeline in front of Harrison's cell and
Harrison tells him to run. The speedster takes off around the pipeline,
passing Mach 2, and Harrison warns Barry that he's seeing the Speed
Force: his past and future and present all at once. He tells Flash to
concentrate on Nora and let the Speed Force take him to her, and Martin
injects the hydrogen particle into the pipeline. It collides with Flash
and the wormhole stabilizes.
Traveling back into the past,
Flash appears in his childhood bedroom. He goes downstairs and sees
Flash and Reverse-Flash fighting in the living room. The Past Flash
looks up and sees Flash, and nods in the negative. He then carries Young
Barry out of the house to safety, and Reverse Flash stabs Nora in the
chest before running off. Flash goes to his dying mother and removes his
hood, and Nora says that he looks just like her father. Barry says that
he's her son and he came back to say goodbye to her. He tells Nora that
in the future he and Henry are both okay, and they love her. With her
dying breath, Nora says goodbye.
In the present, Cisco and Joe
take Harrison to Cisco's Time Sphere. A metal helmet bounces out of the
wormhole, and Harrison says that is his cue to leave. He thanks Cisco,
who tells him to never come back, and then enters the time Sphere.
Harrison activates the Sphere and prepares to depart... and Flash
rockets out of the wormhole and hits the Sphere, shattering it.
Caitlin and Ronnie run to shut down the wormhole circuitry. Furious,
Harrison demands to know why Flash didn't save Nora. The speedster tells
him that he already has everything he wants, and Harrison dons his
costume and charges at his nemesis.
With ten seconds left,
Caitlin and Ronnie try to cut the power. The power shorts out, knocking
Ronnie back. Caitlin cuts the power just in time and goes to her
husband.
Reverse Flash and Flash streak back and forth across
the chamber, and the villain finally gets the upper hand. He tells Barry
that once he's dead, he'll kill Barry's friends and family. Eddie
enters the chamber and, seeing what's going on, makes his decision: he
shoots himself in the chest. As Reverse Flash staggers back, Joe runs to
his partner. Eddie says that there's no such thing as coincidence, and
they watch as Reverse Flash's life unwinds as his ancestor dies. Iris
runs into the chamber and goes to Eddie, as Harrison reverse to his
original body as time continues unwinding. Iris tells Eddie that he's a
hero, and with his dying breath he says that's all that he ever wanted
to be.
As Eobard disappears from the timeline, he turns to
Barry and asks him how he'll get along once he never exists. He
disappears, and everyone stares as the wormhole opens up again. Martin
calls over the intercom that it's reopening on its own, and Barry and
Joe have to take Iris away, abandoning Eddie. The wormhole sucks in
everything loose in the chamber, including Eddie's body. The group gets
outside and watches as a singularity opens in the sky above Central
City. Martin warns that it will consume the earth and keep going.
Throughout the city, Captain Cold, Singh, Henry, a young woman named
Kendra Saunders, and many more watch as the singularity expands.
Martin tells the others that the singularity is pulling everything in
the city up into orbit around it before consuming it. Barry realizes
that he has to run around the singularity in reverse, just like he
defused the tornado generated by the first Weather Wizard. Martin warns
him that it's impossible, but Barry dons his mask and runs up the debris
into the singularity into its heart to stop it or die trying.
Written by Gadfly on Jun 23, 2019