The Flash Season 3 Review: 7 Ups And 5 Downs From 'Flashpoint'

New speedsters and altered timelines for The Flash's season premiere.

by Andrew Pollard
The Flash Flashpoint
The CW

Ever since Season 2 of The Flash came to a close, anticipation has been high amongst fans of The CW's Sultan of Speed-centric show. After all, the last season's final moments saw Barry Allen speeding back in time to stop the death of his mother. For those well-versed in their comics, that meant one thing: Flashpoint.

The comic book Flashpoint event saw Barry's saving of his mother lead to an entirely different 'present' for the Scarlet Speedster and the rest of the DC world. As such, we were all eager to see what monumental changes this could mean for the show as it looked to do its version of this fan favourite comic book arc.

After all of the hype and the hope, Season 3 of The Flash is now here. With a season premiere - aptly titled simply Flashpoint - that indeed gave us an alternative timeline, we've already got to see two new speedsters in the shape of Kid Flash and The Rival, plus so much of what we thought we knew has been thrown right up in the air.

Flashpoint was a hugely promising season premiere, but that's not to say it was flawless. So with that said, here's 7 'Ups' and 5 'Downs' from the first episode of what should hopefully be another excellent season.

12. Ups

The Flash Flashpoint
The CW

Starting With A Bang

One of the most hotly-anticipated elements of The Flash’s third season was getting to see Wally West as Kid Flash (or The Flash, as he keeps referring to himself).

Given how the whole ‘Flashpoint’ angle was to show us a world without Barry Allen as Central City’s savior, this season premiere did a great job of hitting the ground running in the sense that you immediately felt as if, yeah, this really is a world where Barry’s Scarlet Speedster is no longer front-and-centre.

From near-enough the moment Flashpoint opened, we were taken straight into the middle of a battle between Kid Flash and the nefarious Rival, instantly giving proceedings a fresh feel and making you aware that this world is very much different to what you thought you (and Barry) knew.

No longer were Barry and Reverse-Flash or Zoom the focal point of the speedster action in Central City, for this was now a completely different landscape.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.