The Flash Season 2: 8 Ups And 2 Downs From 'The Last Dinosaur'

8. Barry Confronting His Mother Issues

The Flash Season 2 Episode 21 The Good Dinosaur
The CW

Even though Nora Allen isn’t often mentioned in The Flash, there’s still always that underlying feeling that Barry is still battling with his mother’s death. In fact, more importantly, not only is he still battling with her death, he’s struggling even more with the fact that he went back in time and had the chance to actually save her, yet he had to choose to watch her die all over and again.

Whilst it was initially a tad jarring to see the Speed Force imagined as actual people and as some sort of sentient being, that whole concept lent itself brilliantly to Barry finally tackling his mommy issues once and for all.

The character of Nora Allen is such a key figure in the comic book world of Barry Allen, with her often serving as the very motivation to do what he does on a daily basis, and so any time the character is brought into The CW’s Flash show it's always a well-received move.

And more importantly for Barry, not only did he confront the issues surrounding his mother’s death, he’s seemingly now put them behind him and is able to focus on what lies ahead for him, both as The Flash and as plain old Barry Allen.

In this post: 
The-Flash
 
Posted On: 
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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.