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

7. The Heartbreak Of Barry Allen

The Flash Barry Allen Flashpoint
The CW

When we saw Barry speed back in time at the end of Season 2, we all knew that this ultimately wasn’t going to end well. Sure, he’d save his mother and seemingly set up a life of ‘happy families’, but the changes to the timeline caused as a result of Barry’s actions meant that he was always going to have to see Nora Allen die once more.

We’d heard that the Flashpoint timeline would be in place for four or five episodes, so it maybe caught some viewers off guard that Nora was “re-killed” by the time the season premiere came to a close. Either way, the realisation of what needed to be done was absolutely heartbreaking to see as we saw the penny dropping for Barry.

Grant Gustin played up the emotion of Barry brilliantly throughout this episode, be it the goo-goo eyes at Iris, the concern for Joe, or the peace of a stable family life, but it was even more engaging and stunning to see the heartache caused to Barry Allen as he slowly comes to realise that the idyllic world that he so craves is always going to be out of his reach.

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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/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.