The Flash’s Season 1 Finale Was Almost Too Good For Words…

This posting contains MASSIVE spoilers from The Flash: Fast Enough Season Finale

As someone who actively reads comics, I found great joy in watching The Flash TV show on the CW. It was a great show that catered to both comic fans and new viewers who knew nothing about the character or the upcoming events Barry has experienced. With that being said, the Season 1 Finale of The Flash had me entranced and wide-eyed, something that Marvel has yet to do with Agents of Shield and Agent Carter.

But why is that? Maybe it is because The Flash is one of my favorite superheroes and I have read Flashpoint so many times that I basically have everything from it memorized. Many fans, including myself, thought the show was going to take the Flashpoint Paradox route with Barry traveling back in time to save his mother. Those who have watched the finale know that this ended up not happening and Past Barry is stopped by Future Barry. He is then forced to listen to his mother get killed by Eobard Thawne just a few steps away.

My heart actually hurt from this. Partly from my love of comics. In in the Flashpoint event you never really see Barry save his mother, the same goes for the animated movie. It just happens and the future gets altered. In the show, if you listen closely, right after you hear Barry’s mother get stabbed you can hear the sounds of thousands of sons’ hearts breaking.

Including my own.

Which brings me to the next reason why this scene hurt me so much. My mother has been sick all my life, there isn’t really a time I remember where she was a healthy human being. And there is not a day that goes by where I wish I could have done something more to have her healthy. It was always out of my control and I just had to deal with her being sick. I have seen her almost dead more times than I care to remember. While people will say a parent dying is the worst thing a child can bear, I would say that seeing your parent almost die on multiple occasions is much worse. Because their suffering is what hurts you the most, time and time again.

The Flash is one of my favorite heroes because he wants to save his mother. He wants her alive, he wants her to be in his life, healthy and happy. Something that I have always wanted, my mother to be happy and healthy. While she is still fighting the good fight against her illness, she is always suffering and always in pain. I wished I could go back in time and warn myself to have her change doctors so that she wouldn’t have the same one destroy her life. I wish I had powers like Barry that would allow me the chance to change the past. That’s my connection with this hero.

This scene in the show was so heartbreaking because Barry has to listen to his mother die. He knows he is just a few steps away from saving her. He knows he CAN save her. And that he wants nothing more in the world to live his life with both of his parents. But he can’t throw the life he has already created away and ruin the lives of those he has changed. So he has to feel helpless. And while this scene was incredibly short, it felt like it lasted an eternity.

The comics never really explored this interaction; you never got to see it, but the CW went one step further and showcased Barry’s character. It was an amazingly directed scene and beautifully acted. When Barry starts talking to his mother, who is dying in his arms, you can’t help but empathize and feel what Barry is feeling. She didn’t get to die alone and she dies knowing her son turns out to be happy and healthy. Something that every parent wants to hear.

I applaud everyone involved with creating this show and offer my sincerest thanks and appreciation for making easily the best TV show finale I have ever seen.