How The Flash Season 5 Can Reboot The Entire Show

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for The Flash Season 4

The Flash season finale may have revealed Iris and Barry's future daughter Nora, but it's Season 5 that may deliver the biggest shock. The makers of the TV show now have the opportunity to break new ground, with the future established in The Flash's first few episodes now thrown completely out the window. And not a moment too soon.

When the series debuted, the heart, wonder, and intrigue made The Flash exceed even Arrow as The CW's superhero success story. And the mystery of the first Reverse-Flash made comic book fans rejoice. But soon, one superspeed villain followed after another. Just like one betrayal, one secret kept among friends, one struggle to control powers... you get the idea. Season 4 of The Flash seemed poised to address the issue, with a villain whose weapon was his mind, not an outward power. At least that's what fans assumed, until 'The Thinker' began absorbing powers, and was soon was blasting, teleporting, mind-controlling, and gleefully tenting his fingers as his 'master plan' unfolded like all others before.

The finale brought with it an Inception-esque twist, but once again put Barry Allen where he had been so many times before-- almost exactly where he had been in the Season 1 finale, in fact: diving headlong into a life-or-death gamble to save Central City. But if the team behind the TV show play their cards right, the opportunity has arrived to leave the last four seasons behind, and head into truly uncharted territory for The Flash Season 5. All thanks to Nora West-Allen's mistake.

This Page: How The Flash's Daughter Changed The Timeline
Page 2: How Nora's Mistake Can Reboot The Show

The Flash's Finale/Nora's Big Mistake?

Before we dive into exactly how the next season of The Flash has been blown wide open, let's revisit that final scene of the season finale. The reveal of Nora West-Allen was one thing, but her concern over making a "big mistake" could be good news for fans. Over the course of the season Nora made a total of four appearances prior to her 'official' introduction which, while the result of time travel, don't seem to truly constitute a "mistake" on their own (unless attending her parents' wedding somehow caused an invasion of Nazi-Earth heroes). So it's easy to see why most fans will assume that her "mistake" comes in the action climax of both the episode and season preceding it.

With the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite barreling out of orbit and straight at Central City, Barry and his friends calculate that its impact will mean countless deaths and massive destruction. The best theory Barry can come up with is to run to his absolute top speed, leap into the sky, and impart all of his energy into the debris - before it can devastate the city. The scientific difference of unleashing that kind of energy a few hundred feet above Central City is up for debate, but the show suggests that it's a worthwhile attempt.

Just as Barry closes his fist and delivers the punch, unsure of whether he can survive the impact, or if this will even save the day. And at just that moment, time freezes, rewinds, and rolls forward once more. This time, with Nora running beside her father to deliver her own supersonic punch right alongside him. Sharing the impact or doubling the energy, the result is a day saved, and Barry Allen back with his family to celebrate... including his daughter. Who, as we know, has just made a very big mistake.

Weighing the evidence - Nora seeming particularly flustered to meet her father, telling Joe and Cecile that time is precious, etc. - the simplest deduction is that Barry originally died saving Central City with his superspeed punch. Examining nothing else, the fact that Nora offering help is treated as a change to the timeline seems straightforward enough. Nora traveled back in time, interfered, and everyone walked away happy. But then, she's still Barry Allen's daughter... and would know better than most that messing with the past is always dangerous.

Stepping in to make sure a superhero wasn't killed or wounded decades in the past? That more than qualifies as a BIG mistake. For the characters and fictional future of the TV show, at least.

But for the fans? Nora West-Allen's mistake means the next season of The Flash is finally free to become something completely new.

Page 2 of 2: How Nora's Mistake Can Reboot The Flash

The Flash's Future Fiction Just Got Erased

Regardless of whether or not Nora actually prevented Barry's death, an injury, the loss of his powers, or any other disaster isn't actually the pivotal point here. The key moment is the way that her interference is presented: the events of the finale originally played out differently, before she interfered. That means that, assuming having her take part in the attack in addition to Barry had any impact on what happened next, the future has been fundamentally changed. A version of the future that, until now, was known by several people, artificial intelligences, and even future versions of Barry Allen.

The future that Gideon has archived to provide anyone (we assume, despite the computer being silently pushed out of the show's fiction) with glimpses of coming events, or references to the 'canonical' version of the way things 'should' be? Gone. The future in which Barry Allen recorded a voice message to warn his younger self of a terrible mistake that he had made? Gone. Heck, even the versions of the future that DC's own Legends of Tomorrow have traveled to, wiped away thanks to Nora West-Allen's actions.

For the first time ever, the sole showrunner, Todd Helbing, has free choice over just how much of the existing canon is carried forward. More importantly, how much baggage can be cast aside not just for the sake of taking The Flash in a new direction, but having a fictional justification for doing exactly that.

The Flash Season 5 Writes a New Future For The Show

Logic is always tricky when you're dealing with stories that have time travel built into them from the outset. After all, fans have already seen Eddie Thawne kill himself to rid the timeline of his descendant Eobard - only to watch Eobard fade from existence while his life's deeds remained intact, and hey why not, return in the future throughout The CW. Explained at the time in both The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow as related to time remnants or... science, it has remained one of the most confusing issues for Flash fans. Even more so when shifting into predicting time travel logic elsewhere in the universe. Now, Nora has changed the future in ways even more extreme than Barry ever could.

The point is: with the future essentially now unknown - and made so in ways the audience can easily understand - elements of The Flash's fiction or future that seemed complicated no longer need to be. Nagging plot threads can be erased without conceding defeat. And every introduction of life-or-death stakes actually means characters can live or die since their future has yet to be written (it couldn't only be good news for the fans). And taking one step further, the continued presence of Nora in her own past means every day, and every episode, provides more ways for the future to be changed.

Will The Flash become a show based on Nora's knowledge of the future, now able to change it for the better with her parents' help? Or will the timeline be preserved as much as possible, leaving only the characters to learn from their future mistakes? For the first time since the show began, fans have little reason to reach one conclusion over another. That's a rare thing in this genre of superhero soap opera, and an opportunity not to be wasted.

Now, let's just hope they actually take it.