“I believe in communism… Rom-communism.”

Ted Lasso | 2x05 + every romcom reference

The Akira bike slide and every animation ever made since the 1988/1990 film releases

Timelines on The Flash

For the sake of future reference and clearing up any confusion, I thought I’d list the known timelines on The Flash, namely as they relate to that fateful night in October of 2000. Here goes.

Timeline Zero (Pre-Show)

Nothing happens in this one. None of the time traveling from Barry Allen or Eobard Thawne affects the year 2000 in any measurable way. Barry grows up with both parents and presumably marries Iris by 2024, as indicated by the future newspaper (blech).

Timeline One (Season One)

This is the timeline The Flash and the rest of the Arrowverse, including Arrow itself, started in. Eobard comes back from the future, specifically the year 2024, after fighting the Flash and arrives in 2000, intent on killing little Barry. Future Flash gives chase, they fight in the Allen house, then Future Flash gets little Barry out of there. Eobard stabs Nora in his rage and flees, only to find he’s now stranded in the past. Future Flash is not seen again after he leaves little Barry in the street; it can be presumed that he was erased, his existence reduced to that of a time remnant, since his child self can no longer grow up with both parents. The future newspaper is unchanged despite Eobard’s petty interference in his archenemy’s life.

Timeline Two (Season Two)

This timeline differs little from Timeline One – Future Flash chases the Reverse-Flash back to 2000 and they fight – with one small but crucial exception. Barry from May 2015, the end of Season One, arrives and witnesses Future Flash fighting Eobard. Future Flash spots him and silently warns him not to intervene, then gets little Barry out of there. Season One Barry tearfully heeds his warning and lets Eobard kill Nora and leave none the wiser, then says goodbye to her before returning to his own time. Again, Future Flash is presumed to have faded from existence upon Nora’s death. More telling, however, is that after Eobard is erased by Eddie Thawne’s suicide in 2015, the future newspaper disappears from its display in the time vault, as revealed by Barry in Season Three, indicating that the future is well and truly up for grabs now.

Timeline Three (Flashpoint)

This is where things get crazy. After Future Flash has chased Eobard back to 2000, fought him off long enough to get little Barry out of there, and warned Season One Barry to do nothing, Barry from May 2016, the end of Season Two, arrives. He waits for Future Flash to leave, then tackles Eobard just before he can stab Nora and beats him out cold. Season One Barry opens the door, expecting his mom to be dead, only to see Season Two Barry has saved her, then smiles as he vanishes, now just a time remnant. Season Two Barry assures Nora that she’s safe, then grabs Eobard and carries him off to 2016. While Future Flash isn’t shown afterward, it’s possible that Season Two Barry’s intervention kept him from being erased outright and he managed to escape into the Speed Force, bound for 2024.

Timeline Four (Season Three)

And now things go off the deep end. :P Future Flash chases Eobard back to 2000, fends him off long enough to warn Season One Barry away and get little Barry to safety, Season Two Barry rushes in and knocks Eobard out – then the Eobard who was held captive in the Flashpoint timeline arrives to finish his grisly job. Both the previous Eobard and Season Two Barry vanish just before Eobard stabs Nora, then rushes off to get the Barry who was holding him captive back to 2016. Future Flash’s fate is, again, not revealed, but I think it’s possible – just possible – that while Season Two Barry’s intervention let him reopen the time portal, Flashpoint Eobard’s intervention threatened to erase him and he had to run faster than ever before to preserve his own existence. At any rate, the life he knows in 2024 is gone. This is proven when the future newspaper reappears, no longer showing “!ris West-@llen” as the byline. Whether she dies, quits her job, or simply never marries Barry, the future is no longer set, if it ever was. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.

*Timeline 1.5*

Barry never traveled back in time, but succeeded in stopping the tidal wave, only to receive word that Cisco was killed by Wells/Reverse Flash.

That’s all I got, I’m not very particular on what would happen next.

No, Timeline One Point Five would be the timeline where Barry did run back a day by accident while trying to stop the tidal wave. Similarly, Timeline Two has two instances of him changing the recent past – first when he ran back and undid Vandal Savage’s destruction of Central City, second when he ran back to the time of Hartley Rathaway’s attack and ended up preventing the latter from ever escaping, thus allowing him to be reformed. I didn’t list those because, as I said, my focus is on that fateful night when Nora was murdered.

And when you love someone, you work it out! You don’t just throw it away. You have to be careful with it. You might never get it again.

Nocturnal Animals (2016) dir. Tom Ford

Kunis

Un día normal en Estados Unidos…

Blondie

Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2014)