Can Barry change the past?
This was a central question on The Flash Season 1 Episode 14, which also focused on Ronnie and Professor Stein doing whatever they could to ensure a future apart from one another.
Literally.
After surviving and being separated by the explosion on The Flash Season 1 Episode 13, Ronnie and Stein were initially angry at each other. Apparently, Ronnie was NOT a major fan of having Stein at the wheel with the flying and everything.
However, they were quickly consumed by happy reunions, with Caitlin and Clarissa, respectively.
Meanwhile, Joe brought Barry to his former residence and treated him to Cisco’s 3D slideshow. He then went ahead and dropped the bomb: the blood spatter they recovered? It’s a match for Barry. An adult Barry. Wait… what? Huh?!?
Later on, Joe said he was sorry for adding this burden to Barry’s life, while our favorite speedster deflects the possibility that Wells played a role in his mom’s death.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry asked Wells about the concept of time travel – and Wells replied that it’s “possible but problematic;” also “fraught with pitfalls” due to the reasons we’ve seen in like every other movie ever.
Barry then spoke with Stein, as the professor believes the space-time continuum is a “highway” with on- and off-ramps. Barry went ahead and shared the story about his presence in the past, which led Stein to theorize that if the hero moved fast enough, he could bust a hole in the continuum.
The downside, though, is that he’s clearly is destined to fail, having lost that long-ago fight with his mother’s murderer. Hence the blood.
Stein and Ronnie, meanwhile, realized they still share a connection due to synched brainwaves; and also that General Eiling is dead set on finding Firestorm.
He first went to Jitters, where his team attempted to subdue Ronnie. However, The Flash came to the rescue.
Eiling proceeded to met with Wells, revealing that he knows (thanks to Plastique) that Barry Allen is The Flash. Allegedly to buy the general’s silence (we guess) Wells drugged and turned Stein over to him… only to have The Flash free the professor, after Stein and Ronnie discovered clever ways to communicate with each other.
Outside of Eiling’s compound, Barry got waylaid by a blast of weaponized phosphorus, forcing him to the sidelines while Ronnie and Stein peacefully re-merged, becoming a far more stable Firestorm.
As you’ll see when you watch The Flash online, they do a solid job of blowing up villains until Eiling exploded another nifty bomb. This one neutralized their ions. Or something like that.
After The Flash saved Stein and Ronnie from the general, the two halves of Firestorm chose to hide away in Pittsburgh for a bit, as they researched their unique situation in that city.
The men bid sad farewells to their women and then re-merged and blasted off, while Barry told Joe his resolve to travel to the past and save his mom was stronger than ever.