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in: Episodes, The Flash (The CW) episodes, Article stubs, Season 9 (The Flash)

A New World, Part One

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"You win one battle, Thawne, not the war between us. Neither of us can do that. If you don't walk away tonight, you will lose everything."
"Liar. Don't you know who I am? I have always been the hero. You're the villain, Flash. You're the one who reversed my entire life and dragged me into hell. And that's why you die tonight, by my hand."
—Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne

"A New World, Part One" is the tenth episode of the ninth season of The Flash, and the one-hundred-eighty-first episode overall. It aired on May 3, 2023.

Synopsis[]

As Iris receives word of a career milestone, Barry is suddenly nowhere to be found. In trying to get back home, Barry runs across many familiar faces. Khione continues to figure out her powers and Chester works on a suit for Allegra.[src]

Plot[]

This section is a stub. You can help expand this section by adding some information.

At the beginning of the episode, a man working at Mercury Labs who looks like a deceased member of CCPD/Team Flash: Eddie Thawne, is introduced.

Back in the present Chester gives Allegra her first suit and Iris receives a Pulitzer nomination. Barry gets transported to the day Nora Allen dies. He goes to Joe for help and later sees his parents, but is knocked unconscious by Eobard Thawne. While investigating, Joe finds a blue crystal and becomes possessed. After being hospitalized and having lunch with his parents, Barry is approached by Thawne, who gloats about him being unable to stop his plan to kill Barry's younger self. Barry returns to the hospital and says goodbye to his parents. The possessed Joe then attacks him, stating that he is not the new Negative Speed Force avatar but still wants to correct the imbalance Barry's legacy leaves on the timeline. Barry frees Joe and returns him to his car, but the crystal disappears. Barry then participates in the fight in which Thawne kills Nora, warning his earlier self not to interfere. Afterwards, Barry tells Thawne that he has made peace with Nora's death before he is transported away again and Thawne loses his powers.

Elsewhere, the man who looks like Eddie Thawne is struck by lightning in his laboratory at Mercury Labs, finds a CCPD file about Eddie's death, and wonders who he is.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Special guest star[]

Guest starring[]

Special appearance by[]

Co-starring[]

Uncredited[]

Trivia[]

  • The episode opens with Khione mentioning that she's been on a "journey" for nine months. Assuming the previous episode took place on the day it aired, this episode may take place around November 2023.
    • Taking into account Iris's stage in her pregnancy, this lines up with the assumed month that "The Mask of the Red Death, Part 2" takes place in, February 2023; nine months before.
  • The episode's title sequence subtitles this episode as "Reunions", but the official title to the episode does not contain the subtitle.
    • The subtitle is a reference to Barry being reunited with his parents.
    • Eobard and Barry having a hostile reunion with each other.
    • Barry being reunited with Joe's past self after his present day self left Central City several month prior.
  • The episode title is a reference to Barry time travelling to the year 2000.
    • It's also a call-back reference to what Eobard said about Barry creating a 'brave new world' in the Season 3 premiere episode "Flashpoint" where Barry time travelled to the year 2000 and saved his mother from Thawne.
    • The specific day Barry and Thawne are sent back to, March 18, was first revealed to be the date of Nora Allen's death in Thawne's recorded confession in the Season 2 premiere "The Man Who Saved Central City".
  • The mysterious blue crystal shares similarities with the Philosopher's Stone. Both appear to be made of calcified Speed Force energies, and both can be used to possess people.
    • Though unlike the Philosopher's Stone, a part of the sentient Negative Speed Force appears to be contained within the blue crystal.
  • Thawne saying that he would destroy the universe to kill destroy Barry is a reference to "Negative, Part Two", where Thawne attempted to destroy Central City to kill Barry.
  • This episode reveals that the future Flash that saved his younger self and warned Barry of Season 1 to not interfere and save Nora (as seen in "Fast Enough") is the same Flash from this episode that is from 2023 of the Earth-Prime timeline.
    • This episode reuses footage from "Tricksters" and "Fast Enough" to depict the Earth-Prime equivalent of the fight at the Allen house and its aftermath.
      • There are a few differences between the scene in this episode and the scenes in the former episodes:
      • Nora's death is skipped over, possibly so that the events of Barry travelling back from 2016 and saving her (as seen in "The Race of His Life" and "Flashpoint") and Thawne returning from 2016 of the Flashpoint timeline and killing her again to create the post-Flashpoint timeline (as seen in "Flashpoint") would not have to be shown, as their inclusion could have made the scene overly complicated.
  • A younger version of Rachel Rosso, Ramsey Rosso's mother, makes an appearance in this episode.
  • This episode has several call-backs to previous seasons of The Flash and DC's Legends of Tomorrow:
    • The scene where Barry was trying to get back to his time and then he landed in a van with white fabrics is similar to what he did in the Season 1 "Pilot" episode where he was testing his newfound speed and then he landed in a similar van with white fabrics. His daughter did the same thing too in the flashforward Season 5 episode "Godspeed".
    • David Singh being thrown back by an electric blast at the end of Barry and the Negative Speed Force's fight at the hospital echoes the time he was hit by lightning by Mark Mardon in an erased timeline in "Out of Time".
    • Nora said how Barry looks a lot like her father is the same thing she told Barry when he time travelled to the night where she died in the Season 1 finale "Fast Enough".
    • Barry telling Thawne that he won is the same thing he did in "Flash Back", though in both cases, he was bluffing in some way: in the earlier episode, he was lying to stop Thawne from killing him, and in this episode, he knew that Thawne would end up killing his mother but not his younger self like he said.
    • Barry introducing himself as "Bart" to his parents is similar to when he called himself "Bart" when he lost his memories in the Season 3 episode "Cause and Effect".
    • Dr. Malcolm Gilmore getting struck by red lightning is very similar to when Barry got struck by lightning in "Pilot".
    • Eddie Thawne's death was referenced by the end of the episode which happened in the Season 1 finale "Fast Enough".
    • Barry spending time with his parents and then having an heated conversation with Thawne is similar to what happened in the Season 3 premiere "Flashpoint" where Barry was happily spending time with his parents until afterwards he visits Thawne in his prison where he kept him.
      • Thawne's first line "Somebody's having a bad day" in this episode is similar to his line "Having a bad day, Barr?" from the earlier episode.
      • Barry feeling drained and anemic during his encounter with Thawne is also a reference to when he was losing his memories during the Flashpoint timeline where he was feeling drained the more he used his speed in the timeline.
      • Thawne telling Barry "I wanna hear you say it" in regard to his perceived victory is the same thing he did in "Flashpoint", when Barry realized he had to let Thawne kill his mother to reset the timeline.
      • Thawne calling himself the hero is also what he called himself in the former episode before he reset the timeline back to normal.
    • Joe being controlled by the mysterious blue crystal and shooting energy out of it is very similar to when Julian Albert is Alchemy and held the Philosopher's Stone and shoots energy out of the stone at Barry in the Season 3 episode "Paradox". Just like Joe being under control by the blue crystal's influence, Julian was under Savitar's control while he was holding the stone.
    • Thawne using of the word "delicious" to describe his perceived victory is also something he did in the DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 episode "Doomworld".
    • Barry decided not to kill Eobard and the latter mocked him for sparing him in a similar way to their fight in the crossover episode "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4".
    • Barry telling Thawne to "walk away" is the same thing he did during their confrontation in the Season 7 episode "Heart of the Matter, Part 2".
    • Barry mentioning the day Thawne gained speed and presented himself to the world is a reference to the crossover episode "Armageddon, Part 5" when Thawne told Barry why he hates him. Later in this episode, Thawne also repeats what he said in that episode about his life's work of finding ways to kill Barry.
    • Barry and Thawne having drinks together at O'Shaughnessy's with Barry questioning Thawne about his purpose being back in the past is very similar to when Thawne was having drinks with Sara Lance at The Fixed Point Bar where she questioned him about his purpose being in the past which took place in the DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 7 episode "The Fixed Point".
      • Additionally, Eobard remarking that Nora's death is a fixed point is a callback to Harry Wells commenting that Nora's death is a fixed point and that not even Reverse-Flash's premature death could erase.
  • The episode includes references to other media as well:
    • Thawne using his powers to torment Barry is a callback to the comics where Reverse-Flash, after failing to be struck by the same lightning that made Barry become The Flash, decided to ruin Barry's life by using his superspeed to create "clumsy accidents" and erase his friends, so that he would end up alone.
      • This was also referenced in the video game Injustice 2, in one of Eobard and Barry's interactions.
    • Barry calmly warning and trying to save Eobard is a callback to the "Finish Line" chapter from the comics, where Barry forgives Eobard and saves him from being Reverse-Flash by resetting him and his timeline, rendering him sane again as the curator of the Flash Museum in the 25th Century, unaware of his life as Reverse-Flash.
      • This attempt is furthermore referenced when Barry calmly called Thawne by his first name, having accepted his mother's murder by Reverse-Flash and made peace with that traumatic night.
      • Furthermore, Eobard taunted Barry to give into their mutual hatred, which ultimately failed and prompted Barry to remain calm, to which Eobard was unable to understand and could only scream in terror and anguish as he was being reset by Barry's power to reset Eobard's timeline.
    • Dr. Malcolm Gilmore is a reference to Malcolm Thawne, who became Cobalt Blue, as well as Dr. Gilmore, the doctor who delivered Malcolm.
  • Barry's last exchange or conversation with Thawne loosely echoes when Oliver Queen visited Slade Wilson on Lian Yu at the very end of Season 2 during the ending of "Unthinkable".
    • Both heroes lost their mothers to both of their main respective antagonists until Oliver recreates the universe where he saved his mother from Slade which would made her still alive in the present-day timeline on Earth-Prime.
  • The events of this episode run concurrently with the events of the following episode, "A New World, Part Two" up until Barry's disappearance after his final chat with Thawne.
  • Nora mentions a restaurant called Zatara's, which they all (including Henry) go to. In the comics, Zatara is a crime fighter and magician (skilled in stage magic and real magic) in the Golden Age and a member of the All-Star Squadron.

Goofs[]

  • When Barry calls Martin Stein, his lack of interest or believe in Barry claiming to be a time traveler is uncharacteristic considering by this point, Stein met the Legends decades ago.
  • When Barry prepares to kill Eobard with a phased hand through the chest, you can hear Thawne's signature running sound. Whether this was an oversight or intentional due to the Negative Speed Force's influence on this episode is unclear.
  • The flashback to Thawne's death in "Negative, Part Two" swaps out Tom Cavanagh's scream with Matt Letscher's.
  • Barry refers to the day Thawne mentioned in "Armageddon, Part 5" as occurring "170 years from now" as of 2000, placing it in 2170. However, Thawne had only stated in that episode that the event occurred "almost two centuries from now" as of 2021, so it is unclear how Barry knew the more exact date.
  • During his battle with Thawne, Barry is wearing the wrong suit in several instances. Due to the use of archive footage, some moments have Barry wearing his old suit, and in others he is wearing the newer suit.
    • Aside from the reshoot of Barry telling his younger self to stand down, the scene is almost entirely consisted of archive footage.

References[]


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