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Theory Thursday: What “Big Mistake” Did [Spoiler] Make in ‘The Flash’ Season Finale?

And so ends Season 4 of The Flash where everyone basically got a happy ending, that is until the mysterious girl – who we now know to be Barry’s & Iris’s daughter Nora Allen – revealed that she made a ‘huge, tiny mistake’. So what did Nora Allen do that was so bad?

Well revealing her identity to all of Team Flash certainly wasn’t a great idea; but whereas some might think THAT to be the transgression, I think this whole scene (Nora outing herself) only happened because of a different mistake she made. What could this “big mistake” have been? Let’s “rewind” time and answer that very question in this week’s Theory Thursday.

The Theory: Barry was supposed to die when taking down the satellite, but Nora reversed/ changed time

Now some of you will immediately realize what I’m getting at here; but for everyone else I’ll slow things down and explain why this is the most plausible answer – along with a potential contradiction or two.

As Barry is preparing for his massive Mach punch, we hear Marlize claim that there’s a very good change the satellite’s increased mass and speed would result in Barry’s death. The Iris vs Marlize moments are over. This wasn’t another chance to see which one has ‘more faith in their husband’. Marlize was going off of facts and judging by how torn Barry’s suit was at the end of his endeavor, you realize that she might have actually been onto something.

Theory Thursday: What “Big Mistake” Did [Spoiler] Make in ‘The Flash’ Season Finale?
The Flash/ The CW

Now take a second to realize that Barry sustained all that damage by “sharing” the impact. If Nora didn’t help him, he could have still taken out the satellite; but it very well might have cost him his life. And if you take the time to rewatch the scene in question, you’ll see loads of other evidence to support this.

As Barry goes for the initial punch, time stops and reverses just as he’s about to connect, and then as time resets, we see Nora join him in Round 2. There wasn’t something wrong with your DVR nor was that Barry running in reverse and then running forward again to build up more speed. That was Nora turning back time. That is why she is so flustered when she later visits Team Flash. Her fun field trip to the past has officially gone off the rails and she is in way over her head. The girl who was once so stealthy and subtle doesn’t have to worry about ‘risking’ anything else anymore because she has already DRASTICALLY altered the timeline – by saving Barry’s life. Now its important to remember that the ‘present’ is actually the ‘past’ for Dawn; and we’ve seen what changing the past can do – but this time she is literally saving another person who himself has the ability to alter time. In other words, if Barry saving his mom caused all of Flashpoint, what impact could Nora saving her speester of a father have?

Theory Thursday: What “Big Mistake” Did [Spoiler] Make in ‘The Flash’ Season Finale?
The Flash/The CW

Now I will absolutely admit that I’m a little biased here because… well I’m the one arguing the theory, but so many signs point to this being the outcome. Remember how giddy Nora was upon first meeting Barry on the day of his wedding. Myself – and plenty of others – all took her giddiness to confirm that she was his daughter and was meeting him for the first time. In the comics, Barry and Iris’s daughter was born after Barry had already been dead. His daughter’s name might not be “Dawn” in the show, but she can still follow those plot points.

Further more, Nora knows how all of this plays out. Notice how she didn’t secretly intervene to stop the Thinker or anything because she knew it would all work out fine, which also means she knew how the satellite encounter would end. THIS is where she chose to intervene, which means the outcome we got wasn’t the originally intended outcome. Marlize was right, that satellite would have killed Barry, and Nora just changed the future by keeping a major player in it!

Theory Thursday: What “Big Mistake” Did [Spoiler] Make in ‘The Flash’ Season Finale?
The Flash/The CW

Now the only problems/ complications with this theory are: (1) If Barry was supposed to die there, it would mean that Iris was already pregnant with Nora, BUT Iris told Barry in the end that she wasn’t pregnant. Though to be fair, this isn’t a huge hurdle to explain away. Perhaps Iris lied after seeing how frantic Barry reacted and just said wasn’t pregnant yet. Maybe Iris became pregnant after Barry died via In Vitro Fertilization? Maybe Dawn altering time/ presence this season caused other cracks to form and one of which was her not being conceived yet? Who knows!

And (2) what about all those references to future Barry in past seasons? Well the timeline has changed a bit since then and it’s hard to know if these ‘changes’ have already all been accounted (remember how Season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow said Diggle had a son in the future instead of a daughter; and then Flashpoint was reversed a season later and Diggle finally had his son). Then again, this is the Arrowverse, where Time Travel changes from show to show – and even Season to Season. So again, this isn’t a huge hurdle to overcome. All I know for sure is that the evidence FOR this theory is a lot more substantial than the circumstantial evidence AGAINST it.

But what do you think? Was this Nora’s “big mistake”? Did she do something else? Was there a different part of this episode you’d like some closure on? (ie: who is Thomas, what are those symbols). Sound off in the comments below and let’s get to the bottom of them!