The Flash (2014 TV Series) Episode: What's Past Is Prologue

"What's Past Is Prologue"
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The Flash  Season 5: Episode 8
December 4, 2018
Directors	Tom Cavanagh
Writers	Todd Helbing Lauren Certo
Previous Episode	"O Come, All Ye Thankful" (November 27, 2018)
Next Episode	"Elseworlds, Part 1" (December 9, 2018)

It's why you didn't want me to come with you, isn't it? It's not because it was dangerous, or because of the timeline, but because you didn't want me to know these awful things about you so it's not what I would remember most when I went back.

—Nora West-Allen

What's Past Is Prologue is an episode of season 5 of The Flash. It premiered on December 4, 2018.

Appearing in "What's Past is Prologue"

Featured Characters:

• The Flash (Barry Allen) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a vision) (Origin)
• XS/Nora-West Allen (Nora's Future) (Also in a vision)

Supporting Characters:

• Gideon (Hologram)
• Team Flash (Flashback and main story) (Also in a vision)
  • Elongated Man (Ralph Dibny) (Also in a vision)
  • The Flash (Iris West-Allen) (Also in a vision)
  • Killer Frost (Caitlin Snow) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a vision)
  • Sherloque Wells (Unknown Earth)
  • Vibe (Cisco Ramon) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a vision)

Antagonists:

• Doctor Ambres (First appearance chronologically)
• Cicada (Orlin Dwyer)
• Eobard Thawne/"Harrison Wells" (Pre-Flashpoint) (2015) (Impersonates Harrison Wells)
• Reverse-Flash/Eobard Thawne/"Harrison Wells" (Pre-Flashpoint) (Impersonates Harrison Wells)
• Reverse-Flash/Eobard Thawne (Pre-Flashpoint) (In a vision) (Cameo)
• Savitar (Barry Allen) (Flashback and main story) (Dies)
  • Killer Frost (Caitlin Snow) (Past) (Cameo)
• The Thinker (Clifford DeVoe) (Also in a vision) (Origin) (Cameo)
  • Marlize DeVoe (Also in a vision) (Cameo)
• Time Wraiths (Multiverse)
• Zoom/Hunter Zolomon (Earth-2) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a vision)

Other Characters:

• Clyde Mardon (Cameo)
• Earth-90 characters
  • Captain Cold (Leonard Snart) (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • Captain Cold (Leonard Wynters) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • Firestorm (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • The Flash (Barry Allen) (Cameo)
  • Green Arrow (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • Hawkgirl (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • Hawkman (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • The Huntress (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • Jesse Quick (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • Obsidian (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • The Ray (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
  • Stargirl (Unnamed) (Appears only as a corpse) (Cameo)
• The Flash/Barry Allen (2015) (Past) (Cameo)
• The Flash/Jay Garrick (Earth-3) (Also in a vision) (Cameo)
• Grace Gibbons (Comatose)
• Grodd (Also in a vision) (Cameo)
• Gypsy (Earth-19) (In a vision) (Cameo)
• Harrison Wells (As an illusion only) (Cameo)
• Henry Allen (Also in a vision) (Cameo)
• Iris West (2013) (Past) (Cameo)
• Jesse Quick (Earth-90) (Unnamed) (Cameo) (Dies)
• Det. Joe West (2013) (Past) (Cameo)
• King Shark (Earth-2) (In a vision) (Cameo)
• Mark Mardon (Cameo)
• Martin Stein (Cameo)
• The Monitor (Mar Novu) (Unnamed) (Cameo)
• Nora Allen (Also in a vision) (Also as an illusion) (Cameo)
• Pied Piper (Hartley Rathaway) (In a vision) (Cameo)
• Speed Force/"Nora" (In a vision) (Impersonates Nora Allen) (Cameo)
• S.T.A.R. Labs (2013) (Past)
  • Caitlin Snow
  • Cisco Ramon
  • Eobard Thawne/"Harrison Wells" (Pre-Flashpoint) (Impersonates Harrison Wells)
  • Kyle (Cameo)
  • Ronnie Raymond (Cameo)
• Team Flash (2016) (Past)
  • Caitlin Snow (Cameo)
  • Cisco Ramon (Cameo)
  • The Flash (Barry Allen)
  • Harry Wells (Earth-2)
  • Iris West
  • Joe West (Cameo)
• Team Flash (2017) (Past)
  • The Flash (Barry Allen)
  • H.R. Wells (Earth-19) (Dies in a vision) (Impersonates Iris West) (Cameo)
  • Iris West (Cameo)
  • Kid Flash (Wally West) (Cameo)
  • Vibe (Cisco Ramon) (Cameo)
• Cicada/David Hersch (Original Timeline) (Mentioned only)
• Danica Williams (Unknown Timeline) (Mentioned only)
• Dawn Allen (Original Timeline) (Erased) (Mentioned only)
• Mr. Gibbons (Unnamed) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
• Mrs. Gibbons (Unnamed) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
• Dr. Harrison Wells (Mentioned only)
• Jesse Wells/Jesse Chambers (Earth-2) (Mentioned only)
• The Legion (Nora's Future) (Mentioned only)
• Libby Lawrence (Unknown Timeline) (Mentioned only)
• Vickie Bolen (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• Multiverse
  • Earth-1
    • 2000
      • United States of America
        • Central City
          • Allen House (Cameo)
    • 2013
      • United States of America
        • Central City
          • CCPD Headquarters
            • Central City Crime Lab (Cameo)
          • Central City Hospital
          • S.T.A.R. Labs
            • The Cortex
            • S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator Explosion (Flashback and main story)
            • Time Vault (Mentioned only)
    • 2015
      • United States of America
        • Central City
          • S.T.A.R. Labs
            • Time Vault
    • 2016
      • United States of America
        • Central City
          • S.T.A.R. Labs (Flashback and main story)
            • Cisco Ramon's Workshop
            • The Cortex
    • 2017
      • United States of America
        • Central City (Flashback and main story)
          • Infantino Street (In a vision) (Cameo)
    • 2018
      • Earth
        • United States of America
          • Central City
            • Central City Hospital
            • S.T.A.R. Labs
              • Cisco Ramon's Workshop
              • The Cortex
              • S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator
              • Time Vault
          • Keystone City
            • Iron Heights (In a vision) (Cameo)
      • Enlightenment Satellites (Cameo)
        • Colossus
        • Data
        • Hal
        • Robbie
  • Earth-90 (In ruins) (Destroyed)
  • Nora's Future (Unnamed)
    • 2049
      • United States of America
        • Keystone City
          • Iron Heights (First appearance) (Cameo)
        • Central City
          • Flash Museum (Mentioned only)
  • Negative Speed Force (Unnamed) (Behind the scenes)
  • The Sanctuary (In a vision) (Cameo)
  • Speed Force (Also in a vision)
  • Timestream (Behind the scenes)
  • Earth-2 (Mentioned only)
  • Eobard Thawne's Future (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)

Items:

• Book of Destiny (Unnamed) (Cameo)
• B.O.O.T. (Cameo)
• Cicada's Dagger
• Cosmic Staff (Unnamed) (Cameo)
• Dark Matter
• Firestorm Matrix
  • Quantum Splicer (Cameo)
• Flash's Costume Ring
• The Monitor's Suit
• Pulse Rifle
• Nora West-Allen's Journal (First full appearance)
• Savitar's Armor (Flashback and main story) (Destroyed)
• Speed Force Bazooka (Cameo)
• Speed Force Transmitter (Flashback and main story) (Destroyed) (Rebuilt)
• The Thinker's Chair (In a vision) (Cameo)
• Thinking Cap (In a vision) (Cameo)
• Vibe's Goggles

Vehicles:

• Mardons' Airplane (Destroyed) (Cameo)
• S.T.A.R. Labs Mobile Research Unit

Events:

• The Enlightenment (In a vision)
• S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator Explosion

Concepts:

• The Elseworlds (Unnamed)
• Magic
• Metahumans
• Time Language
• Time Remnant
• Time Travel
• Wormholes/"Breaches"

Notes

• This is the 100th episode of The Flash.
• Team Flash's story continues in the Elseworlds crossover which begins in the next The Flash episode, "Elseworlds, Part 1".
• Barry and Nora travels back in time to many past episodes:
  • The night of the Particle Accelerator Explosion from "Pilot";
  • The day Barry returned to the events of "The Sound and the Fury" to ask for Thawne's help in enhancing his speed from "Flash Back";
  • The day that Zoom stole Barry's speed in "Versus Zoom";
  • The last standing between Team Flash and Savitar in "Finish Line";
• Eobard Thawne mentions that Barry's daughter was called Dawn in the original timeline.
  • In a local Multiverse, which was created as a consequence of Barry never creating the Flashpoint, Dawn Allen is Barry and Iris' daughter who grew up, along with his brother Don, in the 30th Century of a future reality and became a member of the famous Tornado Twins.
• Thawne knowing about Savitar implies that his own timeline was also altered as a consequence of the Flashpoint because he didn't exist in the original continuity of Earth-1 as well as Thawne's original future.
• Zoom is seen being dragged into the Speed Force many months before his capture in "The Race of His Life". However, this doesn't seem to affect the timeline in a major way for unknown reasons.
• The Thawne from 2049 is the same iteration that fought Barry during the Earth-X invasion.
  • His hair turning blonde once again implies that the effect of his appearance-stealing device eventually wears off.
• The origin timelines of Danica Williams and Libby Lawrence will never be revealed in any Arrowverse episode/story.
• This episode also reveals that a version of the Legion of Super-Heroes exist in Nora's Future.

Trivia

• The epilogue of the episode reuses footage from the Supergirl episode, "Bunker Hill".
• The 1990 Flash series being set in the Arrowverse Multiverse was originally implied in "Welcome to Earth-2".
• Ralph playing the Huey Lewis and the News song "Back in Time" is a reference to the movie Back to the Future which is the main inspiration for this episode.

See Also

• 0 Images from The Flash (2014 TV Series) Episode: What's Past Is Prologue
• Episodes of The Flash (2014 TV Series)
• Images from The Flash (2014 TV Series)
• Gallery for the The Flash (2014 TV Series) series

Recommended Media

• None.

Links and References

• None.

Footnotes