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Can anyone explain the random bright flashes at the apex of its velocity?

Tiny pieces of the heatshield debonding from the craft and interacting with the plasma.

Compare the heat shield in the pic here (before launch): https://x.com/VardaSpace/status/1671621386065027072?s=20

"...and interacting with the plasma"

That sounds like an exciting day at work. ;-)

Rapid unscheduled dismantling happening at the molecular level.

In this case, it wasn't really unscheduled.