The Flash is DC’s television adaptation of the comic book of the same name. It airs Tuesday nights at 8/7 Central on The CW. Our writer, Nicole Drum recaps the series each week updating you on the latest episode here in The FlashBack.
Image Credit: The CW
Last week we watched Barry deal with every speedster’s worst nightmare: he gave up his speed. Barry’s sacrifice was not in vain as he gave up his speed to save Wally, but it left our favorite hero powerless and ordinary. But how ordinary is Barry? As always, this recap will contain spoilers beyond this point.
Last night’s episode opens with a voiceover from Barry talking about an ordinary day. We watch as a fast Barry zips through his day with a satisfied smile on his face. Everything looks easy and for a moment I wonder if they magically gave Barry back his speed off-screen. Unfortunately that was all just Barry thinking about his situation and we then see the slow reality of Barry getting up and going to work like any normal human.
Despite being slower, Barry still gets through his work fairly fast and heads over to STAR Labs in time to find Harry leaving. With Zoom on the loose and having the ability to come through the breach, Harry has to find Jesse. She is in danger and he can’t have that. He has managed to find Jesse by tracking cell service outages. It seems that because people from Earth-2 have different energy vibrations, they cause cell service issues. Track the issues and find Jesse, which is what Harry did and he heads off to get his daughter.
It’s not the happiest of father-daughter reunions. Harry finds Jesse in a pretty nice apartment where she has been carving out a life for herself. Harry wants her to come back to STAR with him, but Jesse isn’t having it. She is still upset about his choices in regards to protecting her and Jesse tells Harry that she fears her father as her father fears Zoom. Ouch. Harry leaves without his daughter and as he drives back to Central City, Harry looks defeated. He doesn’t have time to ponder things, but as he is driving, someone steps out from the shadows and in front of the van. It’s a metahuman who survives the impact. Harry is pretty dazed when this man approaches, tears off the door and snatches Harry up. Uh-oh.
Meanwhile on Earth-2, Zoom has Caitlin chained to a cot. Our very demented bad guy is in love with Caitlin and plans to keep her until she decides she loves him again. He does unchain her though, and tells her to make herself at home. Once Zoom leaves, Caitlin starts looking around the lair. She comes across the man in the mask, but before she can try to figure out who he is she is interrupted by Killer Frost! Yes, Caitlin’s Earth-2 counterpart is alive, though Zoom has her in one of those creepy boxes. Killer Frost tries to make a deal with Caitlin: figure out how to release her from the box and Frost will help Caitlin get home. Caitlin gets to work.
Back on Earth-2 Harry is having a bad day. The guy who kidnapped him is a kid, Griffin Grey, who was adversely impacted by the particle accelerator explosion. The disaster gave him super strength, but every time he uses it this kid ages rapidly. Grey is only a high school senior but looks like he’s forty. Yikes. This kid wants Harry, who he doesn’t realize is not the right Dr. Wells, to fix him. If Harry doesn’t? Well, Harry dies.
Even without Caitlin there to be the brains of the operation, Team Flash gets to work trying to rescue Harry. Cisco’s crash assist system on the van tips them off to what happened and where it happened, while Barry and Iris go to investigate and then get Jesse. Barry’s lack of speed may have slowed him down, but he is still determined to do his job as The Flash. He collects evidence that helps the team, with Jesse’s help, identify Harry’s kidnapper. Barry, Joe, and Cisco then attempt to take this strongman down. It doesn’t work very well and Barry not having his speed is a huge handicap. Our metahuman bad guy gets in a solid hit on Barry (by throwing a barrel of chemicals at him), but even though Barry is down he sees something interesting: the exertion of using the strength caused our bad guy to visibly age instantly.
The team takes this information and comes up with a plan. If they can get Grey to exert himself to the point that he becomes very old, Grey will be weak and the team can defeat him. The trick? Barry is going to suit up as the Flash to make this all happen, but without his speed he also doesn’t heal very well. If Barry gets hit by the Grey’s super strength it could kill him. Cisco and Jesse come up with a solution of sorts: they fix up Barry’s suit with the same tech that Felicity used on Ray Palmer’s Atom suit. It will resist the force of any blow Barry takes, but only one and it has to hit Barry in the chest since they only had enough tech for that one small area.
Back in Zoom’s lair, Caitlin thinks she has figured how to bust up those creepy cages. Caitlin hooks up an electric current that will, through science we don’t fully understand, weaken the material the boxes are made of. Once they’re weakened, Caitlin can smash them and set Killer Frost free. While Caitlin sets up her plan, the dopplegangers bond a bit. Despite being different, they have some similar history. They both had frigid mothers and they both went to medical school, though Killer Frost’s life has a bit more trauma (a dead brother) and she dropped out of medical school. It’s an interesting moment where we get to see just how different Caitlin could be.
On Earth-1, it’s time for a rescue mission. The team has tracked Harry’s location to the old amusement park and a suited-up Barry faces off with Grey. Grey throws things, both items and punches and Barry takes the hits that he can. Every exertion ages Grey and just before he can deliver a killing blow on Barry, Grey collapses and dies. In death, Grey returns to his youthful appearance. It’s a sad moment, but it is tempered with Jesse rescuing her father. This father-daughter reunion is much happier. Jesse goes back to STAR with Harry and they mend fences, each having a better understanding of each other.
Unfortunately Caitlin and Killer Frost aren’t achieving such understanding. Caitlin’s plan works and she is able to bust Killer Frost out, but that deal that was talked about? Yeah, not real. Killer Frost plans to kill Caitlin because the only reason Zoom didn’t kill Frost was because she reminded Zoom of Caitlin. If he has the real deal, Zoom has no need for Killer Frost. There aren’t a lot of places to hide in the Zoom lair and for a moment it looks like Caitlin might die, but Zoom shows up. He phases right through Caitlin and stops the icicle that Killer Frost has thrown. Instead of killing Caitlin, Zoom shoves that icicle into Killer Frost, killing her and confirming what she said. He really had kept Killer Frost around because she looked like Caitlin. Zoom then warns Caitlin to never try that again or the masked man gets it.
With Jesse safe, Harry is back to being invested in Team Flash. He has an idea of how he is going to restore Barry’s speed by recreating the accelerator explosion. With Caitlin chained up again Zoom decides to give in to her request to go home, but not in the way she wants. Zoom has decided the he is going to make Earth-1 his conquest and off they go.
Next week? Barry attempts to get his power back. This should be awesome.
What do you think of the idea of recreating the accelerator disaster? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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