The FlashBack: ‘The Flash’ – Episode 22 ‘Invincible’

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 night was the penultimate episode of this season’s The Flash. Coming off of last week’s restoration of Barry’s powers, this episode not only sets up next week’s finale but puts Team Flash back together at last. Want to know what happened? Read on, but remember that there are spoilers beyond this point.Last week Zoom brought his villain metahuman homies to Central City to conquer Earth-1 and it looks like Team Zoom is doing a pretty solid job. There are lots of chaos all over the city, but the Flash is all over it. He zips around rescuing people and stopping metahumans with an almost cheerful grin. Why is Barry so chipper? As he tells the team back at STAR, the Speed Force is with them. They can’t lose!

So far it seems like he might be right. Jesse and Wally are happy and healthy, even if Wally has taken on a decidedly heroic flair as he decides he needs to help. Caitlin returns to them, having taken the leave option that Zoom gave her. She’s not in the best shape, but she’s back with her friends. The gang even takes the destruction of Mercury Labs (yes, them again) in stride. The Flash saves Dr. McGee as her building collapses thanks to the destructive powers of a mystery metahuman. His reward? Dr. McGee knows he’s really Barry.

Did I say mystery metahuman? I meant Laurel Lance’s doppelganger, aka Earth-2’s Black Siren. We see her as she leaves the scene.

Back at STAR, Dr. McGee meets the team, including Henry Allen. She also suggests that maybe Harrison Wells was the perpetrator, but Harry introduces himself instead. Dr. McGee tells the team that her building had a sort of building’s black box that should give them security camera information. Barry rushes off to find it. Out on the streets, though, Barry isn’t the lone crime fighter. Wally has taken it upon himself to prove his worthiness of having been saved. Wally nobly stops a purse-snatcher, but said purse-snatcher turns out to be a metahuman. It looks bad for Wally for a moment, but Joe and the cops show up. Before the bad guy can hurt Wally, Joe gets a boot on to the metahuman before giving Wally a bit of a lecture.

Jesse is also dealing with her own issues. At the lab, Jesse asks Caitlin to run tests on her and Harry walks in on it. Jesse wants to know if her genes have changed because of the dark matter, but Harry tells his daughter that she is not metahuman. What Jesse can do? Use her intelligence to help. Barry returns with the black box for the team to examine. Before Barry leaves, his father confronts our favorite speedster about the boundless optimism he has. Barry is not swayed. The Speed Force is with them and it’s off to go fight more.

At the police station, Zoom is in Barry’s lab being a creeper about Barry’s mom. Zoom is completely convinced that he and Barry are the same person. They both endured tragedy, but instead of Barry having to watch his mom die, Barry was whisked away. Barry refuses to accept Zoom’s summary. However, that doesn’t phase our villain. Zoom thinks Barry’s goodness is what will ultimately lead to Zoom winning.

So what is the plan to stop Zoom? Zoom has an army. How can just a few of Team Flash take on an army? Remember how those from Earth-2 vibrate differently? The team remembers that too, so the idea is to create something that will vibrate in a way that knocks the bad guys out. Pretty smart, actually. Barry gets another talk, this time from Joe who also asks Barry to talk Wally out of the hero thing.

Cisco gets to work in the lab on the project. Caitlin is there too, but she is having some major PTSD about Zoom. Elsewhere Wally is confronted by the Flash, but before they can really talk Black Siren is spotted. Barry goes off to deal with her and Wally follows. It’s a good thing, too. Black Siren nearly gets the better of Flash with her sonic scream, but she makes a common villain mistake. Black Siren monologues over the downed Flash which gives Wally enough time to show up and hit her with his car. Wally gets Flash away, then Flash speeds off back to the lab.

At STAR Iris tries her hand at lecturing Barry. Cisco has finished his device, a tuning fork of sorts that will knock out all Earth-2 folks, and while they are getting things set up Black Siren is about to attack a building. If she is successful there will be a lot of casualties and Barry really wants to go stop her, but he also needs to help with the pulse. Cisco comes up with an awful idea. The idea? Well, Black Siren is met by Reverb and Killer Frost. No, it’s not really the bad guys back from the dead. Cisco and Caitlin have dressed up to distract Black Siren so she can’t kill a bunch of people. This will buy time for Barry to set up the pulse. Our faux bad guys do a pretty good job and Black Siren doesn’t clue in until it’s too late. The pulse gets set off and the Earth-2 bad guys drop. Even Zoom is impacted, but he creates himself a breach and goes back to Earth-2.

With all the bad guys down, Barry collects them. As he said, the Speed Force was with them. The whole crew gets together at the West house for a celebratory dinner. Henry and Dr. McGee seem to be getting cozy, Barry asks Iris to give their relationship a try, and they all toast to family. Then, Cisco vibes. Cisco has been having vibes all evening, images of dead birds, but this time it’s really bad. He sees Earth-2 literally collapsing and tearing in half. Before Cisco can really process this with the team, Zoom shows up. He kidnaps Henry and Barry gives chase. Zoom has taken Henry to Barry’s childhood home and the villain reveals his plan. Zoom is determined to make Barry just like him and to do this he murders Henry right in front of Barry.

Next week? Yeah, right now I have nothing. I’m seriously still crying about Henry Allen’s death and deeply upset at what appears to be John Wesley Shipp’s exit from the show. Want to grieve with me or cheer me up with theories about the season finale? Hit me up in the comments section.