The FlashBack: ‘The Flash’ – Episode 23 ‘The Race of His Life’

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 Barry had the ultimate face-off with Zoom in the season two finale. There really is no witty way to introduce this, so for the record there will be a lot of spoilers in this recap as well as a bit of speculation for season three. If you can handle that, read on…

We pick up right where we left off with Zoom murdering Henry Allen in front of Barry in the Allen home. The murder of his father rightly sends Barry into a rage. Of course, this is exactly what Zoom wants and Barry ends up chasing Zoom with the clear intent of avenging his father. Barry beats the crap out of Zoom, even getting his nemesis on the ground with Zoom begging for Barry to give into the rage and kill him. But Barry can’t kill him because that’s not who he is. Another Zoom shows up just then to kill the one that Barry has on the ground. It seems that Zoom created a time remnant of himself and sacrifices that guy instead. Barry has let Zoom down. Zoom even taunts Barry that there could be two Barrys if he is just willing to kill that double. It’s kind of creepy the way Zoom wants Barry to snap so hard that our hero resorts to murder.

With all of the pain Barry is in, it won’t take much to make our hero snap. At Henry’s funeral, Barry can’t even speak. Even with Iris giving her man a nod of encouragement, he remains silent. Joe has to speak instead. Barry is so upset and has only one thing on his mind: Barry wants to stop Zoom. Zoom, for his part, is so eager to push Barry over the edge that there really isn’t time to grieve. Zoom shows up outside the West house post-funeral with the plan. Zoom wants to race Barry. If Barry wins, Zoom will leave, but if Barry declines to race then Zoom is just going to kill of the people Barry cares for one by one.

Zoom is up to something with this choice and the team at STAR figure that out. Mercury Labs is creating something called a magnetar that when generated has the ability to rip Earth-2 in half. This is exactly what Cisco saw in his vibes so this is clearly not a good idea. Zoom plans to use the race with Barry to fire up the magnetar and destroy a lot of Earths. Barry takes this to mean that he has to race Zoom, but the whole team thinks this is a bad plan. Barry is in a bad place emotionally and Joe tries to talk his surrogate son out of this race. Joe’s wisdom doesn’t penetrate, though, and Barry even admits that he wants to kill Zoom. Knowing that this is a bad idea, Joe and Harry tranquilize Barry then lock him up in a cell in the pipeline. The team informs Barry that he’s just too angry to beat Zoom. With Barry in the ultimate timeout the gang have a plan to defeat Zoom without Barry. The plan is seemingly simple: Caitlin will lure Zoom out by pretending that she’s ready to embrace her darkness. This lets the team boot Zoom, tranquilize him, and chuck him back to Earth-2 before sealing off the breaches again.

Good plan, right? It is except it goes sideways. Yes, Caitlin shows up to draw Zoom out and when he goes in to kill Caitlin for her betrayal, it’s revealed that she’s really a hologram. The confusion lets Harry boot Zoom and then Joe is supposed to tranquilize him, except the gun fails and Joe has to run up to Zoom and do it manually. Cisco pops open a breach and Zoom goes into it, dragging Joe with him. The team plans to just leave it be because that’s what they had all agreed on, but Wally shows up at STAR and is not okay with this. Wally is so not okay that he breaks Barry out.

Meanwhile on Earth-2, Zoom is taunting Joe. Joe, who seems to have accepted things, isn’t rattled. Instead, Joe asks Zoom about the guy in the mask. We finally get our answer. It turns out that the man in the mask is the real Jay Garrick. the Flash from Earth-3. You see, Zoom got powers just like Barry did, but the speed wasn’t enough. Zoom wanted more, creating the Velocity 9 and using it without realizing it was killing him. Needing more power, Zoom tried to manipulate the Speed Force. That failed so he then found the Earth-3 Flash and tried to take that speed. That failed Zoom as well and then Zoom discovered Barry. The reason the man is in the cage? Zoom kept him as a trophy, stealing the name Jay Garrick. The plan is to put Barry in a similar cage.

Back at STAR, Barry is really upset with everything. Barry’s rage is at a breaking point and Caitling tries to talk him down since Barry did the same for her. However, time is running out. Barry gets the team to agree to help him. Cisco vibes him to Earth-2 where Barry tells Zoom the race is on, but the terms are that Joe has to go free. With the race on the gang goes to the magnetar site. Zoom shows up a moment later and reveals the plan. Turns out Earth is the nexus point lf the multiverse. Zoom wants to destroy every other Earth and use the primary one to rule from. Evil plan revealed, Zoom gives the team a moment to say goodbye, but no one leaves. The whole team wants to be there for Barry. If Barry wins, they will be there, and if he loses they will die together. They are a team to the end.

And now we race. The magnetar needs a certain amount of energy to kick in so Barry has to stop Zoom before that happens. However, Barry can’t just stop racing because Zoom will kill them. They race and Barry figures out pretty quickly that he’s lagging. The race is also starting to power up the machine so Barry pulls a Zoom. Barry creates a time remnant of himself. Barry (the real one) fights with Zoom while the duplicate Barry runs around the machine, creating a pulse that will stop the magnetar even though doing so kills the duplicate. The multiverse saved, Barry beats the crap out of Zoom and is in position to kill. Zoom feels pretty sure Barry won’t be able to kill him, and Zoom’s right. Barry won’t kill him. Barry doesn’t need to. The time wraiths show up about them and take Zoom for his sins against the Speed Force. Bye, Zoom.

Back at STAR, there isn’t much celebrating Zoom’s demise. Harry and Cisco free the real Jay Garrick from the mask and reveal that he’s Henry Allen’s doppelganger. Barry freaks out. Seeing Henry’s double is just too much for Barry, but he manages to pull it together to deal with things. Jay Flash is ready to go home, but he takes Zoom’s “Jay Garrick” helmet, symbolically taking something back from Zoom. Seeing Jay Garrick all suited up is amazing. Jay needs to get home, though, so Harry and Jesse offer to help him by way of Earth-2. Yep, they are going home. There is a round of tearful goodbyes before Cisco opens a portal and sends them home.

The worlds have been saved. It’s time to relax a bit at the West house, but Barry can’t. He goes outside to sit on the porch and Iris follows. Barry’s just broken and says he needs time to find peace. Iris tells Barry that she will wait for him, just as Barry waited for her. She loves him, she says, and they kiss. After, Iris leaves Barry to his thoughts. Instead, Barry runs off and travels back in time. Where does he go? Barry goes back to his mother’s death again and this time? He stops Reverse Flash, saving Nora and watching as season one Barry fades away. Nora is safe now. Fade to black.

And that is where our season ends, with Barry Allen once again being the reason we can’t have nice things. What does this mean for next season? How will this impact the rest of the heroes in the shared universe? Will I be able to stop screaming long enough to recap season three? We have a whole summer to wait and find out so let’s talk it out in the comments section. Until next season!