In the penultimate episode of The Flash season 2, “Invincible,” Zoom unleashes his meta-human army on Central City and Barry is shocked to recognize one of them. The Black Siren (guest star Katie Cassidy) is the Earth-2 doppelganger of the Black Canary, aka Laurel Lance. Black Siren’s arrival also brings about the “returns” of Reverb and Killer Frost.
Meanwhile, Joe is concerned when Wally steps up to help The Flash fight the Earth-2 metas, everyone is worried that Barry’s newfound confidence could get him killed and the episode ends with the death of someone close to Team Flash.
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Barry’s New Outlook is Troubling
There is chaos on the streets of Central City and it is all thanks to Zoom’s meta-human army. Joe and the cops are trying to keep things under control, but they are no match for the metas. The Flash shows up to help contain some of the violence as Zoom watches over the city and revels in the destruction.
Barry and Iris arrive at S.T.A.R. Labs to discover that Caitlin has returned. Caitlin claims that Zoom let her go. Henry looks her over and says she’ll be fine. Caitlin says Zoom told her Barry was dead, but obviously he is not. Caitlin is worried that Zoom is going to overrun the city and they won’t be able to stop him. Barry reassures her that they can stop him, and they will. Barry’s time in the Speed-Force has convinced him that the universe is on their side — not Zoom’s — so they can’t lose. No one else seems to share Barry’s confidence on that one.
While Barry leads Caitlin away to get some sleep, the rest of the team discuss Barry’s overabundance of confidence. They all are worried about him and his new sense of invincibility. Jesse points out that he did bring her out of her coma, so maybe that’s part of it. Harry thinks someone needs to talk to Barry before his newfound optimism gets him hurt or worse. (Am I right in thinking that Harry looks at Iris when he says this? Does Harry ship West-Allen?)
While Barry and Co. are welcoming Caitlin back, one of Zoom’s metas targets Mercury Labs. We see said meta use a Canary-like cry to destroy the building. Dr. McGee and her people get out, thanks to The Flash. Once the building collapses, we see that the meta who attacked it is none other than the doppelganger of the Black Canary.
After telling Barry that she knows he is The Flash, Barry takes Dr. McGee back to S.T.A.R. Labs. They ask her if she knows who attacked Mercury Labs, but she says she didn’t see anything. Mercury Labs had a device that works like a black box and would have the security footage of the attack. Barry grabs the box and the team gets to work on it.
Henry stops Barry for a father-son chat. Henry is concerned about Barry’s new optimism. Barry says his time in the Speed Force changed him. He claims his new attitude isn’t optimism — it’s just that he is no longer afraid. Henry cautions Barry to be careful and Barry takes it as Henry having doubts about his abilities. Barry points out that Henry doesn’t know what he’s been through because he hasn’t been around. Barry knows he was wrong to say that, but Henry knows Barry is right. He hasn’t been there for so much of Barry’s life, but he does know Barry and he believes in him. Barry thanks his father and tells him that he doesn’t need to worry about him.
Iris also has a heart-to-heart with Barry about his new outlook on life. She wants him to realize that he is not invincible. She thinks fear can be a good thing because it helps you figure out which risks are worth taking. Iris makes a solid point there and I hope Barry takes her advice.
Barry Faces Off Against Black Siren
When Team Flash gets a meta-human alert, Barry heads to the scene and is confronted by Black Siren. Barry is shocked to see Laurel’s evil doppelganger, and the members of Team Flash who knew Laurel have a similar reaction. Black Siren using her Canary-like cry on Barry and it overwhelms his senses. If he were human, it would’ve killed him. Luckily for Barry, Wally overhead him say where he was headed and Wally shows up just in time to save The Flash from Black Siren’s attack. (I love that Wally just straight-up hits Black Siren with his car.) This gives Wally and Barry the chance to escape.
After her fight with The Flash, Black Siren stops by to see Zoom. He knows about her failure and tells her to get back to taking down buildings. She wants to know what the point is to that and Zoom says they need to make the attacks look random so Team Flash doesn’t figure out Zoom’s plan. Alas, we do not see Zoom share his plans with Black Siren, so we still don’t know what he’s really up to.
Wally Wants to Be a Hero
Wally is out on the streets when he stumbles across a purse-snatching. Unfortunately for Wally, the criminal he confronts is actually one of the Earth-2 meta-humans. Joe and the cops show up before anything bad can happen to Wally, but Joe is upset that Wally would risk his life like that. Wally insists that he has to do something to help fight these metas because he needs to prove that his life was worth saving. Joe knows it was, but Wally isn’t so sure. He has a lot of regrets about his past actions and feels like he needs to make up for the mistakes he’s made.
Joe’s concern for Wally has him going to Barry for help. He wants Barry to talk to Wally as The Flash and get Wally to see how risky his actions are. Barry attempts to convince Wally that this isn’t his fight, but Wally believes they all need to step up to protect their home from Zoom.
Joe is none-too-pleased to hear about Wally’s heroics in saving The Flash. He thinks Wally was just lucky and doesn’t want to see the day when his son’s luck runs out. Later on, Barry tells Joe that he needs to stop trying to prevent Wally from being the hero he is destined to be. Wally is Joe’s son, after all, and he takes after Joe in his need to help people and protect his city. Barry doesn’t think either one of them should stop Wally from following that path.
Cisco Has a Bad Idea
With Black Siren poised to take down a building with hundreds of residents, Barry has to choose between saving all of those people or helping Team Flash take down all of the Earth-2 metas. Cisco then comes up with an idea of how to distract the Black Siren so Barry can focus on stopping the metas. Cisco and Caitlin then head off to see Black Siren, posing as their Earth-2 doppelgangers.
Cisco and Caitlin do a fairly convincing job of acting as their evil doppelgangers. They offer Black Siren an opportunity to take down Zoom. Why would she work for him when she can be the one in control? Black Siren seems interested in the option, but she also knows that something is up. She tests that theory by throwing something to Cisco. When he catches it with the wrong hand — apparently, Reverb was left-handed and all doppelgangers are mirror-images — she knows Caitlin and Cisco are not the Earth-2 metas.
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Team Flash Finds a Way to Defeat Zoom’s Army
Barry knows that the best way to beat Zoom is to take away his army of Earth-2 meta-humans. Since there are far too many metas to handle on a case-by-case basis, Barry thinks they need to figure out how to stop all of the metas at once. Since Earth-2 vibrates on a different frequency, Barry thinks they should come up with some kind of vibrational tech to take down the metas.
Cisco and Harry have come up with a device that can stop Zoom’s meta-human army. Cisco calls it dimensional shock therapy and explains that since Earth-2 operates on a higher frequency, the device will send out a pulse that can disrupt the metas’ nervous system. It will affect everyone, including Zoom. It will also affect Harry and Jesse, so they have designed headphones they can use to protect them from the pulse.
Barry’s part of the plan requires him to run around the city to create a sound-pressure wave around the city. Once Barry does this, it amplifies the signal send out by the device and creates a pulse that knocks out every Earth-2 human and meta-human on Earth-1. Unfortunately, the pulse takes time to work and Zoom manages to create a breach to Earth-2 and escape before the pulse takes him out.
After Black Siren confronts them about not being who they say they are, Cisco manages to blast Black Siren with some Reverb-like powers. But since he did it on accident, when he tries to do it again, he cannot. Luckily for Cisco and Caitlin, Team Flash sets off the pulse and Black Siren is taken down. Barry then collects Black Siren and all of the other Earth-2 metas who have been knocked out by the pulse and locks them up.
Alas, the headphones Harry created to protect Jesse and himself are not 100% effective. Or, at least, they do not work on Jesse. When Jesse starts reacting to the pulse, Harry gives her his headphones to protect her. By doing this, Harry ends up getting knocked unconscious by the pulse. Henry assures Jesse that her dad will be fine and he certainly looks so by the end of the episode. Did Jesse’s headphones really not work properly or was her reaction to the pulse a result of the dark matter she was hit with?
Zoom Kills Henry Allen
Zoom gets Barry’s attention so they can have a talk. Zoom/Hunter Zoloman says they have so much in common and they are basically the same. Zoom thinks the only difference is that he actually saw his mother die whereas Barry was whisked away from the scene of the crime. Zoom also thinks that Barry’s desire to do good is holding him back. While Barry is off playing the hero and saving lives, Zoom will be winning because he doesn’t care about anything else.
Once Team Flash deals with Zoom’s meta-human army, Iris brings everyone together for a celebratory dinner. As Barry and Iris watch Henry flirt with Dr. McGee, Barry asks Iris if they should finally give things a real shot. Iris smiles and says she would like that. Jesse and Wally also get in on the flirting and everything seems so happy that you know something horrible is bound to happen.
And it does. Zoom decides to retaliate for Barry taking out his metas by showing Barry just how similar they are. In order to do that, Zoom kidnaps Henry and takes him back to Barry’s childhood home. (When Barry chases after them, he uses his speed and Wally realizes that Barry is The Flash.) In an absolutely chilling scene, Zoom kills Henry in front of Barry in the very same place Reverse Flash murdered Barry’s mother.
(How will Barry deal with losing another parent? Did his time in the Speed Force prepare him for such a tragic loss? Will Henry’s death motivate Team Flash into finding a way to defeat Zoom once and for all?)
Other Happenings
— Early in the episode, Cisco has a Vibe of a dead bird. He doesn’t know what that Vibe means, but he has another one — this time, of multiple dead birds. (I assumed Cisco’s visions were about Black Siren, but I was wrong.) Alas, by the end of the episode, Cisco’s vision changes. Instead of just seeing the dead birds, Cisco sees what looks like the complete destruction of Earth-2. Is Zoom planning to destroy Earth-2? Can Team Flash save Harry and Jesse’s world?
— Jesse asks Caitlin to run more tests on her because she got hit with the dark matter and she is worried that it might’ve affected her somehow. Harry assures his daughter that she is not a meta-human, but I am not convinced. I think we will see either Jesse or Wally develop powers sometime soon.
— Caitlin is not doing so well after her ordeal with Zoom. She keeps having flashes of him appearing in S.T.A.R. Labs. At one point, she tells Cisco that “Jay” has taken everything from her and she doesn’t know if she will ever be whole again. Yet when she helps Team Flash take down the Earth-2 metas, Caitlin starts to feel like herself again.
What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Henry’s return and his decision to stay in Central City were pointing to his tragic demise, but I was hoping the show would surprise us and not kill Barry’s father. What did you think of Henry’s death? How would that connect to the fan theory that the Man in the Mask is another version of Henry Allen? Do you think Cisco’s vision of Earth-2’s destruction will come to pass? Is it possible Cisco was seeing the destruction of another Earth instead?
What are Zoom’s plans for Earth-1 and how do they connect to Black Siren bringing down buildings around the city? Will we see Laurel’s doppelganger again or is the show done with her? How will Wally react to learning that Barry is The Flash? And how will Team Flash finally defeat Zoom in the season 2 finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
The Flash airs Tuesday nights at 8pm on The CW.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
