Reeling from the death of a loved one, Barry is more intent on defeating Zoom than ever. And as Joe West discovers, he doesn’t just want to defeat Zoom, he wants to kill him. This rage-fueled Barry seems intent on doing anything he has to to kill Zoom, even if it means running off half-cocked and playing right into Zoom’s plan to destroy the Multiverse. Team Flash realises that Barry’s emotional instability might lead to him doing something rash with his amazing abilities, so they decide to bench him – forcefully.
The ranks of Team Flash have swelled this season, almost to double digits. Often, characters like Jesse and even Wally get lost in the wash, so it’s interesting to see the whole team get together on something and hatch a plan to stop Zoom themselves. It was also genuinely surprising to me that they took Barry out of play, and it nicely foreshadows the events that end the episode.
Team Flash (specifically Caitlin) trick Zoom/Garrick/Zolomon into dropping his guard, and in typical Flash-fashion they science at him until he seems defeated. Also in typical Flash fashion, things don’t go perfectly, and one of Barry’s surrogate family gets sent back to Earth 2 along with Zoom.
Throughout the season Zoom’s been an intimidating adversary. The somewhat limp Jay Garrick reveal was a speed wobble (witness me) but the last two episodes of this season do a great job of elevating Jay to maniacal, world-ending super villain. And boy does Teddy Sears chew the scenery every chance he gets in this episode. More than any other show, The Flash does the best job of making its world feel like a comic book. Bright colours, man-sharks, ridiculous applications of “science”, and villainous monologues. Everything’s present and accounted for in this season finale, and it’s unambiguously fun to watch. Best of all, the villain wants to destroy the multiverse through a race, because this show is about running and people who run, don’t ask question look at the blue lightning and the red lightning.
Season one of The Flash ended with Barry losing. He lost to Reverse Flash in the present, he purposefully lost to Reverse Flash in the past when his mother died, and his losses resulted in a massive wormhole above Central City, which caused all of the problems of this second season. In fact, without Eddie Thawne, Team Flash wouldn’t have made it to Season Two. So for Barry, for every Earth, and for me as a viewer, it was important that The Flash finally win something. The way in which he does it is superhero storytelling at its finest. More importantly, Flash wins in a way only The Flash could win. For anyone looking for tips on how to tell an intense DC superhero story without losing all sense of logic, hope and joy, this episode is a pretty good guideline.
Then comes the mushy stuff. The Man in the Iron Mask is revealed, and decisions are made about who’s going to return to Earth 2. There’s also some laboured romance between Barry and Iris, because this is a CW show and Candice Patton has a multi season contract I guess. There’s far better mushy stuff with Harry and Cisco though, so that helps the medicine go down. The episode seems poised to end on a bittersweet note. Barry has gained and lost loved ones. He’s grown as a person, without changing into a worse version of himself like Zoom wanted. Who knows when Team Flash will be together again? But the credits don’t roll on brooding Barry. It ends with Barry doing something rash with his amazing abilities.
The final scenes of The Flash fulfil the episode’s title. Barry’s whole life has been a race, running from and running for a single moment that defined everything that came after, making everything come second. Finally, Barry decides he’s sick of losing. It’s moving. In fact, it’s powerful, because you can celebrate while wondering how it’s all going to go terribly wrong. But what does Barry winning mean for the multiverse? Is the show really hinting at the best-known modern Flash comic book storyline? These are the kinds of questions we’re left with when The Flash and the credits fade away for the summer. When the consequences finally come calling (presumably in S3), there’ll only be one thing we can be sure will stay the same.
Someone’s going to say “Run Barry, run.”
-Shaun Leonard
