Josh recaps Season 2 Episode 18 of The Flash, titled Versus Zoom, which opens with Barry again remembering himself as a kid. We see Barry meeting Iris as a kid, and moving in with Joe. We also see Earth 2, where Zoom’s father murders his wife in front of who we presume to be Zoom himself. Hunter Zolomon is then put into an orphanage, and not a pleasant looking one. Zolomon is escorted to his room by the caretaker.
- His thoughts on Versus Zoom, episode 218 of The Flash
- Her thoughts on this week’s episode of The Flash
The Flash Recap: Versus Zoom – Barry Feels Ready
In the present with Barry, he is testing his Tachyon Enhancer. He radios with Cisco and Caitlin, and they test to see how quickly he can get back to STAR Labs. There is a huge improvement in his speed apparently, and he gets back to STAR Labs in record time, and feels fine doing it. Caitlin says he is now 4 times faster, and Dr. Wells notes it is now faster than Zoom.
Barry’s next plan is to figure out how to get back to Earth 2 to stop Zoom. Dr. Wells doesn’t seem excited to get back to Earth 2 though. Wells thinks that Zoom will use loved ones against the team, so he does not want to risk opening the breaches. Barry seems resolved to get back to rescue Earth 2 though. The rest of the team gets working on the breach issue.
Iris, meanwhile, heads out for a date with Scott. But Barry and she talk some before she leaves.
At home, Barry and Joe have a brew together, and Joe seems to agree with Wells about not reopening the breaches. Barry seems confident he can take Zoom though. Wally makes it home, and he and Joe seem to be getting along together really well. But Wally seems to be having a living situation issue for school, and Joe offers to help him out. Wally seems a little down for some reason.
Barry Comes Up With a Plan for the Breaches – Vibe
Back at STAR Labs, the team is still working on a solution. Barry has an idea though, and it involves “Vibe”/Cisco. Barry thinks that if Cisco taps into his power, he might be able to open a breach to Earth 2. Cisco’s mind seems to be blown.
Cisco gets to trying his powers, but so far he is not having any luck. Barry tries to offer encouragement, but Cisco seems a bit down about the whole thing.
Back at Joe’s house, Dr. Wells shows up. Wally heads out, leaving the two to talk. Wells asks Joe about finding his daughter, but Joe hasn’t been able to find her yet. Wells then asks another favor of Joe: to stop Barry from opening the breaches. Joe says he is not able to do that, as Barry is pretty stubborn. Joe then asks for a favor–asking Wells to help Barry.
Barry and Cisco do some traveling, finding a “hotspot” in a hospital, where Barry thinks there is a good chance to open a breach. Cisco gets back to his powers, and still struggles. Wells shows now though, and then offers to help, reluctantly. Wells seems to have already figured out what Cisco needs, and did some recalibrating of goggles similar to that of “Reverb”, Cisco’s doppelganger. Cisco tries again, and seems to have luck this time.
On Earth 2, Zoom seems to be aware of this breach opening, and encourages Cisco from his side. Cisco then suddenly stops opening the breach, and panics, thinking it is not a good idea all of a sudden.
Joe, meanwhile, shows up at STAR Labs, and Barry gives Joe some advice–invite Wally to live with them. Barry seems okay with this too.
Iris and Caitlin watch Joe and Barry talk, and Iris seems “off”. She apparently ditched her date with Scott, and talks with Caitlin about Barry, and their “destiny” to be together. Iris is not sure how to handle it, and Caitlin seems to think maybe they are destined for each other.
Back home, Joe invites Wally to stay with him. Wally seems very appreciative of the gesture.
Team Flash Gears Up To Take On Zoom
At STAR Labs, Barry talks with Cisco, and tries to comfort him. Cisco tells Barry that he is worried about his powers turning him to the “dark side”. Barry tells him that he has had all sorts of new abilities come up, and Cisco was there for him. Barry promises to be there for Cisco. Cisco seems to calm down, and decides to go another round with his abilities.
Wells attaches the Tachyon Enhancer to Barry’s suit. Caitlin, meanwhile, tells Barry about Jay Garrick’s doppelganger–Hunter Zolomon. Wells overhears this, and Wells tells the team that Hunter Zolomon is a serial killer on Earth 2. On Earth 2, he was put into a mental asylum.
We see a flashback on Earth 2, where Zolomon is getting electro-shock therapy. At the same time, the particle accelerator went off, which is what resulted in Hunter getting his super-speed. Barry thinks they can use this knowledge of Hunter’s past as leverage against Zolomon.
The Flash Versus Zoom – It Doesn’t Go Well
The team gets ready to take on Zoom, and Cisco opens the breach. Zoom comes through the portal, and confronts Barry. The two get into a speed battle, and Zoom seems to be pretty fast. Wells and the team lie in wait with their weapons to take out Zolomon at STAR Labs. They zip around STAR Labs, and we see that Barry has put a large photo of Zoom’s father and mother up to distract him. Hunter seems to freeze up, and Barry and the team take Zoom down with their gun.
The two have a conversation, and Barry tells Zoom that he would have helped him, preventing him from dying. Hunter tells Barry that he doesn’t care about anyone, and that feeling disappeared “a long time ago”. But Hunter seems to be back on his feet. He proclaims, “You can’t lock up the darkness” and speeds off. Barry tries to give chase, but is unable to find him.
Joe, Barry and Iris head home, and the house is torn apart. On the wall is a message, and Barry knows what happened.
We see that Wally is in a cell–on Earth 2. He sees the masked man tapping–the one we have yet to learn the identity of. Zoom tells Wally there is only one person who can help him–the Flash.
At Joe’s home, the team tries to figure out how to stop Zoom. Barry has a talk with Joe, and tells him that he will relinquish his speed to Hunter to save Wally.
The Flash Is Not so Flash-y Anymore
At STAR Labs, Cisco “calls” Zoom with his powers. Cisco tells Zoom that Barry will give Zoom his powers. Zoom shows up with Wally, and releases him as promised. Wells promises to “knock that smug expression off” his face–eventually. Hunter then explains who the Jay Garrick that he killed was. Apparently it was his “time remnant”. Apparently his remnant agreed to it. Barry then asks who the man in the mask is, and Hunter Zolomon says, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you”. Barry gets on his treadmill, and drains the Speed Force from himself.
Zoom injects Barry’s Speed Force into himself, getting the “high” of the additional Speed Force. Hunter Zolomon then grabs Barry, but Caitlin pleads for Hunter to let him go. Apparently Caitlin has some sort of effect on him, and Zoom takes her away.
His thoughts on The Flash, Season 2 Episode 18: Versus Zoom
Well, this was a pretty confusing episode of The Flash–at least the whole “explanation” part that Jay gives as to how he managed to kill “Jay Garrick”. Apparently he found a “time remnant” who agreed to be murdered in order to get Team Flash to seek revenge on him? A brilliant plan…I guess? It certainly had to be perfectly timed, as Zoom would have to know when the breaches would be closed, and on top of that, what the heck is a “Time Remnant”? It seems to me if you kill a past version of yourself, you would take yourself out of existence…But what do I know, I am not a quantum physicist.
Another thing that is bothering me–Wally was set free, why did Barry not take on Zoom again? Because he didn’t want to back out on his word? I guess Zoom could have captured another hostage, and things could have been worse in terms of the team being in danger, but now Caitlin is kidnapped, Jay has even more speed, and Barry has none at all. I have no idea how they are going to stop Hunter now.
Based on what Cisco says, Barry is now human again, which would leave me to believe that the Speed Force is completely gone in his system. This means that Velocity 9 probably would not even work on him. Are we going to get some help from some other heroes?
I am still wanting to know who this masked man is. We got the answer to the grave in Arrow. It seems we should be given the answer on the mask now!
As for Caitlin, I wonder what Hunter’s plan is for her. Keep her caged until she gets some Stockholm Syndrome? Will we be seeing her get her “Killer Frost” powers?
While this episode has a lot of less-than-logical things going on, Zoom/Hunter Zolomon is a very menacing baddie, and I hope we get some good episodes of Barry making his come back to take him down, somehow.
Her Thoughts on The Flash, Season 2 Episode 18: Versus Zoom episode
So, this episode had me questioning it pretty much the whole time. I was in a state of, let’s call it, disbelief for the majority of the episode. Not because I was in awe, but because much of it didn’t make sense. It did attempt to answer some of the burning questions that the audience has had, but at the same time, left some questions open for debate, and created more questions on top of that.
One of those questions we’ve been wondering about is how was Zoom in two places at once? It had previously been theorized that maybe he did what we’ve seen Reverse Flash do before, move so fast that he appears in two different places. That theory didn’t make sense to me, because how could he be on Earth 1 and Earth 2 at the same time? Whenever we’ve seen Reverse Flash do this trick, the two figures were in the vicinity of each other. So I’m glad that they came up with an alternate explanation. However, I’m not so sure I buy it. Why would Jay Garrick agree to be murdered? How does this whole plan with the time remnant even work? It’s a lot to swallow. I guess it’s just one of those situations where you just have to go with it. Also, if Dr. Wells is so familiar with who Hunter Zolomon is, then how did he not recognize him as Jay Garrick?? Not only did Dr. Wells encounter Jay Garrick on several occasions while living on Earth 2, he worked closely with him on Earth 1 as well. This realization might have come in handy before! Then again, DC the universe where a pair of glasses can fool people, and where Iris was one of the last people to figure out that Barry is the Flash, so I suppose crazy hair is as much of a disguise as any.
I also continue to be frustrated with the notion that Cisco’s powers as “Vibe” are the same as his Earth 2 doppelganger, “Reverb.” Those Earth 2 episodes showed us that not everyone has the same powers on Earth 1 as they do on Earth 2, and some people on Earth 1 don’t have powers while their Earth 2 doppelgangers do, and vice versa. So relying on this assumption that Cisco and Reverb have the same exact powers seems foolish.
Anyway, Wally’s back, but now Caitlin’s gone. Maybe she’ll be the one that can get through to Zoom. Maybe we’ll actually find out who the man in the mask is. Maybe these storylines will get less frustrating. We’ll see.
The Flash Scenes for Season 2 Episode 19 – Back to Normal
In the next episode of The Flash, Barry seems to be dealing with his lack of speed, and how he can still try to fight crime. We also see that Caitlin is being held by Zoom in a cell, and Dr. Wells seems to be missing as well. What can Team Flash do now to save the world?
Preview of Season 2 Episode 19 of The Flash
Fantastic episode!