‘The Flash’ Episode 2.6 “Enter Zoom” (9 out of 10) Starring Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Jesse L. Martin, and Tom Cavanagh. Guest starring Shantel VanSanten, Malese Jow, Violett Beane, Tony Todd. First broadcast November 10, 2015
“The Flash” is very, very good. It’s the best of the superhero series currently on television. Personally, I think it’s the best superhero live action series ever. That said, it does follow the same formula week after week. There’s an overall story arc for the season and the series, but most episodes are just a standard villain of the week. Villain emerges, attacks the first time, which attracts the attention of the Flash. The second time, villain and Flash fight, the villain wins. Flash goes back to S.T.A.R. Labs, they find a new way to stop the villain, and Flash rounds up the baddie either for the cops or for their own little Guantanamo underneath S.T.A.R. Labs. That formula works great. It worked well last week when that villain was Doctor Light…until we found out that she was the doppelganger for our own Linda Park, Barry’s ex.
The uncanny likeness has Barry hatching a plan to train Linda to masquerade as Doctor Light, killing Barry and sending proof of his death through a breach to Earth-2, where Zoom would get it, come to our Central City, and the S.T.A.R. Labs kids could capture him. It all sounds really stupid. So of course they decide to try it.
Everything goes well, it goes according to plan. We get the Training Linda montage, we get more interaction between Barry and Patty, we see more of the bond between Iris and Linda. We even let Linda in on the Worst Kept Secret Identity Ever, so she knows that Barry’s the Flash. But overall, it’s a very standard, very safe episode. Their trap fails, Barry’s kind of bummed, but otherwise things are fine. Caitlin pushes Cisco to use his “Vibe” powers on “Harry” Wells to get more information on him. Cisco tries a few times, and eventually breaks through, seeing that Zoom has Wells’ daughter Jesse caged up on Earth-2. Wells knowing that she’s still alive might bring him closer into Team Flash, but he’s also not HOLY SHIT AND THEN ZOOM SHOWS UP.
We’ve seen Zoom here and there, in the shadows on Earth-2, fighting with Jay Garrick, threatening other characters…but this is the first time we’ve really seen him. He comes roaring in, snatching Linda and taunting Barry – “You like to fish with bait? I do too.” – dropping her from a roof. Barry saves her of course, but that moves him into a closer confrontation with Zoom, who proceeds to beat the hell out of the Flash. Barry uses his latest trick, hurling lightning at Zoom, which Cisco sums up with “Can he catch a bolt of lightning with his demonic claws? Yeah, saw that.” Barry tries everything. But where Reverse Flash/Harrison Wells was a known quantity (once they figured him out), Zoom…is different. We don’t know his past, his history, his motivation, other than that he wants to be the only one with access to the Speed Force. And he is scary.
I wish I hadn’t seen the costume in publicity or set photos without the visual effects added in. The costume, a black version of the Flash costume, but with no gold or white accents, and bizarrely, with no “mouth hole” (I don’t know what that would be called)(sorry)…looks terrifying with the visual effects “on.” Even without them, it’s a frightening design. Add Tony Todd’s incredible voice to it, and this thing will give you nightmares.
Nothing is scarier than when he takes Barry by the throat and runs him through Central City. On top of buildings, through the streets, into the newspaper offices of Central City Picture News, on top of the Central City Police Department. He shakes Barry like a rag doll, he eventually digs into Barry with those lightning-catching claws, only stopped from eviscerating him at the last second. We’ve never seen our hero less…heroic, or this close to death.
This episode, only six into season two, is something that other shows would do for a season finale. I know that the Flash is the star of the show. I know that within a few weeks he’ll be recovered from this momentary paralysis and be running again. But man. This episode was some scary shit. And I loved it.
Next up, Gorilla Grodd’s back in town. And he hates bananas.