In this week’s episode, Barry takes on a new villain from the breach that has some big news about Zoom while Barry and Patty finally go on a date filled with awkward laughter. Oh yeah, there’s also some stuff about a certain Dr. Wells.
SPOILERS AHEAD
We open up on Earth 2 where Jay Garrick confronts Wells about having created the meta humans, something which he adamantly denies. We’re also introduced to Wells’ daughter who, if the show stays in form, is going to be our meta human for the week.
In Earth 1’s STAR Labs, the team has that ‘what the-‘ meeting with the alternate Dr. Wells where the wounds that Earth 1 Wells left are still fresh, making the team wary. The confusing nature of the dual Earth’s is made light of when they explain to Wells 2 who Wells 1 was and he ‘follows none of that’. Wells tells them why he’s come to this Earth and low and behold, it’s to stop Zoom. Zoom is certainly quite the villain on Earth 2 it seems though we haven’t been able to see much of him with all of the Legends of Tomorrow building going on.
Joe fills Iris in on the appearance of the new Wells and she takes it much better than pretty much anyone else. Despite this, Joe arms his daughter to ‘protect her’. Patty and Barry continue their dance of ‘who’s more awkward’ (which included a nice reference to The Martian) which Cisco ridicules Barry for. To show Barry up, Cisco tries to pick up a girl who shoots him down which triggers another one of Cisco’s flashes of power, showing him this week’s villain robbing the bank.
Dr. Light, the new meta from Earth 2, encounters the Flash at the bank but beats a hasty retreat before Barry can do anything about it. The fact that it’s a very poorly concealed Linda Park seems lost on Barry despite the fact that they dated a few months ago. Wells explains who this new meta is and how she draws her power from a star. He proposes a plan to use Dr. Light to lure Zoom to them. Cue the entrance of Jay Garrick who seems to be in hiding for almost all of the time unless there’s a dramatic entrance to made. He and Wells have some history and they do not get along.
Barry asks Patty out on a date and Cisco talk to Wells about why Cisco hates him where Barry’s time travel comes up for the third time this episode because this show can’t drop a subtle hint to save their lives. When he meets Dr. Light again she reveals herself to be Linda and Barry somehow still can’t wrap his head around the alternate Earth thing and she blinds him in her escape.
Barry’s blindness is a slight impediment to his date with Patty so donning a hidden camera, Barry goes off on the date with Cisco guiding him. Why he would choose socially awkward Cisco for this task, I couldn’t say, but the plot must go on and such. The level of awkwardness of this date scene was almost out of hand compounded by Barry’s blindness. They also made reference to Barry’s time travelling AGAIN and Patty revealed some secrets about herself. It makes me sad to see such a charming actress have great chemistry with Grant Gustin since I know she’ll eventually be replaced for the Iris/ Barry love story where Gustin and Candice Patton (who is largely unlikeable) have zero chemistry. It’s the Caity Lotz situation all over again…
Jay and Caitlin go on a stakeout to keep tabs on Earth 1’s Linda to keep her safe and their romantic sub-plot continued to grow. Jay reveals his vulnerable side when talking about his battles with Zoom and right when they’re about to share their first kiss (which, of course, will be a source of regret for episodes to come) Dr. Light shows up and knocks them unconscious before going to kill Linda. She ends up killing Iris and Linda’s boss but beats a hasty retreat when Jay shows back up.
Thanks to some fancy Earth 2 tech, Wells has detected Cisco’s powers and outs him to the team. They use the mask they recovered from Dr. Light and with a little tough love encouragement from Wells, Cisco’s powers kick in and he discovers where Light is. Flash engages star powered meta and after one more mention of time travel from Wells and a pep talk from Garrick, Barry leaves ‘speed mirages’ of himself which gives him the opening to subdue Dr. Light.
Barry has decided to use the capture Light to lure Zoom into a trap, something which Jay thinks is a mistake. Jay won’t agree to help and calls Wells’ character into question before leaving. Cisco ends up going back to get coffee and getting asked out by the same girl who shot him down earlier who turns out to be Kendra Saunders! I guess it’s okay if they left the Legends plot as an aside this week, but seriously, this is getting out of hand. Oh, Cisco and the team also decided on his meta name being Vibe.
In the stinger (which I mentioned I missed literally last week), we finally get a look at Zoom who is holding Wells’ daughter hostage. I guess we know why Earth 2 Wells made the crossover. Also, for having such a stupid name, Zoom looks awesome! Couple it with having Tony Todd’s voice, I can’t wait until he gets more screen time!
This week was a much better return to form for Flash as they focused on their own show and the storylines that matter. I mean, the Iris/ Joe storyline is fine, but the episode clicked so much better without having to rely on Candice Patton emoting. This episode also managed to tie in the now obligatory Legends of Tomorrow plot point without complicating the episode too much, which is something that I hope they can continue to do. Because the show is a whole lot better when everyone is on the same page and not a mess of patching half thought out storylines together.
P.S. I hate to be this guy, but where the f*** were Hawkgirl’s wings?!