By Mike McCarthy
We have seen how well DC Comics does with their television in the past and now that season two of The Flash is here there is no looking back. Barry Allen has sped into our lives, pun intended, and he is bringing more meta-humans with him. The first season ended with Harrison Wells/Eobard Thonn being removed from existence when Eddie decided to kill himself to change his fate and be the hero. Barry went back in time and was going to change his history but decided stay the path and let his mother die to stay being The Flash. To go back he had to create a blackhole singularity that could in actuality swallow up Central City and everyone in it. So we last saw Barry running up particles of buildings to get up to the singularity to try and reverse the polarity.
Okay now that we caught you up, let’s just say that Barry has become a lone wolf and ditched the team to keep them safe. The team including Joe and Iris have kept their distance and are giving Barry his space to do what he needs to do to cope with what he has been through. But like in Arrow, The Flash is nothing without his team, so this doesn’t last long and the team says screw it and gives Barry help, whether he wants it or not.
The Flash is getting the key to the city for saving it from total destruction five months prior, but he doesn’t see it that way. The only way to close the singularity was for Firestorm aka Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein to use the pseudo-nuclear reactor attached to their chest to shut it down. Unfortunately only Professor Stein survived the blast since Ronnie was the host body and Barry completely blames himself for not being able to save them both. We are speculating that Ronnie’s body disintegrated from the blast so there was no way for Barry to save him anyway. Caitlyn felt no ill-will towards Barry and blames herself for Ronnie passing because he wanted to leave with her once he told her that he was Firestorm and she said no so that she could stay and help Barry.
While very reluctant to take the key to the city, Flash is convinced by Iris that he deserves it and the city owes him gratitude for everything that he has done for them over the past year. While accepting the key from the mayor, a very large radiation sucking villain that Professor Stein so perfectly names the Atom Smasher invades Central City. The only way to really take down this villain is to give him more radiation than he can absorb, which is exactly what the team does. They put so much radiation into his body that it grows double in size and then shrinks down causing a sort of overload. Before he dies the body that was hosting Atom Smasher told Flash that Zoom told him that he would bring him back home. Zoom hasn’t been introduced yet but he is a version of the Reverse Flash. We will meet him in future episodes I am sure.
For months Barry had been avoiding lawyers regarding Dr. Wells’ estate, in which Barry was left S.T.A.R. Labs in his living Will. One of the lawyers shows up and gives Barry a flash drive saying that to keep S.T.A.R. Labs he must watch the video on it from Dr. Wells before the end of the week. He refuses to do until he talks to Caitlyn and they watch it together. On the video Wells confesses that he killed Nora Allen and tells Barry to give the drive to the police so that it can exonerate Henry after fifteen years of incarceration. It does just that, but when Henry gets out it’s not all smiles and moving forward with life in Central City. Henry tells Barry that he has no plans of staying in Central City and that he has no future there. Now this is very much a tear jerker of a scene for anyone, having your father tell you that he is leaving but will always be there for you. Henry tells Barry that his family there needs him more than he needs him and Central City needs The Flash to keep it safe.
One key part of the episode that we haven’t discussed yet is the fact that The Flash from another Universe makes an appearance in the way of Jay Garrick. In the season one finale we saw a metal helmet with two wings on it come from the time-warp that the Flash created which was an indication that there were other Flashes out there somewhere. Jay Garrick shows up at S.T.A.R. Labs to warn the team that their world is in danger. This could obviously mean anything, but it looks like Garrick is going to stick around from what the previews of the season ahead show.
There is a lot to be seen of what the season could do. Barry and the team are together and Henry is out of prison, so that is a great start to the second season. Grodd is still loose in the sewers somewhere. Will the future that Gideon had showed Barry come true with him marrying Iris? What will Flash do to intercept Zoom and whatever kind of danger he may cause Central City? So much to be seen and so much to enjoy when it happens.