The Flash - S2E22 - Invincible

Tweet

Previously on The Flash, “The Runaway Dinosaur”

Barry Allen is like a born-again man-of-faith, asking anyone who’ll listen if they have a moment to talk about his Lord and Savior, The Speed Force. Bolstered by the blessings of The Speed Force and the girl of his dreams finally ready to pursue a romantic relationship with him, Barry’s been zipping around town, easily assisting the police in handling the E2 meta-humans.

Even when Caitlin returns, shaken and hallucinating Zoom, and says she doesn’t think Barry can stop Zoom, Barry’s confidence doesn’t waiver. He brushes off advice from both of his dads to dial it back a bit, and he even disagrees when Joe asks The Flash to speak with Wally and deter him from playing vigilante to prove himself worthy of being saved. Barry is even more convinced Wally should be allowed to help people when Wally saves The Flash from a meta-human. Iris warns Barry that feeling fear is a healthy emotion and that he’s not untouchable. Bad things will still find a way to happen. More on that in a bit.

Zoom quickly reminds Barry that he’s still a threat by having one of his top lieutenants, E2’s Black Siren, Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), topple Mercury Labs with her call. Dealing with this distraction involves Dr. Tina McGee admitting that she knows Barry is The Flash, Cisco reaching out to Hartley to figure out a way to use Earth-1’s frequency against the unwelcome E2 meta-humans (including Zoom), and Caitlin and Cisco going undercover as Killer Frost and Reverb to play mind games with Siren. While they do their best to convince her they survived and want to team up against Zoom, Barry runs through the city to create the effect needed to disarm the meta-humans.

The meta-humans are incapacitated and taken into custody, except Zoom, who created a breach and ran home.

Though the day isn’t quite saved, the team celebrates with dinner and drinks at the West household. Joe admits he’s proud of Wally for saving The Flash, and Jesse’s proud of him, too, but in a much more flirtatious manner. Henry seems to be getting along with Dr. McGee, and not to be outdone, Barry asks Iris if she’d like to see where a relationship between the two might go - and, of course, she says yes. This was so sweet and heartwarming that no one was surprised that Zoom appeared to grip up Henry before they could complete the first toast.

He takes Henry to the Allen home where Nora died, determined to show Barry that they are very much alike - a claim Barry vehemently denied earlier in the episode. Is Barry just one bad day from becoming Zoom? After Zoom punches a hole through Henry’s chest, we’re about to find out.

At this point, I’m just waiting for the finale and hoping the show can expand on the things that did work this season (the people in on Barry’s secret working together, Iris West with agency and involvement, the amazing chemistry between the cast working in STAR Labs - especially Cisco, Iris, and Wells) and scale back things like Caitlin Snow, people comically not knowing Barry is The Flash when he’s doing everything shy of wearing a sign that reads “I’m The Flash” around his neck.

Zoom has been such a letdown. First he wants to kill all speedsters, but this later turns out to be part of Jay’s lies. Then he wants Barry’s speed because he’s dying. Then he wants to take over Earth-1, starting with Central City. Then he wants Caitlin to love him so he’s not alone. Finally, he wants to prove Barry is just like him. It’s exhausting. And considering he was clearly up to something else while the Earth-2 meta-humans were wreaking metaapocalypse in Central City, and considering we still don’t know who the man in the iron mask is, it appears this will just get more convoluted before it gets better.

Now that Henry is dead, we need Barry to find a happy (?) medium. Though anyone would hardly blame him if he checked out after witnessing his father’s murder, he is the only one capable of stopping Zoom. Hopefully, he still has the Speed Force boost to his confidence without being reckless, and directs his grief and anger into stopping Zoom once and for all so we can all move on to season three and a better full-season arc.

The Good

- The Flash rescuing Dr. McGee inside a toppling Mercury Labs
- The banter between the team - especially Joe and Wells
- Barry taking his shot with Iris, finally
- Wally and Jesse - I’m rooting for those crazy kids
- Hopefully, Cisco’s vibes of an exploding Earth-2 are a setup for an exciting season 3 arc. Maybe.
- Henry’s death scene - We all saw it coming, and it was sad, but Grant Gustin and John Wesley Shipp acted the hell out of that moment.

The Bad

- Katie Cassidy’s acting. Can we just stop with Laurel Lance once and for all?
- Danielle Panabaker’s acting. Can Zoom take her back to Earth-2 and then close the breaches forever?
- Zoom’s mommy and daddy issues are boring now