The Flash - S2E5 - The Darkness and the Light

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Previously on The Flash, ‘The Fury of Firestorm’

That Was Then

Eight months ago on Earth-2, Harrison Wells holds a press conference in the lobby of STAR Labs. He unveils a meta-human tracking application in a wristwatch. It pings almost immediately when Jay Garrick crashes the announcement and accuses Wells of being responsible for meta-humans via the particle accelerator explosion. Wells denies this and says Zoom wouldn’t be able to terrorize the city if Jay just did his job. After The Flash leaves, Wells’ daughter asks if he’s okay. Wells insists he’s fine and returns to talking about the future.

Dirty Harry

Barry is surprisingly willing to trust and listen to Wells, and that might have something to do with the fact that Wells saved his life. Cisco and Caitlin are more skeptical. It doesn’t help that E2 Wells is arrogant and abrasive. He’s not there to make friends and quickly admits to crossing the breach in order to seek Barry’s help with stopping Zoom, whom he created. That’s right: Something happened in the last eight months that prompted Wells to “no longer deny his involvement” in the creation of meta-humans. Though, unlike Eobard Thawne, he insists the particle accelerator explosion was an accident.

When Cisco has a vision of another breacher holding up a bank, Barry comes face-to-face with Dr. Light, a meta-human who can harness the power of stars and was sent by Zoom to kill Barry. There’s a twist though: Dr. Light has always been a crook, not a murderer, and her plan to rob the bank was so that she’d have enough money to leave the city and hide from Zoom. Oh, she also happens to be E2′ Linda Park.

A slip of the tongue from Barry reveals this to Dr. Light, so she decides she’ll just kill Linda to take her life. How the hell she thought that was going to work was beyond me. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to catch Linda alone, kill her secretly, and then step into her life? Killing her at work with her frightened co-workers outside would make it hard to “take her life.” Thankfully, Iris is an excellent shot and the team is left with Light’s mask after she runs off.

Wells outs Cisco as a meta-human when he realizes Cisco can use his power to touch the mask and locate Light. The team takes Cisco’s secret in stride - way too easily, if you ask me - and after a pretty abrasive pep talk from Wells, Cisco is able to locate Light trying to leave town.

Wells’ friction with Jay comes to a head after Barry subdues Light. Wells has faith in Barry’s ability to stop Zoom, as Barry is faster and more confident than Jay. Jay believes Zoom could kill Barry and the people he loves, and unable to accept Wells’ approach, Jay leaves Team Flash.

While Wells doesn’t seem to be a nice guy, this episode did an excellent job keeping how good he may be in question. The tag scene at the end of the episode suggests he may have his own agenda for catching Zoom or helping him.

Vibe

Kendra Saunders a.k.a Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) was introduced as a Jitters barista new in town. She initially shoots down Cisco when he asks her out (fingering a chain around her neck when she does), but later comes around and encourages him to try again. They exchange numbers and set a date for the next week.

One of the best scenes of the episode was Wells’ reveal to everyone that Cisco is a meta-human. I’d missed the part earlier when we see Wells checking the app on his watch after speaking with Cisco. I’m glad I did because it made the reveal even better - I’d totally forgotten about the watch.

I’m not buying that everyone is so understanding about Cisco keeping such a major secret for so long - and for such a dumb reason (Cisco knows good and damn well that how you use the power is what defines you. It doesn’t matter that Eobard taunted him about “giving” the power to him.) - but this is a storyline that needed to move along so I’ll allow it.

Still Not Here for Patty Mayo

Barry finally gets out of his own way and asks out Patty. Unfortunately, he’s blinded by Dr. Light the day of their date. Instead of cancelling or rescheduling (since the blindness was temporary), Barry allow Iris to talk him into going and using Cisco and glasses with a hidden camera to keep Patty in the dark (heh) about his blindness.

Barry and Cisco had more chemistry in this scene than Barry and Patty, as Barry adorably tries to fake his way through the date and Cisco either chides or helps via a hidden earpiece. We’re going to ignore, for now, how utterly creepy and inappropriate this was.

It doesn’t make sense to me that Patty would be so gung-ho about meta-humans. Determined to catch the bad ones because the guy who murdered her father eventually became one? Okay. Sure. I’ll buy that. But I don’t buy that she’s so giggly about it, almost fangirling at their very existence.

Also, she says “coolio” like that’s a thing a grown-ass woman should say.

We Need to Talk About Jay

Okay. I cannot take this guy seriously. First of all, that stupid helmet. I’m sorry.

What is his purpose? Why did he stay? He was supposed to be there to help them figure out a way to stop Zoom, but that was two episodes ago. What has he been doing?

Wells was exactly what Barry (and apparently the whole damn team) needed. In one day he taught Barry about speed mirages, which he should have figured out his damn self considering he twice ran so fast he went back in time, and he told Cisco to get his thumb out of his ass and start embracing his power, but more importantly, to start using it for good.

What, exactly, has Jay done? He can’t even talk about Zoom in a way that’s helpful. “He’s a nightmare you can’t wake up from!”

What the fuck does that even mean? You were his archenemy and you have no valuable tidbits or bits of advice?

Jay, keep trying to kiss Caitlin, and when you go back home, take her with you. Ugh.

But Wait; There’s More

Back on Earth-2, Zoom is holding Wells’ daughter captive and despite her claims that her father is the smartest man in the world and will save her, Zoom is like, “Girl, bye.”

Leave your thoughts on the episode below and we’ll read them on tonight’s podcast!