Season Two, Episode Six — “Enter Zoom”
© 2015 The CW Network. All rights reserved.
By Jarrod Jones. It’s a question that’s been kicking around in the back of my brain for the last six weeks: what’s the big deal about this Zoom guy, anyway? Well, The Flash went ahead and showed us precisely why we should all be collectively peeing our pants upon the mere thought of this skull-faced baddie. Did you see that ending? If your jaw was anywhere else but firmly on the ground, it’s time to recalibrate your sense of awe. I don’t think I’ve ever feared for Barry as much as I did last night. But then, I suppose you don’t air an episode titled “Enter Zoom” by holding back.
And this episode certainly did not hold back. In the workaday rigmarole of “freak of the week”, it’s easy to forget that The Flash is at its best when it keeps up its momentum. And as a crackerjack followup to last week’s shenanigans with Doctor Light, “Enter Zoom” not only increased the stakes of Season Two exponentially, it practically made a relatively squeaky-clean superhero series into a harrowing frightfest. And now we know: with Zoom out there running free, everywhere has the potential to become a chamber of horrors.
WHAT WORKED: It’s taken a few episodes to get there, but The Flash has integrated its all-new supporting players into the mix very well. Linda Park, Patty Spivot, and Meany-Head Dr. Wells of Earth-2 have all found room to show their great worth on the show: Linda’s multiversal doppelganger gives Malese Jow an opportunity to play a hardass (something she does surprisingly well, by the way), Patty and Barry’s burgeoning relationship allows Shantel VanSanten to emote beautifully (even if the writers are still finding ways to make her detective work matter to the crises at hand), and Tom Cavanagh is taking a season’s worth of hard-won familiarity and tossing it right out the window. Everyone on The Flash is fantastic. But it’s relieving to finally feel that no one is expendable.
WHAT DIDN’T: The one thing that everyone seems only to willing to ignore (aside from a invisible, naked Doctor Light of Earth-2 running around, that is) was the noticeable absence of Jay Garrick this week. Now, I completely understand why The Flash‘s guest stars operate in a rotating capacity — it’s way too expensive to have them around each week, they’re continued presence would force the plot forward much sooner than it should, etc. — but with Zoom busting into S.T.A.R. to terrorize his friends (and beat Barry within an inch of his life), I don’t think I was the only person watching last night’s episode wondering, “where the hell is Jay?!”
I don’t want to pick on Barry and Linda’s sad attempt at community theater, so I won’t. (But there’s a reason why Zoom didn’t buy their little ruse.)
BEST LINE(s):
“Don’t underestimate me, Detective.” – Wells-2. As if.
“That’s my Jess. Always so quick.” – Wells-2. Come on, show. You’re better than that.
“Barry? I’ve made out with The Flash.” – Linda.
“All right, Dr. Light, here I am. But we’re gonna skip the part where you say you’re gonna kill me and go right to the part where I don’t let you.” – The Flash, ham.
BEST MOMENT: Zoom is here. (“Scariest moment” is more like it.) Barry’s gallantry in the line of fire shows us that he’s truly grown into a superhero of mythic proportions, but as Wells-2 keeps trying to tell everyone, you should never, ever, underestimate Zoom. And though Barry throws everything he has at the jet-black supervillain (which is quite considerable at this stage), the beating we witnessed, and the subsequent humiliation that followed, was the most thorough humbling I’ve witnessed in any superhero medium since Bane threw the Batman to the streets of Gotham like so much garbage way back in Knightfall. Here’s hoping Barry bounces back a lot faster than Bruce did.
EPISODE’S MVP: Doc Wells of Earth-2. Tom Cavanagh has always been one of the sterling highlights of The Flash, but this week we got to see the actor take the Earth-2 doppelganger of his former evil self and strip the icy veneer from it almost entirely. It’s still too early in the series for us to see Harrison Wells completely vulnerable — there’s still a young daughter named Jessie to rescue — but Cavanagh’s understated performance continues to elevate The Flash to incredible heights. (But for real, where are the kids at S.T.A.R. letting him crash?)
© 2015 The CW Network. All rights reserved.
FLASH FACTS:
– Yeah, Zoom, I get it, great; can we talk about the 90-lbs metahuman in the room? You know, the naked, invisible one?
– Someone’s gonna sing “You’ve got the touch! You’ve got the power!” to Cisco this season. I have a feeling.
– Seeing’s though the CW can’t tease a Thomas Wayne Earth-2 Batman, they settled on “The Hood” being revealed as… Robert Queen. Hey, you take what you can get, CW. I understand.
– And speaking of superheroes’ fathers on Earth-Dos, Henry Allen’s continued absence is making me think that part of my “Who’s Zoom” theory is starting to make sense: why keep John Wesley Shipp in the narrative periphery unless he’s cashing checks as Barry’s skull-faced Earth-2 nemesis? I’m putting odds on “Henry Allen-2 is Zoom” at 10-1.
– Y’know. The Flash doesn’t montage very often, and I really like that about it.
– Joe’s gotta work on his poker face.
– “He’s not human!” – Caitlin. “He used to be.” – Wells-2. He knows wayyy more than he’s letting on, people. Smarten up and put the screws to Dr. Grumps before he hops on back to the Earth of his preferred designation.
– ‘Nuther Coast City shout. Enough with the teases, show.
– Jarrod & MJ Speculation Time. With Grodd as next week’s big bad (see below), it begs the question: is this the Grodd we’ve come to know so well, or is this the fuzzy felon from Earth-2? MJ seems to think if it’s the latter, there lies a silver lining: “Think what would happen if Earth-2 Grodd was from Gorilla City,” she squeaked. And that’s why we share a lease, kids.
