Season 2 / Episode 21 / The CW
And you say Centr When I say META, you say POCALYPSE!
Central City looking like a scene out of The Warriors. Sheeeeeit, it’s lookin’ like The Flash done used up 80% of their budget on this episode alone cuz It. Is. Goin’. Down! We got winged villains terrorizing the sky, lightning striking psychos throwing high voltage all over the place, beasts patrolling dem streetz, explosions galore to the left and right, bad guys throwing green energy blasts blowing up police cars, blue hadoukens, and an entire meta uprising featuring Zoom’s Earth-2 henchmen.
We got Joe and Captain Singh in the thick of it all, with the tide of battle going against them. That is, until our boy Barry Da Speed Force GAWD pulls up on the scene and starts to hand out fade sessions like a server at a Soylent Green soup kitchen.
S.T.A.R. Labs: You ever have somebody push you to go hard with something? You work at it and are told to keep going, get better, strive for more, and THEN one day you walk up in that muhfucka exuding confidence? I’m talking ’bout, you drippin’ swag out of every orifice. That snot dripping out your nose? Uncontrollable bravado. That musty smell? The aroma of a winner. That sweat pouring from every pore? A million yes-men telling me I got this shit! This is the level that Barry is on following his venture into the Speed Force. Barry talking all the Denzel Washington “King Kong ain’t got shit on me” smack to Iris as they walking into S.T.A.R. Labs to debrief with Team Flash. Surprise surprise, Caitlin is posted up in there when they get to the lab. Apparently Zoom really does have a soft spot in that deep dark heart of his… or is playing our squad with a royal flush. Zoom thought Barry got merked when he tried to get his powers back and let shorty go. Too bad she’s having the illest fuckgirl PTSD from being his captive for so long, so they warm up a bottle of milk, Barry reads her a story and they put that girl to bed.
Mercury Labs: Remember Dr. McGee? She’s the twig of a human who should be feeling pretty good about herself. With Wells gone, she’s pretty much the premier scientist in C-City. Too bad that also makes Mercury Labs a major target in this city of unimpressive buildings.
Speculation ran rampant about what this alleged appearance by Laurel Lance from Arrow was all about. Was she returning from the dead? Spoiler Alert: She died on Arrow. Was she becoming a permanent member of Team Flash? Was she going to be coming completely different? NOPE. She’s just Laurel’s Earth-2 doppelganger known as Black Siren. And guess what? She’s the complete and utter opposite of the Laurel that we’ve all come to know and shit on with such unfiltered frustration.
Black Siren rolls up to Mercury Labs and literally brings the house down! The scream she emits is Red Hulk levels more powerful that that baby bird chirp we’ve been used to on Arrow. The structural integrity of the building is compromised IMMEDIATELY and begins to crumble as McGee orders her staff to run for the fuckin hills, b.
You know our overly-confident friend Barry wasn’t going to let anything happen though. He suits up and is over to that building in .3 seconds. He only has one life to save, but boy was that some mind-bending Carl Lewis WORK.
McGee falls through the fakest hole in the show’s history and The Flash catches her thin behind and is air running down multiple flights, bouncing off of debris, hopping from broken pieces of wall to office supplies to chunks of building, all while avoiding falling chairs and dodging deadly flying objects, with a 58-pound elderly woman in hand. Shit was iiiiill.
When The Flash puts her down she says, thank you Mr. Allen and Barry was like WHAAAAAA?! They bring her back to S.T.A.R. Labs and she explains to Barry how she figured out his secret identity. BECAUSE SHE’S NOT STUPID. And the most perceptive scientist in the city now that Wells is go– OH hello dead Dr. Wells. Barry like, “Yeahhh we done been through some shit. Come hither frail ol’ girl, I got some wild stories to tell.”
Dem Streetz: Wally reporting live from the gutter! We talking big hero shit! Crooks stealing the purses and the butter! Not on Wally’s watch, I put the villains in a ditch! Aaaaaand then the crook’s metahuman powers went ALL THE WAY UP. Wally is about to get murdered, until right at the last minute when Joe comes in to save him with a electrified dog-catching contraption. You know what comes next. Joe flips out and tells him to leave the crime fighting to the Flash. Wally feels some sense of duty following his recent events.
S.T.A.R. Labs: Barry runs up with some black box that the homies use to determine what could’ve brought down a building as big as Mercury Labs. Caitlin’s still seeing horrible Ring-like images of Zoom as she goes throughout her day. Henry tells Barry that he needs to holla at him real quick.
[icon_check]Cue the violin music
Henry: I know you feelin’ all invincible following your trip into this Speed Force thing I’m still trying to wrap my normal brain around. You pull some Marty McFly shit and run to the future?
Barry: Nah, not this time. *chuckles*
Henry: Look, I know I haven’t been around but I know my son and my son got this if I said he got this! Just watch your back, slugger.
Barry: I got this.
[icon_check]CUE THE SAVAGERY!
Zoom lit a hundred foot Flash symbol on fire, on the front of the CCPD building. Savage. Successful. Zoom gets Barry to come on downtown to have a nice lil chat. To sum it up.
Then a building begins to crumble and his point is proven as Flash runs out to save the countless bodies that could’ve been in the building.
S.T.A.R. Labs: Barry convinces the squad that they need to take down Zoom’s armor — all the B-squad metas running around. They plan on creating a device that can take them all out at the same time. The frequency that Earth-2 humans hear at are the key. Joe out here complaining about his stupid cocky ass son. Mad emo wit’ it. Caitlin hallucinates Zoom’s big creepy ass is in front of her and bugs out. Cisco holds her down, like the boss that he is.
Dem Streetz: The Flash goes to speak with Wally and does a terrible job of convincing him to stop it with his antics. Cisco tells Flash that it’s going down elsewhere. Flash then proceeds to say the location of the hot spot OUT LOUD LIKE WALLY ON SOME BEETHOVEN LEVELS OF DEAF. I’m done. Barry finally runs into the meta who’s been taking down all these buildings.
But this ain’t the girl Flash used to know, oh no! Not only does Black Siren show off her power by leveling buildings at will, but she’s also sick with the close combat skills! The usual smack talk banter goes down and Barry is mad optimistic about this fight and every single thing in his life, until Black Siren hits him with her signature cry and 3 piece combo that cripples him UNTIL WALLY COMES THROUGH WITH THE TOKYO DRIFT TAILWHIP OF DEATH THAT SENDS BLACK SIREN FLYING!
S.T.A.R. Labs: Joe ain’t happy, but what can he say? “You saved the man that’s been saving the city for the last year and some. But you need to stop this shit right right now.” No, ain’t no stoppin’ him. Cisco is ready to show the team that he’s developed a way to send a pulse out that would disrupt the E-2 meta’s nervous systems. The results?
And how do we protect our Earth-2 friends?
Metahuman alert app name drop goes down! The team has to respond, but they do so in the most unexpected fashion. Black Siren walking through some typically suspect lookin’ warehouse and runs into who but our old pals, Reverb and Killer Frost! I’m not gonna lie, Caitlin and Cisco sold the shit out their impersonation of their E-2 doppelgängers. Too bad Black Siren is ruthless and the complete and utter antithesis (breaking out the SAT words) of E-1 Laurel. She calls them out on their bullshit swiftly! Cisco and Caitlin hit the turbo button to bounce. Unfortunately for them, Black Siren is a stone cold murderer and is about to hit our homies with the RIP until Cisco Vibe shoots Siren with some kind of blast out of fear. This cat looked at his arm like it was covered in lava! Aaaaaand then she was back up and coming to kill them.
S.T.A.R. Labs: Dr. Harry Wells, the no-fun zone general, the party destroyer, the black hole of happiness is back in charge and scientifically showing off like only he can. What a normal person was able to understand was, they go the sound amplifier up and running. It’s designed to single out every E-2 being and knock ’em unconscious, with the help of Barry’s speed barrier. The Flash hits his stride and they flip the switch. Caitlin and Vibe are saved from Black Siren’s wrath. Zoom is caught in the audio attack but literally super punches a breach into existence and hops through that shit quicker than a double dutch champion. It worked. With a tad bit of collateral damage. Wells took the L when he saw Jesse’s headphones weren’t working. Barry is on clean up duty and rounds up all the big bad evil doers who got the shit scienced out of them.
Barry: Wally gon’ do Wally. I ain’t finna stop him nomore, feel me, fam?
Joe: Peace, peace.
We finish the episode with a beautiful setting of everyone that we’ve ever come to know and love on The Flash preparing to break bread and talk mad shit about how amazing they did on this day that the metas banded together to take over the city. Poppa Henry Allen kicking game to Dr. Mgee. Jesse lookin’ at our boy Wally, the young savior, like he some damn filet mignon! Iris and Barry seem pretty much perfect for each other while low key declaring their love, setting the table, thinking about how cute their biracial babies is gon’ look one day. Aaaaaaaand then Zoom crashes the party and kidnaps recently-announced-I’m-back-for-good Henry Allen. Barry runs out after Zoom in the blink of an eye and the only person in our merry band that was still in the dark about Barry’s secret finally witnesses the truth: Barry Allen is The Flash.
Zoom lures The Flash to his childhood home, because it’s “poetic”. What Zoom proceeds to do was devastating. Crippling. Zoom believes this will make Barry like him finally. Putting Barry through the same agonizing torment as Hunter Zolomon. Little does he know, this is only bound to make our hero stronger. R.I.P. Henry Allen.
Excellent episodes going down here in the home stretch of season 2. Season finale is next week. Get your snacks and gear ready.
It’s Barry and Iris now. The rekindling is complete. I suppose, one could say ’tis lit.
Two things remain 100% true about this show, no matter what: 1) S.T.A.R. Labs remains the EASIEST superhero hideout to break into and out of, of all time. 2) Nobody knows how to shut their mouth and damn near everybody knows who The Flash’s secret identity is.
Wells is hating SO HAAARD on Jesse checking to see if she got powers. Fun hater supreme.
Cisco’s Vibes: Those dead birds? Disgusting. That Hitchcock line? Great. Earth-2 being torn in half? Wild. I guess Zoom really is up to something… some insanely evil things, just like he told Black Siren.
Speaking of Black Siren: BRAVO, GIRL! See everyone, there was a reason we all hated Laurel on Arrow. She was supposed to be weak, annoying, and an occasional badass. NOTHING like Black Siren.
Social Media Metahuman App watch: YOU DA REAL MVP!
Kid Flash and Jesse Quick watch: I had to do this, because I’m genuinely unsure which is going to get powers. Will it be Wally, who now knows Barry is The Flash and appears to already be about this life? Or is it going to be genius-level-intelligence-having Jesse Wells?
Oh this season finale shall be Flashtastic! Sorry, I had to do it once. Catch up on our previous recaps here!
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