The CW says of “Enter Zoom”:
After recent events, Barry (Grant Gustin) decides it's time to confront Zoom and comes up with a dangerous plan. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) sides with Jay (guest star Teddy Sears) and deems it too dangerous for Barry to engage with the speed demon. However, Iris (Candice Patton) shows her support and brings forth a surprising ally. We see what Earth-2 Harrison Wells' (Tom Cavanagh) life was like before coming through the breech.
Longtime talkbacker Shermdawg recaps last week’s “The Darkness and the Light”:
After the back and forth some of us had with boss man Herc in last week's Arrow talkback involving the tropes of superhero television (something I'll touch on more in tomorrow's recap), it's clear our enjoyment of these shows often relies heavily in our willingness to suspend disbelief. Unfortunately sometimes, even for those of us that will overlook a lot of nonsense, there are moments so unbelievably silly you can't help but question them. Last week's final encounter between Flash and Dr.Light was one of those moments for me.
Light, the meta-human doppelganger of Barry's ex Linda Park, who was sent to his neck of the woods by Zoom, has the ability to harness the power of and emit starlight. Something she regularly used to stun those around her which allowed multiple quick escapes during the episode, and managed to temporarily blind Barry during one of them. In their final encounter, Barry claimed he couldn't get close enough to take her down because of her power, something that seemed pretty ridiculous given she displayed no indication of having quick enough reflexes or the self awareness to beat, or even match the Flash's speed. Regardless Barry pussed out and had to be convinced by both Harrison Wells (more on that in a bit) and Jay Garrick that the only method of attack was to run around so fast in a stop/go fashion it would create speed mirages of himself which would allow the distraction he needed to get close enough to attack. Sure it was nice to see Allen expand his moveset, but it didn't seem all that necessary in that instance or for that particular adversary.
Despite that annoying moment, this episode was pretty great, and definitely did a lot to build the multiverse story which added a level of tension to the show that made it feel almost like this season is working towards something big long before we even get to the mid-season break. I gotta say, I'm pretty stoked Tom Cavanagh's back as Harrison Wells. His no nonsense Earth-2 version of the character being so straight forward brought some much needed conflict to S.T.A.R. Labs with Team Flash having concerns of aligning themselves with him for one reason....Eobard Thawne posing as Wells on Earth-1, or another....Wells profiting from, and not admitting to the creation of meta-humans on Earth-2. Something which Jay felt so strongly about, he walked away from the team after they agreed with Well's plan to lure Zoom into a trap. Jay's suspicions may end up being justified as we saw Well's daughter being held captive by Zoom in the closing moments. Time will tell if he's forced into turning on Team Flash to save her.
Anyways, if you missed it, or if you need a refresher, here's a quick rundown of what happened last week...
- After saving Flash and Patty from King Shark, Earth-2's Harrison Wells is brought back to S.T.A.R. Labs where Jay, Caitlin, and Cisco question his claims of traveling to their world to help them defeat Zoom. However, when Joe sees him, he's pretty much like "fuck questions" and immediately opens fire leading to Barry Smallville-ing the bullets before they make contact.
- We learn that Jay's big problem with Wells stems from the fact he never revealed to the public that he was responsible for the existence of meta-humans in their world when the particle accelerator exploded underground at S.T.A.R. Labs and profited off them with the creation of a meta-human tracker app. An app he later exposes Cisco with.
- After being outed by Wells, Cisco comes clean on his psychic powers and the fear that Barry and Caitlin would somehow reject him. Upon realizing those fears were unfounded, and using his visions to help them capture Dr.Light, Barry gives him the nickname of "Vibe."
- Earth-2's Dr.Light a.k.a. Linda Park a.k.a. the multiverse doppelganger of Barry's ex-girlfriend was sent to their world to take down Flash. After recalling Atom Smasher of Earth-2 killing his Earth-1 counterpart, Team Flash worry Zoom may be selecting people close to Barry to pose as, and that his Linda may be in danger. When Light attempts to kill Linda, Iris manages drive her off with the gun Joe had given her earlier in the episode as result of Team Flash working with Earth-2's Wells.
- Before attempting to kill Earth-1's Linda, Dr.Light spots Jay and Caitlin on stakeout outside the Central City Picture News office where she and Iris work. Using her starlight power, she manages to flip the van they're in just as they're about to kiss. Before the attempted kiss, Garrick mentions a best friend that lives in Earth-2's City of Atlantis!
- Speaking of kissing, Barry and Patty did some of their own during a literal blind date after an encounter with Dr.Light cost Barry his vision.
- Cisco might be doing some as well pretty soon as he managed to get the digits of the hot new barista at Jitters who turns out to be one Kendra Saunders. It might be a good idea if he puts the moves on her while he can because she may fly away tomorrow. *wink wink*
