The Flash S02 E06: Enter Zoom

Team Flash is playing a dangerous game. Now that Jay Garrick has left, they are following the plan of the Harrison Wells of Earth-Two to use Dr. Light as bait to lure Zoom to them. Will this spell doom for The Flash and his friends? Meet me after the super-speed jump to find out in my review of “Enter Zoom.”

Who Is Zoom?

With only a few actual on-screen appearances so far, Zoom has become the obvious big bad for this season of “The Flash.” But who is he really? On the surface, he appears to be a conglomeration of a few characters, a little bit Zoom, a little bit Black Flash, and even a little bit Reverse-Flash, but who is Zoom in the comics? Zoom in the comics is Rogue profiler Hunter Zolomon, and I think his complicated backstory gives him an out. If this Zoom was Hunter Zolomon, the showrunners would have started laying the groundwork some time ago.

That means this Zoom is someone else. And I think I have a pretty good idea who it could be. Based on the use of dopplegangers so far in this season, I think it’s someone we already know. The obvious choice would be Harrison Wells, but I think that’s too easy. I think Zoom’s identity will be even more diabolical storywise. What would be devastating? Could Zoom be the Eddie Thawne of Earth-Two? The Joe West of Earth-Two? Could it be even more twisted – Earth-Two’s Barry Allen? I turn to that old writing rule – what’s the worst that could happen? – as I throw out my final answer. I say that Zoom is the Henry Allen of Earth-Two… after all, we know John Wesley Shipp can fit the suit…

Jesse Quick

We get one or two flashbacks to months ago on Earth-Two. We meet again Harrison Wells’ daughter Jesse, just as smart as him, having graduated high school at fifteen and now attending Central City College. Another oddity that’s different from the comics – there’s an Earth-Two Central City. In the comics, it’s Keystone City that is in the same geographic place, and is home to Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash. Harrison has a nickname for his daughter – Jesse Quick.

The name will ring a bell for comics readers. Another speedster on Earth-Two, and colleague of Jay, is named Johnny Quick. Not as quick as the Flash, but able to fly, Johnny accessed the Speed Force by saying aloud a mantric mathematical formula, an ability he passed on to his daughter, Jesse, who eventually became Jesse Quick. Yeah, it’s a lot to process, and more complicated than I’m giving you here, but Jesse is a very cool super-heroine, taking after her father, and her mom, who was also in the business as Liberty Belle. It’s hard to tell what Jesse will be here in this incarnation.

While watching the news in one flashback, Wells hears that The Arrow, AKA The Hood, has been unmasked as Robert Queen, the father of the late Oliver Queen. Hmmm, things did unwind differently on Earth-Two. It’s then that a breaking news bulletin announces a metahuman attack on Central City College. Zoom apparently killed his daughter – something we know not to be true, as we’ve seen her imprisoned.

Prison Break

And by that, I don’t mean a reference to “Prison Break” or a return of Captain Cold and Heat Wave – at least not yet. Dr. Light escaped from the Pipeline. I know this whole Big Belly Burger lunch delivery thing was going to get them in trouble sooner or later. She bent light to become invisible and slipped out when Cisco opened the cell.

I think it’s safe to say that Dr. Light is in the wind for the time being, a permanent resident of Earth-One, perhaps to appear again later in the season for more mistaken identity twin fun. It took a long time for us to find out that the prisoners of the Pipeline were surviving on Big Belly Burgers (not the best of diets, as I’m sure the Morgan Spurlock of either Earths One or Two might tell you), but where they go to the bathroom is still a mystery. I bet Dr. Light escaped just so she wouldn’t have to find out…

Bad Idea Theater

So Team Flash is left with an empty Dr. Light costume and the bad planning of Harry Wells, so it’s back to the bait and shoot game. This time though, instead of the real Dr. Light, they have Linda Park cosplaying as her. There’s some fun as they give her some target practice with life-size cardboard cutouts, but she still doesn’t have the confidence until… holy bad idea theater… The Flash reveals his secret identity to her. Seriously? What is the point of a secret identity if everyone knows who you are?

At this rate, the only person in the regular cast who doesn’t know Barry Allen is the Flash is Patty Spivot, and trust me, that is not a good start to a relationship, no matter how big or small the secret is. She is having enough trouble dealing with the idea that Joe is letting Dr. Light, a known murderer, just get away with it basically. How will she feel when everyone in Central City but her knows who the Flash is?

Zoom Vs. the Flash

The trick doesn’t work. Let’s face it, while Grant Gustin and Malese Jow are good actors, the characters they play – Barry and Linda, are terrible actors. If Zoom was blind and deaf, he would not have believed their little stage play of Light killing the Flash. After Team Flash finally give up on their farce to lure Zoom to Earth-One, that’s when Zoom does show up, kidnapping Linda to lure the Flash out – his trick does work.

Once the Flash procures Linda’s safety, the speedsters begin to duel. It’s apparent that Zoom is more than human, monstrous, bigger, and most dangerously, faster. Flash can’t outrun him, his best speed stunts don’t work because Zoom is faster. I gotta say, I loved Barry using Jay’s thunderbolt trick though. Zoom pounds him mercilessly before parading him through the city – to Picture News, to the Central City Police Department, and finally S.T.A.R. Labs. Zoom makes sure everyone knows that he has beaten the Flash.

This is not a happy ending. Zoom is driven off, but he’ll be back, and Barry, when he wakes up, can’t move his legs. We’re Flash-less, Zoom is on the loose, and you can see… Grodd is back. This is not good…