The Flash Season 2 Episode 23 “The Race of his Life”
This episode starts off right where the last one ended, in Barry Allen’s child hood home with Zoom holding Henry Allen up. Zoom drops Henry to the floor and Barry watches as his father takes his last breath. Barry starts attacking Zoom as he is giving his speech about how him and Barry are the same now. At this point Barry is in a vengeful state, he wants to take Zoom out and he seems angry enough that no one is really going to stop him. I kind of like seeing this side of Barry.
The next scene would be the funeral for Henry Allen everyone was there and had something to say about Henry. Barry however couldn’t he just couldn’t handle it. He started to get obsessed with beating Zoom. He wanted to not only stop him but kill him in the process. During the family get together after the funeral Barry would be confronted by Zoom. Who he would end up taking out Zoom, but he finds out that its a time remnant which the real Zoom kills. Zoom offers to race Barry. If Barry wins Zoom leaves and if Zoom wins well the world will end.
Back at Star Labs Barry and Team Flash were trying to figure out what Zoom wants by racing Barry. With he help of Vibe(Cisco) and Wells they do figure out that he wants to end the multiverse. They figured out that he wants to use Barrys speed to be able to get the machine running to start the end of the Multiverse.
Team Flash can see that Barry is starting to get upset that they are against him racing Zoom. They all know that if he Races Zoom out of anger he is going to lose. So they come up with a plan to try and stop Zoom and just send him away back to Earth 2 and closing the breeches. This would have been an awesome plan but a couple of members of team Flash were not informed including The Flash and Wally West. The plan was to go to Zoom and use Caitlin as bait to hit Zoom with the Boot and stop his abilities long enough to tranquilize him and send him back to Earth 2. This plan would have worked great but Joe’s gun jammed so he had to Tranquilize Zoom himself and that caused him to get dragged to Earth 2. So Joe was being held captive in Earth 2 with the man in the mask and Zoom seemed to be doing alright.
Wally found out what had happened and was mad. He wasn’t included he didnt have any chance to voice his opinion and he thought that Joe could really be in danger being stuck with a super villain in Earth 2. All this while Barry was trapped in a cell in the particle accelerator. Wally goes and lets Barry out.
Barry who doesn’t seem to hold a grudge explains to Team Flash that he can beat Zoom they just have to let him race. They are still all against it. Except for Wally. They eventually see that Barry knows he can beat Zoom so they at least have to let him try. They decide to contact Zoom the best way they know how which is pulling Barry into a vibe. Cisco pulls Barry into a vibe like he did Iris a couple of episodes before. Barry tells Zoom that he is ready to race and that he has to bring Joe back with him to Earth 1. Zoom accepts.
Barry and Zoom have a race to see who is the fastest man alive. Just one catch when they get up to speed and start running as fast as they can the machine will start and that will cause all of the Multiverse to be destroyed. Barry knows for sure that he can beat him. This is the most confident we have seen Barry Allen in this show. He knew that he could beat Zoom. The way he did it however was great!
So they both begin running, and Zoom is still a little faster than Barry, but Barry would take Zoom’s advice. Barry would run back in time get a time remnant and bring it back with him to help take out Zoom. While Barry was beating the hell out of Zoom the time remnant of Barry ran round the machine and dissolved it into nothing. The speeds that the time remnant had to run would erase it from existence but as we know that the future Barry already exists so there was no harm in doing so. Barry seemed to be hell bent on taking Zoom out so he couldn’t hurt anyone else. However earlier on in the episode Zoom mentioned the time wraiths that had been after him because of him creating time remnants. Well Barry remembered that and as soon as Barry had Zoom down two time wraiths appeared. They would take Zoom with them, not before he became the Black Flash. His appearance changed right in front of our eyes, the disfigured face and the red lightning bolt all appeared.
Barry Allen had finally done it, he had finally stood up to the monster and beaten him just like he said he would. He still felt like he lost, which because he did in fact lose everything that he loved. He lost his dad and his mom and felt like he was alone now. Iris said it best however. She said that no matter how much time Barry needed she would always wait on him. But before we get to that part, there was an amazing moment near the end of this episode that I feel I should mention.
We all know that John Wesley Shipp played the Scarlet Speedster in the series in 1991-1992 only getting a one season run, and how he came back to play Henry Allen and we had seen him when Barry was running through to Earth 2 as that same Flash. Well the man in the iron mask who was held captive on Earth 2 was revealed. His name was Jay Garrick. The real Jay Garrick. A couple of episodes ago it was made known that Henry Allen’s mother’s maiden name was Garrick. So when Cisco and Wells removed the mask to reveal the man behind it. It was none other then John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick. Barry couldn’t handle it. The rest of us however could. I thought this was a great move. I honestly hope to see more of him as the Earth 3 Flash as he says. Cisco helped Jay, Harry, and Jesse go back to Earth 2 so Jay could go back home to Earth 3. However I don’t think thats the way things are going to stay.
I mentioned Iris talking to Barry before about how she was always going to wait on him. Well after that conversation a broken hearted Barry Allen started to run. As we all know the story he started to see the night his mother was killed and hear his screams. He would run faster and faster until he broke the time barrier and ended up back to the night his mother was killed. He could see the commotion inside with himself and the Reverse Flash. He seen himself move Henry and younger Barry out of the way and he ran in just in time to save his mother from getting killed. Barry’s former self from season 1 was still in the closet and he disappeared with a smile on his face, because the time line no longer exists. Barry saved Nora Allen and now we have a Flashpoint Paradox on our hands. Which means we could start season 3 with a powerless Barry Allen, living the life he has only dreamed of since he was a child. Or we could see a time where Barry still has his powers not being effected by what has changed because he was already the Flash in the future. I hope that we get to see the Flashpoint unfold and the characters that are in it get to be in the show.
I give this episode another perfect score 10/10. The ending was somewhat predictable, except for the Jay Garrick being John Wesley Shipp. It didnt catch me off guard but it was however a great homage to Jay Garrick and Henry Allen. Plus the suit looked pretty good. Maybe Barry should take some advice from him. Its going to be a long wait for season 3, but this is the kind of show that you can wait around for.
This episode starts off right where the last one ended, in Barry Allen’s child hood home with Zoom holding Henry Allen up. Zoom drops Henry to the floor and Barry watches as his father takes his last breath. Barry starts attacking Zoom as he is giving his speech about how him and Barry are the same now. At this point Barry is in a vengeful state, he wants to take Zoom out and he seems angry enough that no one is really going to stop him. I kind of like seeing this side of Barry.
The next scene would be the funeral for Henry Allen everyone was there and had something to say about Henry. Barry however couldn’t he just couldn’t handle it. He started to get obsessed with beating Zoom. He wanted to not only stop him but kill him in the process. During the family get together after the funeral Barry would be confronted by Zoom. Who he would end up taking out Zoom, but he finds out that its a time remnant which the real Zoom kills. Zoom offers to race Barry. If Barry wins Zoom leaves and if Zoom wins well the world will end.
Back at Star Labs Barry and Team Flash were trying to figure out what Zoom wants by racing Barry. With he help of Vibe(Cisco) and Wells they do figure out that he wants to end the multiverse. They figured out that he wants to use Barrys speed to be able to get the machine running to start the end of the Multiverse.
Team Flash can see that Barry is starting to get upset that they are against him racing Zoom. They all know that if he Races Zoom out of anger he is going to lose. So they come up with a plan to try and stop Zoom and just send him away back to Earth 2 and closing the breeches. This would have been an awesome plan but a couple of members of team Flash were not informed including The Flash and Wally West. The plan was to go to Zoom and use Caitlin as bait to hit Zoom with the Boot and stop his abilities long enough to tranquilize him and send him back to Earth 2. This plan would have worked great but Joe’s gun jammed so he had to Tranquilize Zoom himself and that caused him to get dragged to Earth 2. So Joe was being held captive in Earth 2 with the man in the mask and Zoom seemed to be doing alright.
Wally found out what had happened and was mad. He wasn’t included he didnt have any chance to voice his opinion and he thought that Joe could really be in danger being stuck with a super villain in Earth 2. All this while Barry was trapped in a cell in the particle accelerator. Wally goes and lets Barry out.
Barry who doesn’t seem to hold a grudge explains to Team Flash that he can beat Zoom they just have to let him race. They are still all against it. Except for Wally. They eventually see that Barry knows he can beat Zoom so they at least have to let him try. They decide to contact Zoom the best way they know how which is pulling Barry into a vibe. Cisco pulls Barry into a vibe like he did Iris a couple of episodes before. Barry tells Zoom that he is ready to race and that he has to bring Joe back with him to Earth 1. Zoom accepts.
Barry and Zoom have a race to see who is the fastest man alive. Just one catch when they get up to speed and start running as fast as they can the machine will start and that will cause all of the Multiverse to be destroyed. Barry knows for sure that he can beat him. This is the most confident we have seen Barry Allen in this show. He knew that he could beat Zoom. The way he did it however was great!
So they both begin running, and Zoom is still a little faster than Barry, but Barry would take Zoom’s advice. Barry would run back in time get a time remnant and bring it back with him to help take out Zoom. While Barry was beating the hell out of Zoom the time remnant of Barry ran round the machine and dissolved it into nothing. The speeds that the time remnant had to run would erase it from existence but as we know that the future Barry already exists so there was no harm in doing so. Barry seemed to be hell bent on taking Zoom out so he couldn’t hurt anyone else. However earlier on in the episode Zoom mentioned the time wraiths that had been after him because of him creating time remnants. Well Barry remembered that and as soon as Barry had Zoom down two time wraiths appeared. They would take Zoom with them, not before he became the Black Flash. His appearance changed right in front of our eyes, the disfigured face and the red lightning bolt all appeared.
Barry Allen had finally done it, he had finally stood up to the monster and beaten him just like he said he would. He still felt like he lost, which because he did in fact lose everything that he loved. He lost his dad and his mom and felt like he was alone now. Iris said it best however. She said that no matter how much time Barry needed she would always wait on him. But before we get to that part, there was an amazing moment near the end of this episode that I feel I should mention.
We all know that John Wesley Shipp played the Scarlet Speedster in the series in 1991-1992 only getting a one season run, and how he came back to play Henry Allen and we had seen him when Barry was running through to Earth 2 as that same Flash. Well the man in the iron mask who was held captive on Earth 2 was revealed. His name was Jay Garrick. The real Jay Garrick. A couple of episodes ago it was made known that Henry Allen’s mother’s maiden name was Garrick. So when Cisco and Wells removed the mask to reveal the man behind it. It was none other then John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick. Barry couldn’t handle it. The rest of us however could. I thought this was a great move. I honestly hope to see more of him as the Earth 3 Flash as he says. Cisco helped Jay, Harry, and Jesse go back to Earth 2 so Jay could go back home to Earth 3. However I don’t think thats the way things are going to stay.
I mentioned Iris talking to Barry before about how she was always going to wait on him. Well after that conversation a broken hearted Barry Allen started to run. As we all know the story he started to see the night his mother was killed and hear his screams. He would run faster and faster until he broke the time barrier and ended up back to the night his mother was killed. He could see the commotion inside with himself and the Reverse Flash. He seen himself move Henry and younger Barry out of the way and he ran in just in time to save his mother from getting killed. Barry’s former self from season 1 was still in the closet and he disappeared with a smile on his face, because the time line no longer exists. Barry saved Nora Allen and now we have a Flashpoint Paradox on our hands. Which means we could start season 3 with a powerless Barry Allen, living the life he has only dreamed of since he was a child. Or we could see a time where Barry still has his powers not being effected by what has changed because he was already the Flash in the future. I hope that we get to see the Flashpoint unfold and the characters that are in it get to be in the show.
I give this episode another perfect score 10/10. The ending was somewhat predictable, except for the Jay Garrick being John Wesley Shipp. It didnt catch me off guard but it was however a great homage to Jay Garrick and Henry Allen. Plus the suit looked pretty good. Maybe Barry should take some advice from him. Its going to be a long wait for season 3, but this is the kind of show that you can wait around for.