“You always have to be the hero. While you’re playing the good little boy, I’ll be busy winning,” says Zoom (Teddy Sears) to Barry (Grant Gustin) during a short pause in the war for Central City on Earth-1 in episode 22 of season two of The CW’s comic book-inspired fantasy action series, The Flash.

As the episode begins, the war for control over Central City is exploding in the streets. The CCPD and a handful of citizens are doing their best to fight the army of evil meta-humans that Zoom has brought from Earth 2. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and the rest of the officers are finally aided and, to be honest, saved (they were in way over their heads) when The Flash uses his super speed to zip around and take down the attacking meta-humans.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry is commenting to Iris (Candice Patton) about taking down so many meta-humans at one time when Cisco (Carlos Valdes) comes rushing up to tell Barry to hurry, that he’s got to see this. Barry enters the main room to see Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) being checked over by his father, Henry (John Wesley Shipp), who says she’s in shock and is suffering from mild dehydration but she should be fine. Barry quickly goes to Caitlin and asks how she got away and she tells him that Zoom let her go. At first she thought it was a trick but he did actually let her go. Caitlin begins to get emotional and starts to cry when she tells Barry that Zoom told her Barry was dead. Barry comforts Caitlin and tells her he’s not dead, that they’re all here together. He tells her that he’s going to defeat Zoom and Caitlin’s face changes to a look of horror as she warns him he doesn’t know what Zoom is capable of. But Barry continues to comfort Caitlin, telling her he went into the speed force and that the universe is on their side; they can’t lose. “Right?” says Barry to everyone in the room and Jessie (Violett Beane) backs Barry up by answering yes. Barry walks Caitlin into the sickbay so she can get some rest after everything she’s been through and begins to tell her about how he got his powers back and getting drawn into the speed force.

After Barry and Caitlin leave, Cisco asks everyone if Barry doesn’t seem to be “a little…” Iris finishes his sentence by saying overconfident. Everyone, even Henry, is worried that ever since Barry came back from the speed force he seems to think he cannot lose and is throwing caution to the wind. Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanagh) suggests that someone should talk to Barry about it.

Over at Mercury Labs, Black Siren (Katie Cassidy) – Zoom’s main lieutenant – uses her powers of sonic vocal blasts to cause the Mercury Labs building to come crashing down. Fortunately, it’s strong enough to hold together until almost everyone inside is safely out of the building (only on television would that happen!) except for Dr. McGee (Amanda Pays) who The Flash zips in using once again his speed and saves the doctor from being buried with the building. “Thank you, Mr. Allen,” says McGee, to which Barry responds by staring at her shocked that she knows his true identity. She replies, “Please, I’m not an idiot.”

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry, Cisco, Caitlin – who still looks like she could do with a week’s worth of sleep – and Dr. McGee are talking about who and why someone would want to target Mercury Labs. Caitlin says it has to be Zoom. Dr. McGee tells Team Flash that there’s a black box failsafe that might have footage of who sabotaged the building. Barry gets the box and Cisco, Henry, and Dr. Wells are off to see if they can view the footage. Henry tries to take a minute with Barry to talk about him being a little too upbeat considering what they are facing but Barry refuses to listen, even telling his own father that he hasn’t been around enough to know what Barry is like, something he quickly recants and apologizes for. Just then alarms go off showing something wrong at the CCPD which is now Zoom’s headquarters. Barry rushes off to face him while his father tells him not to go.

Barry arrives at the CCPD to find Zoom going on and on about how he never saw the crime photos of his own mother’s death but since he witnessed it as a kid, he probably doesn’t need to. Turns out Zoom doesn’t want to fight Barry this time but play more mind games with him saying they are actually very much alike. Same similar tragedy in their lives, same powers, same need to be the best and fastest, but Barry plays at being a hero and Zoom doesn’t. He asks Barry if he gets tired of it, confiding that he found it exhausting being the fake hero Jay. Barry tells Zoom they are not alike and he will beat him. Zoom promises Barry that while he’s racing around fighting all the meta-humans, he will beat him in the end.

Barry goes back to S.T.A.R. Labs and tells everyone they need to find a way to take down the meta-humans all at once. With his army defeated, Zoom will be weak and they can beat him. Dr. Wells thinks that’s great but asks how they are going to stop him. He suggests to Cisco that everyone from Earth-2 vibrates at a different frequency and maybe they could use that against them. Both Cisco and Dr. Wells like the idea and go off to see what they can come up with, and Caitlin goes off to help too. On his way, Cisco has a vision of dead birds falling to the ground and shakes it off not knowing what it means. Joe asks to talk to Barry for a minute and tells him he needs his help with Wally. Joe caught Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) trying to stop a purse snatcher who turned out to be a meta-human and Joe saved Wally from him but Wally feels the need to prove to The Flash and to himself that he can make a difference in Central City, too. Joe wants Barry to have The Flash talk to Wally and get him to stop trying to be a hero. Barry says he’ll talk to him but it’s obvious he sort of approves of where the kid’s heart is.

Cisco is getting more and more frustrated and even throws something at the board he’s been writing on which gets Caitlin to comment on how out of character that is for Cisco. He tells her he’s that frustrated and Caitlin turns only to see Zoom in front of her. She turns to run and Zoom is again in front of her coming closer! Caitlin begins to yell, “NO!” and Cisco runs over to her telling her it’s okay and that he’s right here for her. Turns out Caitlin keeps seeing Zoom because deep down she’s still terrified and convinced he’s coming for her. She confides in Cisco telling him that Zoom aka Jay aka Zolomon took from her her confidence, her very sanity, and she doesn’t know how she’ll ever be able to move forward. Cisco hugs her and tells her what she feels is normal for someone who just escaped from a psychopath and he promises her she will be herself soon.

The Flash catches up to Wally sitting in his car listening to a police radio. The Flash tells Wally he admires what he’s trying to do but the best thing he can do is to let him (along with the police) handle Zoom and his meta-humans. Wally doesn’t agree, telling The Flash that Central City is now his home too and he needs to help fight to protect it. Their talk gets cut short when they both hear over the police scanner about a meta encounter. The Flash races off to see who it is.

The Flash arrives to find Black Siren waiting for him. He’s taken aback by the fact that she’s Black Canary’s doppelganger but shakes it off and after a few brief words in which Siren even admits to The Flash that Zoom seems frightened of him she uses her sonic sound to knock The Flash off his feet. With his ears ringing, Barry tries to get up but just gets punched, kicked, and sonic hit again. Lying on the street, things don’t look good for Barry as Siren starts to walk up to him to finish him off. Just then she gets slammed by Wally’s speeding car. Wally opens up the passenger door and tells The Flash to get in and the two of them speed out of sight together. The Flash thanks Wally and speeds off back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Caitlin is back at her job taking care of Barry and attending to his wounds telling him he’s going to be okay while Joe argues with Barry that his talk obviously didn’t take and that Wally isn’t like Barry and is going to get himself killed. Iris pulls Barry aside and tries to talk to him about his overconfidence being a weakness and that fear can be a good thing, reminding him what he should be willing to risk his life for and that he’s not invincible.

Leave it to Cisco to come up with THE plan to defeat not just the meta-humans but Zoom as well. With the help of Wells, Cisco has created a device that when amplified can be reflected all over Central City and with the help of Barry using his speed to create a wall of energy it will bounce back and forth. This will attack anyone from Earth-2 and knock them out leaving them to be arrested and locked up. It should also render Zoom helpless. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Cisco is the real hero of season two.) Wells has made a pair of headphones which should protect he and Jesse from its effects.

Black Siren is getting ready to attack another building as ordered by Zoom who wants to keep Team Flash busy saving people and fighting meta-humans so they don’t realize what he’s really up to. An alarm goes off at S.T.A.R. Labs and Wells tells Cisco this is it and to get ready, but Barry argues that Siren can kill all the people in the building if he doesn’t go to save them. Wells argues that they have to take down the meta-humans and Zoom now. This is when Cisco says, “I just got a terrible idea.”

Siren comments out loud to herself that she has never knocked down so many buildings and just then she hears a familiar voice say to her maybe she’s not so powerful after all. Siren goes looking to see who it is and to her surprise she sees Reverb and Killer Frost. Siren says she thought they were dead and Reverb tells her they would like Zoom to believe that to be the truth for now. Reverb says to Frost that Siren isn’t ready but Frost says to him to give her a chance. Siren wants to know what they are talking about and Reverb tells her that she shouldn’t be reporting to Zoom but she should be like a god. That they should all be god-like and rule together. Reverb tells her that together with their combined powers they can beat Zoom. Siren seems interested and asks what their plan is and Reverb says they will show up together at the CCPD and take down Zoom. Siren tells him it sounds good but just one thing first and throws Reverb a pipe to catch which he does but with his right hand. Oops, it seems doppelgangers are literally mirror images and the real Reverb was left-handed. Yes, it’s Cisco and Caitlin dressed up as their evil doppelgangers buying Team Flash time to charge up and fire off the frequency machine which Wells and the gang do with The Flash creating that energy wall they discussed. Cisco and Caitlin make a run for it but come to a dead end. Siren tells them no one on this Earth can beat her and just as she is about to hit them with a sonic boom Cisco uses his powers and creates a blast like the one Reverb used on Barry back on Earth-2 and knocks Siren off her feet. “What the what?” asks Caitlin. “I don’t know,” replies Cisco. “Well, do it again!” says Caitlin, but sadly Cisco can’t repeat it. Fortunately, he doesn’t need to because the plan works and all the meta-humans end up passed out on the ground…all that is except for Zoom who creates a breach and escapes to Earth-2.

With Zoom gone and all the evil meta-humans locked up Central City seems for the first time since the beginning of season two to be getting back to normal. Black Siren is locked up down in what used to be the particle accelerator with Cisco asking if they should tell their friends in Starling City about her and Barry says no and that she’s just a poor evil version of Black Canary. Cisco compliments Caitlin on her performance as Frost and she says she was in a place of feeling cold and distant which causes Barry to ask her how she’s feeling now. Caitlin says helping them fight the meta-humans made her feel like herself again and Barry gives her a big hug to which Cisco joins in saying it’s time for a team hug with Caitlin smiling wide, hugging the two most important men in her life. Joe and Barry talk about Wally one more time but this time Barry tells Joe to let Wally become the man he’s destined to be – a hero like his father.

Later that night, Iris invited everyone over to the house for a belated welcome home Henry party to surprise both Barry and Henry. Jesse flirts with Wally, Henry flirts with Dr. McGee, and Barry asks Iris if she wants to give them a shot at dating to which she says yes. Everyone is happy and enjoying themselves until Cisco has another vision of birds dying but this time he sees people screaming and Earth-2 being split in two. Barry asks Cisco what he saw and Cisco begs someone to tell him he did not just see the future and the end of the world or worlds. Zoom rushes in which causes Caitlin to freeze in terror. Zoom grabs Henry and tells Barry that they’re not finished yet. He races out of the house and Barry zips after him. This is how Wally discovers that Barry, the guy he never really liked and has been giving nothing but grief since his punk butt showed up in town, IS the hero who has saved his life multiple times.

Zoom leads Barry back to his childhood home and into the room where his mother died. Zoom looks at Barry still holding Henry and tells him that he’s going to make Barry just like him. Barry begs Zoom not to do this and to take him instead to which Henry yells no. Henry tells Barry that he loves him and that he and Barry’s mother are so proud of the man he’s grown to – he doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Zoom puts his vibrating arm through Henry’s heart. Barry screams, “NO!”

Review of The Flash Season 2 Episode 22:

Suspenseful, action-packed, emotional, and shocking, season two episode 22 titled “Invincible” is hands-down the BEST episode of the season, giving every main character a storyline and moments to shine and connect with each other. It also has a tragic, shocking – okay, maybe not so shocking – ending which sets up the season finale showdown. The stand-out performance goes to Danielle Panabaker who displays such realistic heartfelt emotion in being back home with her friends and seeing her Barry, who she had been told was dead, alive and well. The tears she holds back and the break in her voice as she tells Barry Zoom told her he was dead is emotionally powerful. Panabaker also captures true terror as Caitlin in the scenes where she keeps seeing Zoom coming for her. The viewers can’t help but ache for Caitlin and what she’s going through. It’s truly a remarkable performance deserving of an Emmy nomination.

With Earth-2 looking like it’s going to come to an end and Barry determined to avenge the death of this father, the season finale of The Flash should be the most exciting, suspenseful and exhilarating episode of the series. Can’t wait.

GRADE: A-