Just five episodes into The Flash‘s second season and it’s obvious the creative minds behind The CW series aren’t going to let this comic book-inspired show experience the sophomore slump that plagues so many shows that were critical and ratings hits in their rookie seasons. The Flash season two not only introduces interesting new metahumans with each episode but also continues to build and expand on the complex relationships between central characters Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, and Joe. Each episode brings new revelations about fan favorite characters while introducing new mysteries that will be explored as the season goes on.
Season two’s fifth episode “The Darkness and the Light” provided a new villain, Dr. Light, for The Flash to take on as well as the first real look at Earth-2’s Zoom. Episode five also expanded Earth-2’s Harrison Wells’ role among Earth-1’s S.T.A.R. Labs’ gang and allowed this version of Wells to show more personality than season one’s Wells ever displayed. The jam-packed episode also took the time to add a little romance to the lives of Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco.
The Flash Season Two Episode Five Recap:
Earth-2, Eight Months Ago – Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) tells the crowd gathered that their city has seen incredible things including metahumans and other seemingly impossible things. Speaking of metahumans, S.T.A.R. Labs is introducing new apps that will alert people to approaching metahumans. The Flash/Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) shows up as Wells is introducing the app, blaming Wells for creating all the metas in the first place. Wells tells him to do his job and stop Zoom. We learn that in this world Wells has a daughter.
On Earth-1, Wells is reading ‘his’ autobiography that he didn’t write. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) show up and they attempt to figure out this Wells doppelgänger and get really confused. Wells has proof of his identity on Earth-2 and tells Caitlin any tests she wants to perform will genetically match the Wells from Earth-1. He explains he’s there to take on Zoom. He’s on expert on the subject because he created Zoom and all of the Earth-2 metahumans, something he ignored for too long. Wells says Zoom is obsessed with speed and his goal is to kill The Flash, yet the gang still doubts his motivations. In comes Joe West (Jesse L Martin) and he shoots before asking questions. Fortunately Barry (Grant Gustin) reacts and stops the bullets from hitting Wells. Caitlin says they can ask Jay to verify everything.
Joe meets up with Iris (Candice Patton) to warn her about the new Wells, and although she says she’s fine, he gives her a gun – just to be sure. “You can’t murder somebody that everybody thinks is dead, right?” asks Joe.
Cisco and Barry hit the coffee shop to talk about Wells and time travel, and in pops Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten) who thinks time travel is cool. Cisco and Patty are introduced and she tells them both about The Flash and King Shark’s battle and the hooded man who saved them all. She’s called back to the station and Barry makes excuses for not helping her with a police report she’s working on. Off she goes, and Cisco says Barry needs to ask Patty out and that he’s not going to call Harrison Wells “Dr. Wells” but will only call him Harry. [To make things less confusing, Wells will be Harry for the remainder of this recap]. Cisco then tries to prove he’s capable of asking a girl out but the girl behind the counter says no (he was trying to show Barry how it’s done). Poor Cisco. As he walks away he has a vision of a bank being robbed by a new metahuman (a new “breacher”). Barry wants to know what’s up and Cisco sends him off to Central City Bank because the robbery is going down now.
The Flash shows up as the robbery is ending and the new metahuman gets away. Dr. Light is the new metahuman who can drive power from starlight, according to Harry. Harry’s rubbing Cisco the wrong way and Cisco calls him a dick because of his sarcasm. Good job, Cisco.
In comes Jay and Caitlin and Harry isn’t surprised to see Earth-2’s Flash hiding out on Earth-1. Harry tells him he has to kill Zoom now because he’s forcing people to do bad things. Barry asks Cisco how he knew about the robbery and Cisco fumbles with a lie about getting an alert on his phone. Barry states the obvious by telling Caitlin to keep Jay and Harry apart.
Barry and Patty bump into each other at the station and Barry asks if she ever feels completely overwhelmed. He finally does it – he asks her out to dinner! She wants to make sure he won’t cancel and he promises he won’t. Plans are made for an early dinner tomorrow.
At S.T.A.R. Labs Harry researches the other Wells. Cisco finds him working on his computer and sarcastically welcomes him to his workspace. Harry wants to know what Wells did to him personally, and Cisco explains Wells stopped his heart. Cisco tells Harry that Barry traveled through time to erase that from happening. Harry tells him they have to work together to stop Zoom and Dr. Light, but they don’t have to like each other.
Caitlin notices an alarm is going off at the bank and Jay convinces Barry Dr. Light isn’t a killer and that he should be able to talk to her. Light breaks into a vault to get the cash and it’s only because she needs the cash to run from Zoom. She flips up the mask and it’s Linda Park, Barry’s old girlfriend. She wants to know how The Flash knows her name and then blinds him and leaves.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry can’t see because his retinas are temporarily damaged. Harry and Jay argue over talking to Light and Barry says Zoom sent Linda because she’s his ex. Barry is benched until his sight returns. Iris pops in and she’s taken aback by Harry. Barry asks Iris how she’s handling the mom situation and she’s okay now that her mom left. Barry’s phone rings and it’s a message from Patty who says she’s running late. Barry tells Iris it’s about their first date and he has to break it anyway because he’d be a literal blind date. Iris suggests Cisco can help him out.
Cisco helps guide him through the date, watching the date through Barry’s dark glasses and feeding Barry answers to questions. Patty’s equally as bad at dates as Barry, recalling how she actually arrested one guy for public intoxication while on their date. Cisco continues to feed him details but he can’t do much because the feed is in black and white. Barry somehow manages to handle the date fairly well anyway.
Caitlin and Jay are on a stakeout and she asks him about Zoom. Jay fought him multiple times and Jay admits he’s scared of him because Zoom stole his speed. Jay tells Caitlin to not trust Harry because he’s just in it to make money off his tech apps.
Back at the date, Patty asks Barry how it felt to be struck by lightning. Cisco’s bored listening to all of this until Patty says she drowned at age 9 when her heart stopped and her dad revived her. Patty then surprises Barry by admitting she knows he can’t see her, saying she wouldn’t be a good detective if she couldn’t figure it out. He takes off the glasses and they continue the date which is now less awkward because he’s not wearing sunglasses at night in a restaurant.
Caitlin questions Jay about the differences between the worlds, and he describes the real city of Atlantis on his planet. He tells her it’s special and then comes in for a kiss which is halted before it begins by an attack by Dr. Light. Their car is trashed and Caitlin and Jay lie among in the wreckage.
Light finds her doppelgänger at the newspaper and tells everyone to leave but her. She wants to kill only her.
Jay and Caitlin come to and Jay takes off to find Dr. Light.
Iris won’t leave Linda alone and the newspaper editor bravely tries to stop Dr. Light and she kills him. Jay shows up and she takes off, leaving behind her mask.
Patty helps the still visually impaired Barry navigate the stairs outside. They’re holding hands and Patty makes a joke about it, and then Barry asks if they’ve reached the good night kiss stage. They have. Barry can now see and knows she’s wearing a burgundy dress. Just then they both get calls about the newspaper attack.
Linda’s freaked out about seeing herself and upset because someone who looked like her wanted to kill her. Joe’s arranged a security detail, and Barry’s upset because he thinks he should have been there. Barry is determined Dr. Light won’t kill again.
Back at STAR Labs, Jay apologizes for thinking Dr. Light wouldn’t kill anyone. Harry blames it all on Jay because he’s afraid of Zoom. He calls Jay a coward and then a fist fight breaks out, only to be broken up by Barry.
Barry and Harry talk and Harry says Barry should be teaching Jay, not the other way around. Barry tells Harry he looked up to Wells before he learned the truth. Harry is sorry about what his doppelgänger did but he’s not him. He thinks if they capture Dr. Light, then they can catch Zoom.
Harry examines the helmet and says they need to give it to Cisco because he has powers. His special watch from Earth-2 indicates that Cisco is a metahuman who hasn’t told his friends his secret. Barry wants to know if Cisco was ever going to tell them and he says he was but he was afraid. Cisco worries he’ll become like Dr. Wells, but Caitlin assures him he’ll never be like Wells. Cisco explains his powers and Harry tells him to touch the mask to find Dr. Light. He does…and sees nothing at all. It’s not working. Harry yells at him to try again and it’s still not working. Cisco says he can’t control it and Harry says Cisco can control it and can make it happen. He thrusts the helmet at Cisco and Cisco sees Dr. Light at the train station.
The Flash takes off and finds her on the platform where she reveals the only way she can be free from Zoom is if she kills Barry or Linda. He can’t get close enough to kill her and back at S.T.A.R. Labs Jay doesn’t know how to help him, but Harry has an idea. Barry has to run so fast he creates a speed mirage to confuse her. She won’t be able to protect herself from all angles at once. Dr. Light is holding up well and Jay tells Barry that he’s always been faster and better and to show Dr. Light what it means to be The Flash. He tries again and this time he’s able to knock her out.
Iris thanks Harry for helping put away Dr. Light. Barry says he can’t let this happen anymore and he’s not afraid of Zoom. Jay tells Barry he’s not good enough to battle Zoom by himself, but Barry says he has a whole team – and Jay – behind him. However, Jay’s not willing to help him because he knows what horrible things can happen. Jay starts to leave and Caitlin tries to stop him. He apologizes and then exits S.T.A.R. Labs.
Cisco’s back at the coffee place ordering three coffees and it’s the same girl he asked out before who’s taking his order. She explains she just moved to Central City and is still trying to figure things out. She asks if he’s sure coffee is all he wants. They formally introduce themselves (she’s Kendra Saunders). Cisco takes the coffees to the table and shows Caitlin and Barry that he actually got digits this time. He’s still stressing about his powers and Caitlin reminds him he needs a cool name. That cheers him up and Cisco decides on the name Vibe.
Back on Earth-2, Dr. Wells’ daughter is locked up in a cage by Zoom. She swears her father won’t abandon her.
Season 2 Recaps: Episode 1 / Episode 3 / Episode 4
The Flash Season 2 Interviews: Grant Gustin / Danielle Panabaker / Tom Cavanagh / Carlos Valdes / Andrew Kreisberg
This post was last modified on November 6, 2015 7:43 am