Barry is face with a critical decision that all three of his father figures weigh in on, Iris drops a bomb on Barry, Zoom decimates the police force, and we met a new metahuman (or three)....
All I have to say is that it took Barry long enough to decide to get his powers back. I understand his hesitancy given the unknowns involved, the plan was the best possible plan they had out of a series of bad ones. Giving his speed to Zoom to save Wally was a good and heroic thing. By now though, it's obvious that Barry needs it back to fight Zoom again. When faced with a choice between a definite bad choice (allowing Zoom to rampage through the city) or a potentially bad choice (Barry may die or there may be meta-humans created), the choice with the least known risk for disaster should always be chosen. I know it was Barry's choice, but I think he initially made the wrong one. Could bad things have happened if Barry had tried to get his speed back earlier? Sure. But he knew that bad things *WOULD* happen if Zoom was not challenged. I'm not saying it was an easy choice, but it was an obvious one, IMNSHO.
All that being said, I have to talk about people online tonight who complained that the last couple of episodes have lacked drama because it was obvious that Barry will get his powers back sometime before the end of the season. While it is true that it is obvious that he would get his powers back, what makes the journey interesting is the journey itself, not the end point. What has been interesting is seeing how Barry reacts to things now that he has lost his abilities. He still wants to help people out and realizes that he can't do what he needs to do for himself without his powers. As he said, his powers make him the best version of himself. Does that mean that he is somehow bad without them? No, but he burns with a desire to help people and to make their lives better, which is something he can't do without his powers. Or more precisely, he can't make the same difference he made before. That desire is an innate part of who he is as a person. Being the Flash makes him the best version of himself because he can help as many people as possible. Then there's also the fact that without the Flash, Zoom will take over and the metahumans will terrorize the world. Barry's journey since losing his powers have helped him to realize why he wants to have his powers and to reaffirm for himself that he is doing the right thing.
What I found really interesting about the ending is that in the miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry Allen ends up running so fast that he becomes one with the Speed Force. I am almost wondering if that is the sort of story they are going for with Barry dissolving tonight. We know that the Speed Force exists, but the form int he tv show seems to be different than the comics. If you saw the previews for next week, Barry is trapped in some alternate dimension or something and he is trying to get back. What if what has happened is that the experiment to give him his speed back forced Barry into some alternate level of reality (the Speed Force) and he has to come to some sort of understanding of his own power in order to be able to beat Zoom? It's a bit of an old trope, but it would be interesting to see.
The thing I was really excited to see was when Wally and Jesse get hit by the wave of energy that resulted when Barry dissolved. In the comics, Wally West becomes the Flash and Jesse Quick (a nickname for Jesse in the show from Harry) is also a speedster. If Wally and Jesse become speedsters, it is entirely possible that they could help Barry fight Zoom. Having all three of them together might give the gang enough of an edge to defeat Zoom. Obviously Jesse and Wally would be new to the whole speedster thing, but we know Wally likes to help people and Jesse seems to want to help people as well. She's smart enough to learn quickly and Wally loves to drive fast, so he might be able to adapt quickly enough. Just an interesting thought.
As for the debate between the father figures, I thought the whole thing was fairly interesting and predictable (for the most part). Harry and Henry predictably took opposite sides int he debate with Harry vigorously pushing Barry to get his speed back and Henry wanting Barry to be safe. Somewhat surprisingly, Joe more or less stayed out of the debate. I expected him to reluctantly weigh in on the side of Barry getting his power back to fight Zoom. I do respect that he didn't want to pressure Barry either way, but I was still surprised.
It's nice to see Iris finally admit to Barry that she does have feelings for him. I have to wonder if that explains his decision to forego trying to get his speed back until after Zoom massacred the police officers. After all, now that he has a chance with her, he may have been less willing to risk himself because he didn't want to lose her. I'm not saying it was the only reason, but it was definitely a possible one.
It was nice to see Cisco try and rebond with his brother especially after the shock of having his brother's doppleganger be a metahuman working for Zoom. That whole storyline was such a side issue that there isn't really a whole lot to say. It mainly seemed to be there to have Cisco confess that he is a metahuman and to show that there are more metahumans than the gang knows about. A lot more.
Caitlin was smart and cool under pressure. Warning the police was a good thing, but it had some unfortunate side effects because Zoom was able to figure out what she did, which (as I predicted) negated andy hold she may have over him/
And then there was the interesting tidbit that Garrick was the maiden name of Henry's mother. Hope they don't just drop that because that could be interesting to explore.
Until next week!
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