The Flash Season 2 finale recap and review: The Race of His Life

Season 2 of The Flash speeds to an end, but can Barry Allen truly lay claim to the title of Fastest Man Alive?

Tragedy has struck Barry Allen again. Just when he finally accepted his mother’s murder as a child and his decision not to muck up the timeline by changing it as the Flash, he had to watch his father get killed right in front of him.

If the fight against Zoom wasn’t personal before (and Caitlin Snow, for one, would definitely say it was), it sure as heck is now. Since it’s the Season 2 finale of The Flash, we expect the

The Flash Season 2, episode 23 recap: “The Race of His Life”

Grant Gustin wasn’t kidding when he said this episode would pick up right where the previous one left off. Barry screams and goes to tend to his dad, but it’s too late. Henry Allen is dead. Zoom goes full Palpatine, reveling in the fact that the Flash is feeling so much anger.

A chase ensues, and Zoom sees himself as he runs. We know what that means.

Indeed, just as Flash has Zoom on the ropes and has to listen to the villain implore our hero to kill him, someone beats him to it: Another Zoom. A confused Barry knows that means there was a time rift, but he simply stares as this Zoom says there can be two of Barry as long as he’s willing to kill himself. Then this Zoom says Barry is “almost ready” and runs off.

It’s raining, as it always is for TV funerals (h/t my daughter). Barry can’t bring himself to speak, so Joe West says a few words instead. Barry’s only line is to promise his dad that he’ll find Zoom and make him pay.

At the West house, Wally offers his heartfelt sympathies. Barry thanks him and gets right to business, asking his teammates for a plan to stop Zoom. Cisco Ramon is still weirded out by his final vibe from last week, where he saw Earth-2 being ripped apart.

Iris West follows Barry outside, where he asks rhetorically how he can find peace with both of his parents being taken from him. Actually it’s probably not rhetorical. Zoom arrives and generously offers to give him time to mourn. Also this: He wants Flash to race him to see who’s the fastest on either world. Refuse and Henry won’t be the last one to die.

The conversation at S.T.A.R. Labs turns to what Zoom is really scheming. It seems the device he stole from Mercury Labs can create a pulse that can destroy not just Earth-2, but all the Earths — the infinite Earths, that is! It just needs the energy generated by the speedsters, meaning the race could power it.

Joe wants Barry not to race Hunter, figuring that the villain is playing him to get exactly what he wants. When pressed about it, Barry admits that he wants to kill Zoom and make him suffer. Realizing he can’t win the argument, Joe apologizes, and Harry Wells shoots him with a tranquilizer.

He wakes up in a cell in the Pipeline, and we’ve got a superhero intervention. Seems the team wants Barry to calm down and not race Zoom on his terms. They don’t look happy about it, but as the cell door closes, Iris tells her dad they made the right call.

Seems the rest of the team wants to take Zoom down without Barry, and Caitlin apparently is part of the plan. They’re going to have Caitlin distract Hunter, hit him with the Boot and shove him through the portal, then destroy the device. Joe makes them agree that even if something goes wrong, they will stick to the plan, which feels like foreshadowing to me.

After that talk, Jesse gets a moment with her dad. She wants to return to Earth-2 and her own life, though she gives Harry her blessing to remain with Team Flash if it would make him happy.

Now for that plan … This isn’t going to work, is it? Caitlin shows some serious guts talking to “Jay,” explaining that he was right about the darkness inside her. It’s pretty convincing. It’s also a hologram. Well I’ll be. The Boot is applied and the portal is opened, but Joe’s gun jams and he ends up rushing to face Zoom up close and personal. That means when Harry literally leaps across to blast Zoom with his pulse rifle, the show knocks both Hunter and Joe through the portal — which closes behind them.

Cisco’s Vibe powers can’t get a fix on Zoom and Joe. Even worse, Wally arrives and is given the bad news, and he’s pretty upset, especially since he wasn’t in on the decision to freeze Barry out.

Joe is in the dungeon of Zoom, but at least he’s going to get an explanation: the man in the iron mask’s true identity! He’s a speedster from another Earth, one that Zoom has been trying to siphon speed from. it just didn’t work, so he kept the dude around as a trophy. Also to borrow his name and to keep the time wraiths from coming for him while he messed with the time line. Yep, it’s the real Jay Garrick! Zoom plans on imprisoning Barry so that he’ll have the Flash of two worlds to keep him company.

Speaking of Barry, Wally lets him out. As you might expect, he’s not happy. Another philosophical debate breaks out, but the team relents. Barry uses Cisco’s Vibe powers to appear to Zoom, saying that he’ll accept the terms for the race. Hunter even agrees to bring Joe along unharmed, though he won’t release him until after the race.

The time for the final showdown arrives, and Zoom has one more fairly big revelation. He wants to use the machine to destroy all the Earths except one. Earth-1 is a nexus for the multiverse, the entry point to everywhere else. Zolomon means to set up shop and rule this world without having to worry about any others.

Flash’s teammates decide to stick around, and now it’s time for the race. Zoom even gets it going with the ever popular “Run, Barry, run.’ As the speedsters run, Flash appears to be trailing, and the device is powering up. Suddenly, Barry sees himself — it’s a time remnant, one who sacrifices himself to destroy the machine while the “real” Flash battles Zoom.

With the fight won, Flash has Zoom at his mercy, and the villain gloats that Barry won’t kill him. he doesn’t, of course, but the time wraiths flood through the portal, and they do the job instead.

A confused Wally gets the explanation of what happened with the time remnant, including how the other Barry was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends. Cisco and Harry free the man in the iron mask, and the real Jay Garrick stand before them. Oh, and he looks just like Henry Allen!

An upset Barry tells Joe that he doesn’t want jay to leave. Restored to his proper uniform, he gets his speed back too, now that the dampener in the iron mask is destroyed. Jay agrees to take the winged helmet and continue to use it as a symbol of hope. He needs a lift back to Earth-3, and Harry says he and Jesse will get him as far as Earth-2 and then handle the rest.

Time for some feels. Tearful goodbyes are said to Harry, who says he’s a better man than he was before, and he even finally calls Cisco by his first name. Jesse and Wally have a moment too. Then Cisco opens the portal, and Harry, Jesse and Jay depart.

A happy ending, then? The rest of the gang decompresses at the West house, but Barry goes outside for air. Iris follows again, and Barry says he can’t come to terms with his dad’s doppelganger. Can #WestAllen give Barry something to help make up for what he lost? Uh, no, because Barry says he needs to “fix what’s wrong with me” and find peace first. Iris says Barry waited for him for years, and she’ll do the same in return. More feels incoming, as well as a kiss and some “I love you” in both directions.

But Barry says he’s sorry that he has to do this … and he goes back in time and stops Reverse-Flash from killing his mom. Flash sees his Season 1 self in the other room, and that Flash fades away. He then turns to his mom, telling her she’s safe. I guess it’s a whole new show next season!

Final Thought

We’ll table that last scene for just a moment. This was a fun finale most of the way through, with multiple twists, including the team sidelining Barry and Flash’s cool use of what he learned this season to defeat Zoom. Even if you guessed the truth about Jay Garrick, you had to appreciate the way the writers honored his legacy. But that last scene is one fans will be talking about all summer, and it’s anyone’s guess where the show heads from here. It’s going to be a long four months!

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