'The Flash' S02E21 Review
Last night on 'The Flash', the Star Labs Team tried desperately to get Barry back after learning that he had entered the Speed Force, after Cisco vibed by touching his suit.
A distraught Henry sits idly by as Wells and Joe find Jessie and Wally in the hall after being hit by the energy wave from the particle accelerator. Wally awakens but Jessie is unconscious. Henry eventually snaps out of his daze and helps her.
Barry wakes up in "Joe's" house and begins talking t him, only to realize it's not actually Joe but a manifestation of the Speed Force. The Speed Force is testing Barry, telling him to catch the shadowy figure speeding around.
Back at Star Labs, the blast has reanimated the corpse of Tony Woodward/Girder, a meta human with the power to turn his body into steel. The now undead Girder resumes his quest to get Iris, as that was what he wanted when he was still alive. He escapes the lab in search of her and begins terrorizing the city.
Wells and Cisco develop tech that allows them to see Barry in the Speed Force. When they see him, Barry doesn't return with them because he won't be able to regain his powers yet.
The Speed Force continues to test Barry by showing him iterations of his loved ones that he has different conversations with.
Tony tracks down Iris at home, as she and Joe develop a plan for her to lead him back to Star Labs to deal with him. Cisco develops an electromagnet that will take him down, put the power fails along with the plan to defeat him. The team then hides behind breech doors.
The endgame that the Speed Force has for Barry is to get him to finally accept and deal with his mother's death, something that Barry has truly never done. Barry visits his mother's grave for the first time and then gets to have a conversation with her, reading from a story book Barry had growing up. Barry finally accepts it all and gets the closure he's always longed for, allowing him to regain his powers and return to his world.
Cisco vibes again to get Barry back with the help of Iris and they all return. Barry succeeds in defeating Girder by speeding around him and creating a powerful electromagnetic field that defeats Girder.
Barry then visits Jessie, still unconscious, and touches her hand. The power of the Speed Force is able to awaken her from her coma.
Henry tells Barry that he plans to remain in Central City.
The end of the episode shows Caitlin, still being held by Zoom. Zoom gives her the option to leave or stay, but if she leaves he will show her the same "mercy" he plans on showing everyone else. As Zoom steps out into the CCPD main room, he gives a speech to an army of meta humans he's amassed to rally them into taking over the planet.
My theory that the Speed Force would act as an "entity" was actually correct. It took the form of Barry's loved ones in order to appeal to him in a more personal way. I liked how it explained it's eternal presence and gave a really cool insight into what the Speed Force actually is. In terms of moving the story forward, this episode was a little lacking. It only served the purpose of restoring Barry's powers, which was fine. There wasn't much action and the villain in Girder was a bit lame (although a zombie meta human was kind of neat). Barry & Co. will surely have a very tough time with Zoom and his new meta human army, but I'm predicting that Jessie will now have Speed Force powers and most likely Wally as well, as Barry will need all the help he can get. Only 2 episodes remain this season!
