Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – Running to Stand Still
The midseason finale of The Flash aired this week, and instead of just having mostly filler with a stinger at the end, the folks behind the show once again pulled out all the stops to give us one of the strongest episodes this season. It’s hard to believe we’re already here at the midseason, but take solace in the fact that Legends of Tomorrow is just around the corner and you will be seeing recaps here on Geekscape as well. For now, let’s dive into this episode!
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
This episode starts with Harry trying his very best to escape Zoom in STAR Labs. Besides that, there’s no context as to where everyone else was. It seems Harry went straight to one of his guns to try to engage Zoom, but he was too slow. Later in the episode, Harry was seen working near the Comic Treadmill. It’s safe to assume that Harry also sleeps at STAR Labs to avoid the risk of someone else seeing him and getting shot in the chest again. I’m under the impression Zoom showed up after everyone else had gone home for the day, leaving Harry alone in STAR Labs.
After wishing him a Merry Christmas, Zoom proceeds to court Harry into helping him coach Barry into gaining more speed. If you remember a few weeks ago, one of my articles talked about Zoom’s speedforce draining capabilities. By the end of this episode, it’s confirmed that Zoom wants Barry to get stronger in the speedforce so Zoom can drain Barry and become more powerful. This explains these past eight weeks or so with villains popping up one at a time to combat the Flash on Earth 1. So, like last season, we can expect Harrison Wells coaching Barry up to become faster. The main difference here is that Harry will feel guilty for making this deal with Zoom. I’m seriously hoping Harry takes the speedforce drug himself to help Barry fight Zoom.
As for the main plot this episode, we saw Weather Wizard break The Trickster and Captain Cold out of Iron Heights. Their goal was pretty simple – kill the flash – but a couple of interesting developments happened aside from Weather Wizard and Trickster’s plan. For one, Garrick stated that there is no Trickster on Earth 2. This is an interesting note, mostly due to the fact that Earth 1’s dopplegangers are similar to their Earth 2’s counterparts. However, it’s completely possible that the Trickster is actually just living a docile life in Earth 2. In any case, depending on how serious you want to take it, the Trickster’s old costume from when he terrorized Central City a couple of decades ago, matches the same costume he wore when he appeared in 90’s Flash television series.
If we are to take the 90s series as cannon with the series we’re watching now, then we would have to place the 90’s Flash series in a different Earth or at the very least, a different timeline. It’s also worth noting that the actor that plays Barry’s dad was the Flash in the 90’s television series.
Captain Cold
After warning the Flash, Snart heads out into Central City. By the time Legends of Tomorrow rolls around, he will probably already have linked up with Heat Wave. Snart isn’t interested in playing hero, but his connection to the Flash is making him second guess most of his villainous behavior. We already have enough character development featured in The Flash for him to take the stage in just a few weeks.
Okamura Toys
This was a fantastic shoutout to a not-so-well-known hero, the Toyman. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Toyman grew up to be a recluse, often stowed away in his lab. He takes his name after the first Toyman, Winslow Schott, who was very much a villain. Other than the name and the association with toys, Hiro Okamura isn’t a villain at all. In many cases found in the comics, Okamura helps the Justice League in ridding the Earth of Kryptonite and destroying a meteor made of Kryptonite heading to Earth.
His efforts in helping the Justice League leads him to becoming an honorary member of the Justice League all before the age of twenty. His genius-level intellect and fantastic ability to build bots and toys to combat villains would make for a good appearence on either The Flash or Arrow. It’s hard to guess where exactly Okamura is since the his family’s factory seems to have been shut down four years ago. It’s possible his parents died, leading the factory to close. Financial trouble doesn’t seem right since the stuffed teddy bears sounded like they were in high-demand. In Earth 2, Harry gave one to his daughter when she was six. In Earth 1, Patty received one from her father when she was…wait a minute…
Wally West
Wally West was finally introduced to the rest of the West family. What better way than a Christmas party? By now, fans know that Wally is destined to become a Speedster. It’s unclear how or why he comes into contact with the speedforce, or if it will even happen this season (it probably will). The speedster family is coming together!
That’s it for now! See you all tomorrow! Thanks for reading!
