Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – Versus Zoom

It’s been a long hiatus, but we’re finally back with another episode of The Flash. This episode provided some much need answers as to some lingering questions, mostly dealing with Zoom’s identity. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Hunter Zolomon

Zoom is indeed Hunter Zolomon. Zolomon made the mistake of showing Caitlin his doppleganger in an earlier episode this season. Since the start of the season, we here at Geekscape have been speculating Jay Garrick’s ties to Zoom. I wrote about it early on in the season, and today, we found out exactly what the whole business was with Jay Garrick dying a few episodes back.

The way Zolomon explained it was that the Garrick we saw die was a time remnant. We saw another example of this earlier this season when the Reverse-Flash came back in time. Zolomon somehow convinced his time remnant to be a part of Zolomon’s grand scheme in stealing the Flash’s speed. Zolomon initially says the remnant agreed to the plan because it was so good. It’s also entirely possible that he was holding his remnant hostage the entire time. As for who’s in the mask, Zoom remarks, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

In this episode, we also saw that Zolomon’s father fought, presumably, in the War of the Americas. This was an odd detraction from what Garrick said at the start of the season, saying his Grandfather fought in the war, and not his father. Was Zoom lying? Was there a bit of retcon? We’re going to have to keep watching to find out.

Keystone City

Keystone City made an appearance this episode, and it wasn’t in suspended animation! However, it does look a little dire in Keystone. It’s nice to know that this place exists and will probably show up again in the future. Still, at least we know that there is at least ONE pizza shop in the city.

Keystone City is home to both Wally West Flash and Jay Garrick. There isn’t much more significance other than that. However, it would be cool if Wally moved to Keystone, should he ever get his own set of speedster powers.

Supergirl

If you watched closely, you saw Flash temporarily vanish from Central City and reappear shortly after before heading back to STAR Labs. After getting back, Barry questioned Cisco, asking stuff like how long he was gone and what was happening. That brief moment of absence was spent on Supergirl’s Earth, whatever Earth that is.

Vibe

Cisco finally broke down what has been stopping him from exploring his powers. The bottom line was that he was afraid of becoming a villain. After a solid pep talk from Barry, Cisco decided to use his powers to open a breach to Earth 2. While Barry and Cisco are partially to blame for Wally’s capture, hopefully the ordeal pushes Cisco to continue on the path of realizing his true potential.

Flashpoint Easter Egg

For those of you who have read the Flashpoint comics, or have seen the movie, you may have noticed a fun little easter egg in Zoom’s creation. When the particle accelerator blew up on Earth-2, Zolomon was in the midst of electroshock treatments. This origin is similar to how Barry got his powers back on another Earth.

Who’s in the Mask?!

Well, it seems we have three solid candidates as to who’s wearing the mask. Before, it was easy to guess that it may be another variation of Jay Garrick or Hunter Zolomon. Perhaps an older Jay Garrick is also in the cards. Regardless, whoever is in the mask knows a tap code used during wartime, specifically for POW’s. First, those who would know that means of communication would be an older Jay Garrick who fought in the war or Zolomon’s father.

The third, perhaps more convoluted is Wally West of another Earth. If we are to take the events that happened on another Earth, it’s possible that like Earth-2, there is another Earth where Barry does not become the Flash. Perhaps instead, there is another Earth where Wally West is the Flash and that’s why Zoom kidnapped him away from Earth-1. In any case, this will build up until the season finale and may have repercussions on the series itself.

That’s all for this week! As always, thanks for reading!