The Flash season 2, episode 18, “Versus Zoom,” revealed Zoom’s backstory and his plan.
“Versus Zoom,” in revealing Hunter Zolomon/Zoom’s backstory, set up an intriguing parallel between Zolomon and Barry. Since we first met Zoom, we noticed that his suit is a black version of Barry’s — and in this episode, we discover that was purposeful. In fact, Zoom/Zolomon is a dark mirror image of Barry in a number of ways.
When Zolomon was 11, he witnessed his father murder his mother. After that, he was taken to an orphanage because none of his relatives wanted him. He grew up to become an infamous serial killer on Earth-2; after being convicted of 23 murders, he was sentenced to a mental institution where he was given shock therapy. But the day the particle accelerator malfunctioned on his Earth, he gained speedster powers and escaped his imprisonment. Having been well-known for being bearded, he shaved and took the name Jay Garrick; no one recognized the serial killer when he publicly became The Flash.
The parallels are clear: Barry was 11 when Eobard Thawne murdered his mother and framed his father for it. Barry, however, knew his father was innocent of the murder. And rather than being rejected, Barry was taken in by the West family. Barry, in an effort to free his father, went into law enforcement rather than crime. And once he got his powers, he used them to help people because he is a good person. He hides his identity to protect his loved ones, while “Jay Garrick” flaunted his identity in a secret joke on the people of Central City.
There’s definitely something to say about nature versus nurture with the cases of Barry Allen and Hunter Zolomon. While both boys underwent similar traumas at similar ages, they ended up on opposite paths. True, Zolomon didn’t have the support of a found family after his mother’s murder, but that shouldn’t be the deciding factor in whether he became a serial killer or not. There is an inherent psychopathy in Hunter Zolomon that isn’t in Barry. Barry has his flaws, but it’s unlikely he would go down Zolomon’s path, even in his place, while Zolomon would be more likely to go down the path he did, even in Barry’s shoes.
The purposeful paralleling of hero and villain brings all of Zoom’s actions up until this point into sharper focus while also giving Barry a far more personal stake in the villain of another Earth running rampant. Things become even more personal when Zolomon kidnaps Wally, who has moved into the West household, and trades his life for Barry’s speed. Barry, being the selfless hero that he is, goes through with the trade even after Wally has been released.
Side note: Wally now knows that Joe and Iris work alongside The Flash, so that conflict will undoubtedly come to a head at some point.
It’s worth noting that Teddy Sears commented that Hunter Zolomon “has real feelings for Caitlin, while he played everybody else.” He had everything planned out when he discovered there was another Earth and another speedster, but “[w]hat wasn’t part of the plan was falling for Caitlin.” With everything “Jay” said and did while playing Team Flash, “[t]he one thing that was real, the only thing that was real, was his feelings for her.”
We see this play out when Zolomon gets Barry’s speed and is prepared to kill him. Caitlin begs Zolomon to let Barry go if anything he ever shared with Caitlin was real, and he does. Caitlin calling him a monster also causes a flashback to his mother calling his father one shortly before her death; her words are the only ones that reach him in that way. Zolomon then kidnaps Caitlin before speeding away; he’s gotten what he needs to live in the form of Barry’s speed and in taking Caitlin, he’s also taking what he wants.
Poor Caitlin. She really can’t catch a break with her love life.
Oh, and we find out how Zolomon set things up so the team saw “Jay” die. This is something I’ve been trying to work out since it didn’t make sense for it to have been a speed mirage, so it was nice to get an explanation.
Zolomon reveals that he traveled back in time and recruited another version of himself to play the part of the murdered “Jay.” In any time, Zolomon can appreciate a brilliant, evil plot, so he eventually agrees to play the part and be killed. So yes, there was another body in the mix that confused matters — which was Zolomon’s plan in the first place.
As for the man in the iron mask, Zolomon simply says Barry wouldn’t believe him if he told him. So, there’s another mystery left for the last episodes of the season.
On a final note, I think we’re supposed to assume that when Barry is testing out the tachyon device at the beginning of the episode and goes through the breach only to come out seconds later is when he visits Supergirl, as he asks how long he was gone.
Watch a promo for the next episode
