The Flash season 2, episode 22, “Invincible,” set up the ultimate stakes for the final showdown between Barry and Zoom.
RIP Henry Allen.
I was 99% certain that when Henry decided to come back to Central City a couple of episodes ago that he was going to die, but I still held on to a vain hope that we might get to have nice things for just a bit longer. Sometimes The Flash actually lets us be happy; it’s not often, but it’s happened. Alas, what is Barry Allen’s life if not one shaped by tragedy? On the heels of finally accepting the death of his mother, more than a decade later, he now must deal with the loss of his father.
Why are villains obsessed with killing his parents? Eobard Thawne killed Nora and now Hunter Zolomon killed Henry. I hope next season’s villain doesn’t kill Joe, since he’s the closest thing Barry has to a parent left.
Anyway, Henry’s murder comes after an entire episode of Barry feeling confident that Team Flash is going to be victorious against Zoom. The Speed Force is on Barry’s side, so how can he lose? Multiple people try to talk Barry down from his unadulterated positivity, but Barry is having none of it. He’s always been a character with more light in him, but his experience in the Speed Force changed the way he looks at the world.
That hope, however, is completely dashed when Zoom appears and kidnaps his father. Being a drama queen, he brings Henry to the old Allen house and murders Henry there. Henry, in his final moments, tells Barry how much he loves him and that he and his mother are proud of the man he’s become, and it’s heartbreaking.
Zolomon is adamant that he and Barry are basically the same person, having experienced eerily similar losses at the tender age of 11. Barry does not believe that to be true — and I wrote about the fact that Barry finally moves past his mother’s death really sets him apart from Zolomon in my recap for “The Runaway Dinosaur” — so Zolomon steps up the comparison. He thinks it’s only fair that Barry see his parent die since he didn’t see his mother’s death the way Zolomon did.
I thought Barry finally reaching the acceptance stage of grief while Zolomon never truly made his way through the stages of grief would be to his advantage. But with Henry’s death, Barry will be dealing with fresh grief, likely pushing him into the anger stage for his final showdown with Zoom (assuming Zoom is defeated in the finale). Those raw emotions are more likely to lend to him making mistakes in his desire for revenge; though Barry is not a dark character, I have a feeling he’s going to reach some lows after Henry’s murder, considering how short a time he’s had his father back in his life.
Also worth noting from the episode:
- Henry became friendly with Dr. Tina McGee, played by Amanda Pays. In the 1990 Flash, Pays also played Dr. Tina McGee, who was John Wesley Shipp’s Barry Allen’s love interest.
- We met the Earth-2 doppelganger of Laurel Lance, a metahuman going by the name Black Siren. I honestly was expecting to see more of her based on the promotional material. Katie Cassidy was really killing it as a more evil version of her character, and the special effects for the Canary Cry looked great. She’s been locked away in the pipeline, so I hope we’ll see her again, especially since Earth-1 Laurel is dead.
- Caitlin returns from Zoom’s captivity and is dealing with some PTSD, as she starts hallucinating Zoom at every turn. However, she’s able to push through it and even play Killer Frost in a confrontation with Black Siren.
- Cisco vibes Earth-2 being split down the poles. Zoom’s plan seems to feature the end of the world — his world, both Earth-1 and Earth-2? — in some way. Could he be trying to merge the two worlds?
- Wally wants to use his second chance at life to help fight criminals. Joe isn’t accepting of it, but Barry encourages him to support his son since Wally is his son and shares his values.
- Speaking of Wally, he discovers Barry is the Flash when Zoom kidnaps Henry. I think he was the only one in the room that didn’t know, but now he does.
Watch a promo for the season finale
