When The Flash season 3 premieres next Tuesday, we’ll be entering the world of Flashpoint. Before then, we’re catching you up on what got us to that point. (Get it? Point? Flashpoint?)
The Flash‘s sophomore season followed in the footsteps of a highly regarded freshman season, and despite some flaws, it carried on the mantle quite well. The Flash season 2 introduced a new villainous speedster, the multiverse and a new addition to the West family.
Zoom
The big mystery for much of season 2 was the identity of the evil speedster in the black suit: Zoom. Supposedly he came from Earth-2, where he was an enemy of that world’s Flash, Jay Garrick. The singularity opening at the end of The Flash season 1 supposedly brought Jay to Earth-1 and made Zoom aware of Barry’s existence.
Zoom was terrifying, deserving the description of demon. What did he want? He was after Barry’s speed, though we wouldn’t find out why until near the end of the season.
The big reveal was that Jay Garrick, who had become a mentor of sorts to Barry and love interest for Caitlin, was not actually Jay Garrick; his name was Hunter Zolomon and he was a serial killer on Earth-2. He was affected by his Earth’s particle accelerator explosion and also became a speedster.
However, he tried to go even faster with the use of a serum that made him terminally ill. With his cells dying and his speed inconsistent, Zolomon needed to steal the speed from another speedster to recover — and thus he set his sights on Barry.
Though the mentor-turning-villain was a rehash from season 1, the focus on Barry and Zolomon being mirror images of one another set the arc apart. Zoom always seemed to come out ahead of Barry, whether it was forcing him to give up his speed for Wally’s life or killing Henry in front of him — until the very end, that is, when Barry used Zolomon’s own trick of summoning a time remnant to defeat him.
In the end, Zolomon, in a horrifying scene, was dragged away by Time Wraiths for the damage he did to the timeline.
Earth-2 and Doppelgangers
In season 2, we visited Earth-2 and met the doppelgangers of our main characters. Earth-2’s Harrison Wells spent most of the season working with team at S.T.A.R. Labs because Zoom kidnapped his daughter, Jesse. He was curt and rude but he grew to trust and even like the group on Earth-1. Earth-2’s Barry was a nerdy but powerless crime scene investigator who was married to Iris. Earth-2 Iris was a cop while Joe was a lounge singer who hated Barry.
Then there was Cisco, who was a metahuman named Reverb, and Caitlin, a metahuman named Killer Frost. Both, alongside Ronnie’s doppelganger, Deathstorm, and Laurel’s doppelganger, Black Siren, worked for Zoom. Reverb, Killer Frost, and Deathstorm were killed while Black Siren was locked in the pipeline on Earth-1.
But perhaps the biggest twist of all was the identity of the real Jay Garrick: he was the Earth-3 doppelganger of Henry Allen and that world’s Flash. That was a slap in the face for Barry, who’d just lost his father.
Wally West
The West family saw a big shakeup in season 2, as Mama West returned to reveal that she was dying and wanted to make amends with Iris before her death. It took Iris a while to get there, but she did, shortly before Francine’s death. But Francine wasn’t the only family member to appear; it turns out Francine was pregnant when she left town. She had a boy, Wally, and raised him on her own.
After Francine’s death, Joe invited Wally into the family. There were some bumps along the way — particularly in the form of Wally’s obsession with drag racing — but he eventually came around after having his life saved by The Flash. And when he realized Barry was The Flash, that struck him even more.
At the end of the season, Wally (and Jesse) was struck by a particle accelerator blast. Though no powers manifested by the end of the season, it’s hard to imagine they won’t in the future.
Romance
The first part of The Flash season 2 saw Barry dating a detective, Patty Spivot, while Iris grieved for the loss of Eddie. Barry and Patty had excellent chemistry, so her sudden departure at mid-season was a disappointment. Meanwhile, Iris began to come to terms with the fact that she had romantic feelings for Barry.
Prior to Henry’s death, Barry and Iris decided to give a relationship a try. But with Henry’s death and Barry’s grief, even Iris’ love wasn’t enough to keep Barry from changing history.
Flashpoint
In the final moments of season 2, Barry made a decision that will have major ramifications going into season 3. With his grief over the lost of his father clouding his thoughts, Barry traveled back in time to the night of his mother’s murder, just like in the season 1 finale.
But while in that finale Barry realized he couldn’t change history, he did stop the Reverse Flash from killing his mother.
The world is about to change, and that world will be known as Flashpoint.
The Flash season 3 premieres Tuesday, October 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.