The Flash: Forward

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the 2014-2015 TV season turned out to be the CW Network series “The Flash.” Show-runner Greg Berlanti created an incredibly complex universe, going deep into the world of comic-books and sci-fi to tell his tale. Combining that with a cast of characters that fans cared about, helped the show become a breakout hit for the network.

Season one concluded in a cliffhanger as Eddie Thawne shot himself to death, causing his ancestor Eobard Thawne/Harrison Wells to vanish as he never existed. Although the Flash watched the man who murdered his mother disappear he didn’t have any time to celebrate, he raced up a skyscraper and then into the sky trying to keep the black-hole known as the Singularity from devouring Central City and perhaps the planet.

Our first scene in season two starts off with the Flash facing off against Captain Cold and Heatwave. Flash runs away from them and then doubles back, going after Heatwave whom Captain Cold errantly takes out with a blast of his cold gun. Cold says one of these days he’s going to kill Flash, when he’s knocked out by a blast from Firestorm flying above him. Firestorm lands and apologizes for being late, Flash smiles and says right on time.

Inside Star Labs Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon high-five over taking out both criminals at the same time. Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein have separated and Ronnie kisses his wife Caitlin. Joe and Iris West come over to congratulate Barry and then we realize something’s amiss as we see Eddie and he congratulates Barry. Then Harrison Wells rolls out in his mechanized wheelchair and tells Barry that he can no longer teach him anything and Barry’s ready to run things on his own. It’s a daydream Allen’s standing alone in a room and we hear a voiceover from him bringing us up to date.

Barry tells us that it’s six-months after the singularity occurred, he no longer works with Team-Flash in order to keep his friends safe. He does however still work with Detective Joe West in his role as a CCPD forensic scientist. Barry’s examining a murder victim when West arrives at the scene. Allen informs him the man got strangled to death by a man much larger and stronger than the victim.

Joe asks Barry if the Flash will make an appearance at the “Flash-Day” celebration the following day. The mayor’s scheduled to present the Flash the key to the city. Barry says he doesn’t think so and West reminds him that Allen loves awards, like the trophies he won when he was 12. Allen says he earned those awards and then tells Joe he’s going to check out the results on the victim.

Cisco’s now working for the CCPD as the science adviser for the Task-Force formed to fight meta-humans which West heads up. We find out that Caitlin’s now working at Mercury Labs and Barry’s referred to as a lone-wolf. Iris walks into the station and greets her father and Cisco and Joe asks her to try to convince Barry to attend the ceremony. She tries but fails to convince him, he tells her she should realize he doesn’t deserve the praise as “The Man Who Saved Central City.”

We then flashback to the Singularity and watch as vehicles and people are swept into the sky. The Flash runs counter to the way that the black-hole’s rotating and he’s stabilized it. However in order to close the hole Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond will have to go into the hole as Firestorm and then split apart. It could cost them their lives and Caitlin begs her husband not to, but he relies they’ve got no other choice.

Firestorm flies into the black-hole and the two men separate the energy surge causes the Singularity to close, but Stein and Raymond start plummeting to the ground. Barry’s able to save Professor Stein but not Ronnie, he apologizes to Caitlin. So both Eddie and Ronnie lost their lives that day.

We return to the present just in time for the “Flash-Day” celebration as the Mayor of Central City takes the podium and addresses the huge crowd in attendance. He tells the crowd that during the last year they’ve been Ground-Zero for some very weird stuff, including some evil people with super abilities. However the good they received more than overcame the bad, thanks to the Flash.

He then says he wants to present the Flash the key to the city and the crowd including Joe, Cisco, Iris and Caitlin standing in various locations wait for the red-streak to appear. Seconds later the Flash arrives to the stage and waves to the crowd and walks over to the mayor. Just then screams erupt as a trash dumpster’s hurtling out of the sky right to the spot they’re standing on, Flash rescues the mayor and looks for who threw the projectile.

Suddenly a large man with his face encased in a steel mask appears and says he’s glad to meet the man who saved Central City. The Flash tries attacking him but the man’s got super-strength and flings him like a child’s toy. West calls for Cisco to give him the Boot, the weapon Cisco invented to takeout meta-humans. Joe fires the weapon and an ankle bracelet encircles the guys foot and starts to emit energy. The man then triples in size and snaps the boot to pieces.

The Flash arrives at Joe’s side carrying two propane tanks, he tells West he’ll throw them and for Joe to shoot at them. The bullets strike the tanks causing them to explode and burst into flame, causing the giant to flee. As he’s leaving the mask disappears and Joe tells the Flash that the man’s the victim of the strangling they found the day before. Arnold Rothstein. However a check with the morgue confirms that Rothstein’s body’s still there, the villain took Rothstein’s appearance.

Back at the crime-lab Barry gets a visit from an attorney that represents Harrison Wells, turns out that Wells left Allen Star Labs in his living-will. Barry’s ignored all communication from the attorney and the lawyer tells him that Wells left a stipulation in the will that unless Allen watched the contents of a thumb drive with a message from Wells to Barry, he’d lose Star Labs the next day as the six months deadline expired. Barry tells the lawyer he’s not going to watch it and the attorney says he’s done his job and leaves. Suddenly a security alert on his computer informs him there’s a security violation at Star Labs. He arrives to find Joe, Cisco, Iris and Martin Stein using the computer system, trying to figure out where the giant’s hiding.

Cisco visited Caitlin at Mercury Labs earlier and she confirmed that the radiation badge that Rothstein wore, got drained of radiation. Hence they realized that the meta-human feeds off of radiation and Cisco’s able to track the man that Stein names the Atom-Smasher to a three block radius. Barry refuses to let Team-Flash get involved and speeds off leaving his communication device behind.

The Atom-Smasher’s drinking barrels of radioactive sludge when the Flash arrives. He greets the Scarlet Speedster by telling him he thought he’d have to track him down. Flash asks him how he feeds off radiation and has Rothstein’s face and the big guy tells him he wouldn’t believe him if he told him. The Flash starts rotating his arms at super-speed creating a wind that he tries to blow the Atom-Smasher away with, but the big man stands his ground. He then tries punching the big man and he doesn’t even flinch, then the Atom-Smasher says my turn.

He again increases his size so that he’s about five times larger and picks the Flash up by the neck and starts whacking him against a wall. The giant says that he was told his opponent’s a superhero, but he doesn’t seem worthy of the suit or the title.

Cisco’s able to hack into the warehouse’s camera system and they see the Flash getting pummeled. Professor Stein tells Cisco to setoff the alarm in the warehouse and Atom-Smasher loses focus allowing Flash to escape and head back to Star Labs. He makes it to the basement and then passes out and has a dream recalling a memory from his childhood.

We flashback to the West home six months after Barry’s mother got murdered and his father imprisoned for killing her. Joe puts out a bowl of mac and cheese in front of Barry and the boy responds no thank you. West says it’s been six months son, you’ve got to eat. Then he says he realizes how much Barry misses his parents and it’s easier to deal with the loss if he stays angry all the time. However Joe tells him that he’s got to be able to feel and says it’s okay to be sad, his parents wouldn’t be angry if he gets sad. Barry stands up and hugs Joe and starts crying and Joe hugs him back and says that’s alright, I got you.

Barry wakes up in a hospital bed in Star Labs with Joe at his side and West uses the same phrase to calm Allen down. Joe then tells him he tried giving Allen his space for six months but he’s done doing that. He tells Barry he’s shutting out the people in his life and he needs them and they need him. Joe says he’s been hearing rumors that the Flash spends nights repairing area businesses from the damage the Singularity caused. He says Barry needs to start rebuilding things that matter.

Allen goes to visit Caitlin at Mercury Labs and he apologizes for not being in contact, but he says he’s having difficulty accepting he’s responsible for Ronnie’s death. Caitlin tells Barry that she feels she’s the one to blame, that Ronnie had asked for her to leave Central City with him and she refused. She says that if they moved her husband would still be alive.

Barry pulls a hankie out of his pocket to give to Caitlin and the thumb-drive from Wells falls out. Caitlin asks what’s on it and Barry says it’s a message from Wells and he’s been too scared to look at it. Caitlin suggests they look at it together and pop it into her computer, automatically giving Allen ownership of Star Labs.

Eobard Thawne/Harrison Wells appears on the screen and he tells Barry that if he’s watching this, then Wells’ died and he says that’s a bummer. He then says that he never hated Barry and Allen looks back at the screen his face showing his contempt. He says he’s about to give Barry everything he’s ever wanted, but knowing Barry he still won’t be happy. Then Wells says erase everything I just said and give this to the police.

Wells then confesses to killing Barry’s mother and gives in-depth details of the murder to prove he committed the crime. Barry gets on the phone and calls Joe and asks him to get everybody to meet at Star Labs. Caitlin hugs Barry and tells him she’ll drive.

Barry and Joe stand in the hallway as Joe speaks to the District Attorney on the phone, Allen interrupts him and asks what’s she saying. West says that she can’t say for sure yet, but it looks good. Barry then heads into the main facility to share the news that Henry Allen will soon be a free man. However they still have to figure out a way to defeat Atom-Smasher. Caitlin smiles and says if he wants radiation, we’ll give him radiation.

The Atom-Smasher’s sitting in his apartment when he sees the image of a lightning bolt projected into the night sky and says show-time. He tracks down the source of the light and finds the Flash standing next to a huge klieg light with his symbol on it. Back at Star Labs Caitlin asks Cisco how he came up with the idea and Cisco replies he thinks he saw it in a comic-book.

Flash tells his opponent that if he wants him he has to catch him first and takes off at super-speed. Monitoring the pair at Star Labs, Stein remarks how quick the Atom-Smasher is for a big man. Barry heads to a nuclear-facility and about a minute later Atom-Smasher arrives saying that Flash didn’t think he’d catch him. Flash responds he was counting on him catching him and then lowers a containment tube over his opponent. The tube fills with far too much radiation for the Atom-Smasher to contain and takes him out. By the time the tube’s safe for the Flash to open, the Atom-Smasher’s just about to take his last breath.

Flash apologizes but says he didn’t want anymore people hurt, then asks why his opponent tried to kill him. Atom-Smasher says he promised to take me home if I killed you. When Barry asks who the man gasps Zoom and then dies.

Barry goes to pickup his father at Iron Heights Prison as he gets released after serving 14-years for a crime he didn’t commit. They drive to the West home and everybody’s there for a welcome home party for Henry, hugs get shared by all and everybody’s very relaxed and happy, enjoying each other’s company.

Martin Stein asks for everybody to gather for a toast. He says he’s been thinking how far they’ve come in the last year and the folks they lost along the way. He says the occasion brings to mind a Hebrew word associated with graduations, the word’s Kadima translating into forward in English. Stein raises his glass and says forward and each echo the toast and drink up.

Barry pulls his father aside and tells him he’s planned for them to look for an apartment for the two of them the next day and Iris has looked into getting Henry’s doctor’s license reinstated. Henry says this is a party, can’t we talk about this later and Barry asks his father if he’s thinking about leaving?

Henry puts his hands on his son’s shoulders and looks him in the eye. He tells Barry if he needs him, his father will always be there for him. However right now Central City doesn’t need Henry Allen’s son, they need the Flash. He says he has to leave and he needs Barry to say it’s okay. With tears in his eyes the son nods his head and hugs his father. Joe sees what’s going on and figures things out.

Barry meets Joe back at Star Labs and West asks him if his father got off okay. Barry says he dropped him at the station and Joe realizes Barry’s heartbroken. However he pulls the key to the city out of his pocket and hands it to Barry and says well this is pretty cool. Barry smiles and says this is freaking cool and they head out to the main facility to talk to the new Team-Flash including Martin Stein and Iris.

Cisco informs Barry that he upgraded all the security measures at the lab that now belongs to Allen. Iris says nobody can just wander in anymore, when Joe and Barry sees a man in the shadows. West pulls his piece as Barry asks the man to identify himself. The man steps into the light and tells Barry his name’s Jay Garrick and Barry’s world’s in danger.

The Story Continues Next Tuesday Night at 8:00 pm on The CW.