Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW
Warning: Spoiler Alert
We pick up the story of The CW Network series “The Flash,” right where it ended in the second season premiere, with a strange man showing up unannounced at STAR Labs telling Barry Allen his world’s in danger. He tells those gathered that his name’s Jay Garrick and he emanates from a parallel earth, where he’s known as The Flash. According to him the Singularity opened up a portal between the dimensions and the Black-Hole sucked him in and deposited him on this earth without any powers, or a way to get home.
He then shares a tale of his last night on his earth, as he battled another super-speedster named Zoom, perhaps the fastest man alive and thoroughly evil. Zoom had bested him that night and was just about to kill him when the portal opened up and took him to our earth. He’s been stuck in Central City for the last six months and during that time he boned up on Team Flash.
He then mentions that Barry and Joe found a murder victim named Al Rothstein in a nuclear-plant, then Barry fought another Al Rothstein that they dubbed the Atom-Smasher. Garrick tells them that the Atom-Smasher’s from his earth and was sent to our dimension by Zoom to kill Allen.
We leave STAR Labs and head out into the night air, when we see a portal open and two figures emerge from it. One of the men’s trying to catch his breath and asks where are they. The other man’s Zoom, wearing a suit similar to the Reverse-Flash’s costume. He tells the other man that if he wants to go home he needs to kill the Flash.
Barry’s skeptical of Garrick’s story and has Caitlin run Jay through a battery of tests to se if they can prove if he’s making the story up or telling the truth. While Caitlin’s tests show his blood pressure’s consistent with a runner’s, the rest of the results prove inconclusive. However she tells Barry and Iris that she gave Jay a lie-detector test without his knowledge and he passed with flying colors.
Allen still doesn’t trust him and until they acquire more proof they hold Garrick in a Meta-Human cell. Jay says that while he understands Barry’s skepticism, he’s cooperated fully and he just wants to help him and his team. Just then Cisco alerts Barry through the com-device that a fire’s broken out.
The Flash shows up at the blaze and quickly puts it out by rotating his hands at super-speed, creating enough of a wind to extinguish the flames. Flash turns around and sees the man that arrived with Zoom, he’s another Meta-Human that can turn his skin-cells into sand and he starts attacking the hero. Flash hears Cisco on the com-device asking if he’s alright, which causes him to focus and race back to STAR Labs.
Garrick tells them the Meta-Human’s known as the Sand-Demon and he comes from his Earth and that he’s battled him a few times. He tells Barry that he can teach him how to defeat the villain but Allen rather rudely tells him thanks but no thanks.
Team-Flash gathers together and Joe West can’t grasp the concept of a parallel earth, so Professor Martin Stein attempts to explain it to him. He says there’s been a theory for years that our world’s just part of a multiverse, one of an infinite number of earths existing in parallel dimensions. Each earth’s somewhat like ours, but each one has their differences. He says that although Joe’s a detective on our earth he could be a physicist in another dimension. West says he’s more confused than ever and heads back to the station.
Detective West gets approached by a young female uniform when he gets back to the station. She introduces herself to him and tells him her name’s Patty Spivot and she understands he runs the Meta-Human Task Force. He tells her the Task-Force got dissolved and she says that’s too bad as she wants to join it. She majored in science and was top in her class in marksmanship. West asks her if she’s aware what happened to his partner and she tells him she knows Eddie died on duty as did Joe’s previous partner, but the partner before that’s still alive and just transferred. She says she just wants a chance to have an interview, he tells her she just had her interview and she didn’t get the job.
Joe meets Barry at the waterfront warehouse where the fire took place and Allen tells him that the place’s too porous for him to obtain a fingerprint from. As they’re talking about the case, Officer Spigot walks over and asks Barry if he’s Barry Allen, when he confirms this she tells him she’s his fan. She loves his forensic reports and says she’s read every one of them.
She then says something the two might have interest in. She’s gathered a vial of the sand left behind by the Sand-Demon and found a metal pipe which has his prints on it. Joe tells her she did good work but she’s still not getting the job.
Barry heads back to STAR Labs with the vial of sand while Joe goes to the station to run the print. Garrick tells them it’s not actually sand it’s the Meta-Human’s skin-cells. Cisco goes into the lab to examine it and when he touches it he’s transported in his mind back to the battle between the Flash and Sand-Demon. He had a similar experience last week with the Atom-Smasher, is this part of the ability Wells told him he has last season? He confirms that the sand’s actually skin-cells, but Barry still doesn’t trust Jay.
West’s identified the print as to belonging to Eddie Slick, an arsonist who served a stretch in prison. West tracks him down but Slick sees him following and sprints off. Joe turns the corner to find Slick’s on the ground handcuffed with Officer Spivot sitting on his back. They caught Eddie Slick, but not the Eddie Slick they’re looking for.
West questions the suspect and he’s got an alibi for the previous night when the fire got set and tells Joe he’s crazy when he says Eddie’s a Meta-Human. Without any cause to hold him West and Spivot release him, Joe tells him to get out of his sight and not to return. As Slick walks away he makes some comment about Meta-Human’s being tricky and then tells Patty he’s impressed that she grabbed another pipe and got her own set of Slick’s prints. Just then they see Eddie walking towards them and Joe says he thought he told him to get his ugly face out of here. This however isn’t the same guy they just released, this is the Earth-Two version the one known as the Sand-Demon. He knocks West out and grabs Patty as a hostage.
Joe contacts Barry at STAR Labs and Team-Flash tells Barry he’s got to trust Jay Garrick, but Allen remains obstinate. Iris asks everybody else to leave the room and then asks Barry why he’s afraid to trust anybody. Barry says that he trusted Wells and because of that countless people died including Eddie and Ronnie. Iris says that Barry’s afraid to trust Garrick as he reminds him of Wells, but he needs to get past that and start trusting again. She says your team will do whatever you want but if you lose trust in them, they’ll stop trusting you. Garrick’s released and starts briefing the team on Sand-Demon.
He says that Slick’s got himself hidden out in a very moist atmosphere such as a greenhouse. When Barry asks him how he’ll defeat an opponent who’s got the ability to slip through his fingers, Jay says he’s going to hurl lightning bolts at him from the speed that the Flash produces.
Slick has holed-up in an abandoned greenhouse and has Spivot tied to a chair. She asks if he’s so powerful, why’s he building a concussive bomb to take out the Flash? He says he’s going to kill the Flash, the bomb will kill her. Patty then berates him for thinking he’s special and he somehow got chosen. She says he was just in the right place at the right time and that all his powers have done is accentuate his worst qualities. Eddie tells her that soon she and Flash will get a taste of his worst.
Team-Flash’s frantically searching for where Sand-Demon could be hiding, when Cisco excuses himself and heads back down to the lab where the sand sample’s at. He touches the sand again and this time he sees the conversation between Slick and Patty and he’s able to identify the greenhouse and sees the percussive bomb.
Jay’s playing Obi-Wan Kenobi to Barry’s Anakin Skywalker trying to teach the younger man how to slow down and direct the lightning bolts at his target when he throws them. Barry says he just can’t do it and Jay tells him he believes in him. Just then Cisco tells them he’s figured out where Slick’s hiding and since Jay said he usually creates a diversion, he thinks Sand-Demon maybe building a concussive bomb. Garrick says that Sand-Demon used one against him once and that Cisco’s likely spot-on.
They need a diversion and since Jay’s fought Sand-Demon before, they think he’d be the perfect diversion. Barry asks him if he’s got his suit and Jay says except for his helmet. Cisco asks if it’s a kettle-helmet with two gold wings and it’s the helmet that entered STAR Labs in last season’s finale. Jay’s incredibly pleased to have it back, he tells them it was his father’s helmet that he wore when he fought in the War Of The America’s. Although Cisco wants to hear all about it, Barry stresses this isn’t the time.
Cisco hacks into the Greenhouse close circuit cameras and tells the duo to enter. Slick hears the whoosh from the Flash arriving, but he’s shocked to be standing face-to-face with the Flash from his world, who he thought was dead. The two trade insults and then Sand-Demon starts to attack Garrick. While he’s preoccupied Allen removes Patty from the chair before the concussive bomb can explode, the blast knocks out Garrick but Slick turns to sand and absorbs the blast without difficulty. Sand-Demon readies himself to battle Flash, but the Scarlet Speedster just starts racing around the room faster and faster. He then grabs a lightning bolt, slows himself down and aims it right at his opponent. The lightning-bolt causes Sand-Demon to turn to glass and he falls to the ground and smashes into particles.
Back at the station Joe apologizes to Patty for getting her involved then asks her why she wants to join the Task-Force so badly. It turns out that her father got shot in the face by one of the Mardon brothers before they became Meta-Humans. When she learned somebody so evil had such power she knew she had to do everything in her power to stop them. West says to her Monday morning at 8:00 am and she asks what he’s referring to. He replies that’s when you join the Task-Force, Detective.
Right after Spivot leaves West hears a woman’s voice coming down the stairs saying hello Joseph, it’s been a long time. The voice belongs to a very attractive woman about Joe’s age, he uneasily greets her and asks why she’s there. She says she’s been calling him for months and wanted to see him and their daughter. I believe that this is Mrs. West from Earth-Two, a world where Joe died and she lived on. One where they might have produced a son named Wally, instead of a daughter named Iris.
Stein realizes that Cisco’s got some sort of ability that causes him to see visions. Cisco makes him promise not to tell anybody, he thinks this is the power Wells told him he gave him and he fears the powers evil. Just then the two scientists get the test results they’ve sought using exotic matter.
They run upstairs and tell the rest of the team that although they closed the Singularity, Central City contains 52-separate portals, the largest one being in STAR Labs. Stein starts to explain in further detail, when he suddenly has difficulty speaking and collapses on the ground.
The scene changes quickly and we see a bullet-train pass in front of us. We’re on Earth-Two as a young woman guides a group of grade-school students through STAR Labs. We see a retro-looking rocket-ship displayed, something that looks like it came from a Flash Gordon short in the forties. Suddenly the elevator doors open and the guide’s face breaks into a huge smile. She says children we’re in for a real treat, may I introduce to you the founder of STAR Labs and the savior of Central City, Dr. Harrison Wells. Wells looking very sharp in a blue-suit sans tie walks out of the elevator and says hi kids.
The Story Continues Next Tuesday Night at 8:00pm on The CW.
