The Flash "Invincible" (REVIEW)

better get to stretchin' Barry

written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)

The second season of The Flash has been wrought with up and downs. Zoom has been a thorn in Barry’s side all season and with each step forward Barry is forced two steps back, after finally getting his powers back last episode… coupled with Barry’s damn near religious experience in the Speed Force… Barry has been on an insane positivity high despite an army of Earth 2 meta-humans laying waste to Central City.

Katie Cassidy guest stars this episode as Black Siren, the villainous Earth 2 doppelgänger of Arrow’s dearly departed Laurel Lance. As one of Zoom’s lieutenants, Black Siren… armed with the meta-human/comic book accurate powers of the Black Canary from the funny pages.

As Barry takes the fight to Zoom, his optimism leaves the rest of the team worried that Barry’s sudden burst of confidence could be his undoing. It’s like his experience in the Speed Force may be blinding him to the very real danger Zoom can pose to the city.

Dubbed the “Metapocalypse,” the CCPD isn’t the only one trying to fight back. Wally West, intent to live up to being worthy of Flash’s sacrifice… and seemingly also to give his father a heart attack… takes the fight to the streets hoping to help every little bit that he can. Despite not having any powers (yet) the seeds of a hero are beginning to be sown. Here’s hoping he’ll become Kid Flash… or at least get his powers… come the finale.

Katie Cassidy guest stars as Black Siren, the Earth 2 variant of the late Black Canary

Utilizing an evil version of Laurel Lance was bittersweet. To me, Katie Cassidy will always be my Black Canary and I’m still not totally over her death in the Arrowverse. It looked like she had alot of fun going darkside.

A fitting first half for the finale, but overall a fairly anticlimactic episode. One can draw parallels to the “Metapocalypse” and the rise of Deathstroke’s Mirakuru army. But unlike the end of Arrow’s second season, the meta-human siege is alot less epic and unfortunately feels more like a “monster of the week” episode rather than a part of the overall season finale.

The highest point of the episode was how fantastic Teddy Sears has been during his turn as Hunter Zolomon. Obsessed with showing Barry that he is just like him, the darkness that fuels Hunter being something that embarrasses Barry. It’s back to the age old argument that the hero has just as much darkness inside. With many heroes in the DC Comics world being born from tragedy, Zoom is perplexed that while they both lost a parent in a similar way, somehow Barry still has enough light inside not to turn into a super-powered-speed-demon.

I did find enough in the episode to keep me interested, the whole time everything just felt too damn easy… and by the end of the episode it was almost expected that it ended the way that it did. The next episode is the season finale, here’s hoping that the eventual reveal of Zoom’s iron masked captive is revealed.

Run Barry... Run