I'm just assuming flash giving up his speed was part of some kind of plan to defeat zoom. It's probably just terrible writing though.

I was thinking the whole time that there was some sort of trick involved, in which case zoom should know better than to hand over is bargaining chips first, but then nothing. And from next week trailer:

I have to think so. It always amazes me too how they have the whole gang there except Wally. As if they are thinking , meh Zoom is an evil mastermind who, seems to know basically everything about us, but let's leave Wally by himself instead of S.T.A. R. Labs in Thawn's secret room where he is most likely, safe.

I definitely thought they made Barry into an idiot, and I'm not sure how it can be salvaged.

Expecto Patronum!

Barry's paternal grandmother having maiden name Garrick, setting up man in iron mask to be Earth 2's Barry's father?

man, for the first half of the season, Zoom was super intriguing, now i can't wait for the storyline to end. also, Kaitlyn is a pretty terrible actress. never let it bother me until this episode.

I dunno, to me this is the first comic book show Villain that when I'm watching I'm actually trying to figure out how the Hero will will end up winning. They've written Zoom to be so ruthless and powerful. Sure they've humanized him a bit with the Jay reveal, but Barry has literally gotten his ass kicked like 3 times now by a guy who is literally toying with a whole Planet. We're at the point where it's now going to take 3 speedsters (Barry, Jesse, Wally), Wells and his tech and probably Vibe & his powers to bring him down.

The only other villains I can think of that even come close would be S2 Arrow Deathstroke.

yea im confused because i thought when they added the tachyon to his suit he was as fast if not faster than zoom but somehow he got owned anyways. I think now that he gets his speed back hell be faster than b4. has to be or this plot line will never end.

I'd prefer the writers to stay away from the "I have to get faster than him to beat him" excuse. I like where they're (presumably) going now with the "We need more speedsters to beat him"

I could see Zoom being faster and stronger than all 3 individually, but with 3 speedsters working together and zipping around him, I could see him getting overwhelmed/outsmarted

Sepinwall makes a good point today (in writing how all the DC shows are sucking) how not only did they repeat the speedster villain but they made it be someone they knew and trusted. How do you do that in consecutive seasons? Like they can't come up with any new ideas.

Yeah they would have been much better off having a different kind of villain this season especially so they don't end up with the same situation as Arrow. If they go with another speedster villian next season people are going to get really bored.

News Flash - 95% of Flash Villains are SPEEDSTERS

Not even remotely true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Flash_enemies

Zoom was the highest profile Flash villain not already used, so if you are going to write a season-long arc with a Big Bad villain, he is a very appropriate choice.

From a story-telling perspective, it is hard to use a non-speedster in that role because you need a villain who won't make fans wonder who Barry just doesn't use his speed to do this or that. It's excusable for a one-time villain because he's not going to go all-out on a first encounter, but a motivated Barry needs a villain who can credibly defeat a speedster multiple times without the writers making the Flash look stupid.

Zoom is basically the name and secret identity of the second Professor Zoom in a costume inspired by the Black Flash and has little to do with either character aside from that.

While I agree that having Barry fight non-speedsters as a season long arc would be difficult to pull off, they are going to run out of steam quickly. They have already repeated the majority of last season's storyline.

IMO they would have been far better off setting up Zoom as a distant threat in this season, establish Jay as a character to make the eventual betrayal much worse and test the limits of Barry's powers vs a different kind of villain, then have Zoom come in and wreck **** in season 3.

Having thought about this some more, I can see the storyline being that Team Flash rescues Caitlyn, Zoom comes looking for her, and in the final showdown, while he is distracted, Caitlyn injects him with some form of the Velocity serum, making him beatable.

If this is recycling of the mirakuru cure from Arrow season 2, that may make this scenario more likely in the eyes of some.

Well, they certainly haven't succeeded in that this season.

i don't see why it would be so hard to come up with a non-speedster villain. there are plenty of superpowers besides speed that they could use. it is annoying that all of the main villains have been speedsters, and id be annoyed if they go back to that in season 3

It seems to me that Grodd has the potential to be a major storyline going forward.

Last 2 episodes were really good, glad to see Henry go as well. Can't wait for next week

Not sure how I feel about that ending.

I liked the ending but didn't like the deus ex machina defeat of Zoom. I guess they are doing their own version of flashpoint next season.

if anyone played a drinking game based on how many times barry cries x episode they'd be dead

going to be hard given the whole shared universe thing...my guess is they somehow explain all of this away