In this week’s episode of CW’s hit series The Flash, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) finally meets this season’s hidden nemesis, Professor Zoom. An anonymous speedster who appeared from the parallel world Earth-2, Zoom has spent this season sending assassins after Barry from 52 parallel worlds. After defeating Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), The Flash from Earth-2, Zoom is lured into a trap set by Barry and Team Flash. If this sounds confusing, it’s because it is, but if you’re an avid comic book reader it’s all gravy and whipped cream.
Tom Cavanagh has returned in season two as a doppelgänger of Professor Harrison Wells from the parallel universe world of Earth-2 and is joined by villains and assassins from 52 multiple universes that Team Flash desperately tries to categorize. The notion of parallel universes and multiple versions of the same people may confuse a lot of viewers who are unfamiliar with this common comic book story device, and that’s where I think The Flash may lose some of its audience. But if the ratings are any indicator, people are jumping aboard for the ride, and it’s great to see American audiences being treated as educated viewers instead of Nielsen numbers.
The Flash engages in a lengthy battle with the terrifying Zoom and is beaten and battered within an inch of his life. Zoom then threatens that Earth-2 Harrison Wells will be the next to die and disappears in a flash of blue lightning. Team Flash tends to their hero while Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) gives Wells a father’s furious punch in the face. At the end of the episode, Barry wakes to discover the horror that he can no longer feel his legs. We don’t know if he still has his speed but it appears he won’t be running anywhere anytime soon.