Spoilers for The Flash below.
On the one hand, Barry had a pretty good go in “Enter Zoom,” as he got a few minutes of alone time with Patty, and the two shared a pretty lusty kiss amidst the awkward banter. On the other hand, Zoom did indeed enter The Flash, and he wrecked all kinds of shop by doing so. We’ve seen Barry “lose” some villain fights in the past, but Zoom actually BROKE him in one of several cringe-worthy moments. Heavy shit, bro.
As it goes with many episodes of The Flash, the first chunk of “Enter Zoom” centered on the team figuring out how to get a plan in action; in this case it was figuring out how to use a S.T.A.R. Labs special weapon against Zoom, and it involved using Linda as a Doctor Light stand-in to trick Zoom into coming into Earth 1. The second part “worked,” but that doesn’t mean Zoom was defeated or anything. He’s far too fast for that, and rather than fall back on strategy (of which there was barely any), Barry decided to just face Zoom head-on. And it was pretty glorious.
Okay, so it wasn’t exactly a great fight for Flash or anyone else in Central City, but it was a treat for viewers to watch a villain step away from the light comic book fare and become legitimately frightening. As if the mask and Tony Todd’s twisted voice weren’t freaky enough, we now see just how powerful Zoom is. The guy actually caught lightning and threw it back at Barry. That was so incredibly hardcore that it made up for all the time he wasted talking and bragging instead of just killing Barry. Villains are gonna villain.
Although honestly, all that bragging made Zoom seem that much more intimidating. He not only beat the crap out of Barry and left him bloody and incoherent, but he also dragged him around town and showed him off like a trophy, making Iris, her coworkers, and the Central City Police Department aware that their home is facing a danger that not even The Flash can handle. That had to be pretty disconcerting.
And then, of course, it looks like everything is going to be okay as Barry wakes up in his hospital room, but then he reveals that he can’t feel his legs! I expected thunder outside my house when he said that for some reason. Really though, the moment when Zoom smashes Barry and made him crack backwards is much more disturbing than hearing Barry say that he can’t feel his legs. As he said it, I thought to myself, “Of course you can’t, because you took a hit straight out of Looney Tunes. You can’t just flip your bill back around and act like paralysis isn’t a part of the problem like Donald Duck can, Barry.”
But at least Cisco is getting used to going all Vibe now, and we learned a little more about why Harrison Wells is a pent-up douche this season. So not all is lost. Just the feeling in Barry’s lower body. Find out just how long he’ll be bedridden when The Flash airs next Tuesday night on The CW.
