Barry has lost his speed force to Zoom, back to being an everyday dork. How will he cope?
And will Caitlin make it back to Earth-1?
Let’s find out on The Flash S2:E19 Back To Normal recap!
Barry wakes up and is finding the adjustment back to normal life a hard one. He’s back riding the bus, lining up for coffee, taking all day to do his work, and spilling said coffee all over the shop. If it were me I would be embracing the fact that I could drink alcohol and it’d have an effect again!
Vibe is keeping tabs on Caitlin by using his Vibe glasses, and she’s in Zoom’s lair. She’s scared but okay. Without Barry’s speed there’s nothing they can do. Harry places all the blame squarely on Barry, he was never on board with finding Zoom. He’s tracked down his daughter Jesse, by finding the cellular dead zones she creates by operating on her Earth-2 frequency. Yeah, I dunno either. But he’s furious that Zoom can now use the breach to get through again, and Jesse is in danger so he’s going to go and get her.
Caitlin is chained to a bed in Zoom’s lair, refusing to eat. Zoom appears and she refuses to speak to him until he removes his mask. She begs for him to take her home, but he tells her she will be here for quite some time. He loves her, he’ll never hurt her! The way she feels about him will change with time, and he’s willing to wait. He phases through her chains and tells her to make herself at home.
Caitlin wanders around the lair, checking out ways of escape. The man in the mask knocks on his glass, desperately trying to communicate but she doesn’t understand his code. Someone else wants to talk to her though, her doppelgänger Killer Frost.
Wally goes to CCPD to talk to Joe, he knows he knows who the Flash is and wants him to set up a meeting. Joe tells him it’s just not possible right now.
Harry has tracked Jesse to an apartment, and she is not happy he’s found her. She can’t deal with the fact that he killed a man to protect her and will not be coming back. She doesn’t feel safe with him anymore, and will take her chances alone. She blames him for everything, the particle accelerator explosion, Zoom, everything is his fault. She insists that he leave, and he does.
On his way home a man steps out in front of his van, and with meta human strength stops the van making it crash. Harry is briefly knocked out and the meta drags him out of the van. Cisco and Barry are at STAR Labs, and they get alert on the crash assist program that Cisco has installed on all their vehicles. They have footage of him being taken, but there’s no traffic cameras in that area. Barry asks where Harry had been, and works out it’s Jesse’s place. He calls Iris for a ride, those skinny old legs won’t be getting him anywhere today.
Caitlin and Frost talk about the man in the mask, and all Frost knows is that Zoom must want something from him. Which also means that he wants something from Frost, but he hasn’t asked for anything yet. Now that Caitlin is here, she can help her escape and then she’ll help her get out of Zoom’s lair.
Iris and Barry check out the van, and there’s not a lot to go on. Barry gets some trace off the front of the van, and they both decide it’s definitely a meta-human. Maybe even one who’s come through from Earth-2.
Harry is being held at an old amusement park, and his captor introduces himself as Griffin Grey. He’s a guy who was changed by the explosion, and thinks that Harry is the Earth-1 Harrison Wells that was responsible for the blast. Griffin has super human strength, but is also aging rapidly. He’s actually only eighteen years old, but looks to be in his thirties or forties. Harry tells him he’s sorry, but there’s nothing he can do. Griffin tells him that’s unfortunate, because it looks like Harry won’t be living that much longer either.
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco has run the blood sample and a fingerprint found at the scene and has identified them as belonging to a missing high school senior, Griffin Grey. He’s also run their photos through the system, and they’re both of the same person. Jesse offers to use some skills she picked up doing one her five majors at college, and see if she can work out what is happening to him.
Frost tells Caitlin her origin story, she woke up cold and pale after the explosion, and started her transformation into Killer Frost. It was not a good time in her life, she’d just flunked out of med school and had had to move home with her mother. Her ice cold, narcissistic mother. Caitlin’s mother sounds the same, but Frost’s become that way after the death of her son Charlie. Caitlin never had a brother and doesn’t know why she was the way she was. Caitlin has rigged an electrical cable to try and change the molecular structure of the carbine wall keeping Frost in. Once it heats up the wall should shatter like glass and they’ll both be outta there.
Wally goes to see Joe again, and tells him that no one has ever done anything like that before in his life and he needs to thank him. He’s risked his life through his racing, but it’s the first time he really thought that he was going to die. Joe is reluctant at first, but comes around and says he’ll see what he can do.
Facial recognition has picked up Griffin breaking into a chemical factory, and Barry insists on going, even without his speed. Cisco and Joe go as back up, and they find Griffin still there, loading up with chemicals. He refuses to give himself up and begins launching barrels at them. Barry goes around behind him, while the others distract him. He shoots at Griffin but he dodges and throws a barrel right at Barry. Afterwards, he ages about ten years right in front of Barry’s eyes.
Jesse has studied Griffin’s genes, and they have mutated, giving him super strength. Barry tells them he saw him age, and Jesse tells them the proteins in his blood are being ravaged by oxidants. If they get him to exert energy, he’ll grow old and weak and they’ll be able to take him down.
Iris and Barry talk, and Barry tells her he’s not okay, really. He recounts the story of her being the first person he saved with his powers. He had just woken from his coma, and she was now with Eddie. He was just learning what he could do, and now he doesn’t know who he is anymore. iris tells him he’s the same guy he’s always been, a hero.
Griffin is getting impatient for his cure, and he tells Harry how happy he was before the explosion. He had a girlfriend, but she doesn’t even recognise him in the street anymore. All the crime and chaos going on in the city is all because of Harrison Wells.
Caitlin cranks up the power, and it works! She shatter the glass with a hammer and Frost walks free. She attacks Caitlin almost immediately, knowing that Zoom was only keeping her alive because she looked like Caitlin. Zoom appears and stops an icicle just before it hits Caitlin. He forces it back into her stomach and she drops to the floor, dead. Zoom warns Caitlin that if she tries it with Mask, he dies too.
Cisco hasn’t been able to track Wells, but Jesse remembers his meta-human detecting watch. It’ll be trying to send a signal to a server because of Griffin. But because that server is on Earth-2 it would be constantly going because nothing was picking it up. Jesse zones in on him immediately and the team makes plans to take him down.
Barry wants to pose as the Flash and get him to attack him. The suit has been upgraded recently and has a section of dwarf star alloy across the chest. It should be able to take one punch from Griffin without hurting Barry. Anything after that will do some serious damage, in fact he’ll be like a piñata.
Harry is working with the chemicals, and tries to trick Griffin that he has come up with a possible cure. Griffin knows enough about chemistry to know he’s just been diluting the same compound over and over. He tells him there is no helping him, and Griffin starts to lose it at Harry. He’s saved by an alarm going off. Team Flash has entered the park.
It’s dark, and they wait until Griffin is near them before Iris hits the lights. Barry attacks him with a few quick punches, and Joe draws his gun. Griffin responds by throwing a car from a ride at Joe and Cisco, narrowly missing them. Barry goads him into chasing him, and Iris lights up another section when she sees him. Barry’s got nowhere to run and offers to help him, but it’s too late. Griffin punches him in the chest plate, and it doesn’t hurt Barry but it does take him down. Barry manages to dodge the next couple, and Griffin is rapidly aging. Barry steels himself and takes one huge hit, and it’s enough to finish Griffin off. They turn his body over, and he’s changed back into that eighteen year old boy.
They go and rescue Harry, and he and Jesse have a heartfelt reunion. She moves back into STAR Labs, but tells Harry that he has to stop being so over protective. She knows she’s in danger, but he can’t come running every time she gets in trouble. He tells her that after he mother died, he felt so bad about not being able to protect her, and her swore on her grave that he would protect Jesse. He promises to back off a bit, just grateful to have his Jesse Quick home.
Joe has set up a meet for Wally with the Flash. Barry appears on a rooftop, and Wally thanks him for saving him. He knows what the Flash gave up for him, that it came at a huge price. He doesn’t know how he can ever repay him, but he’s not going to waste this chance that he’s given him.
At Zoom’s place, Caitlin is back chained to the bed and wants nothing to do with Zoom. He can’t believe that she’s not thanking him. She begs him to let her leave, she desperately wants to go home. He suddenly agrees, he’s conquered this Earth, and he has many more to go. Caitlin’s Earth is already on its knees, so he may as well get it over with.
Back at STAR Labs, Harry tells Barry that he decided to help him get back his speed. And just how do you propose to do that Harrison Wells 2.0?
BUT OF COURSE! What could possibly go wrong??
