Welcome to The Flash S2:E11 Reverse Flash Returns Recap. Barry Allen is ready to put his thing down, flip it and reverse it. You?

Be warned, spoilers ahead!

The Flash is workin’ it on the streets, doing his thang, saving some lives. And trying to not think about Patty who he ditched and lied to one too many times last week. Cisco and Wells are back at S.T.A.R. Labs, trying to encourage him to come in and rest, when he gets one last urgent emergency. An ethanol truck is out of control, and Barry gets back on that old white horse and heads for the scene.

He reaches the truck, gets in and finds the steering locked and the brakes cut, and heading straight for a dead end of buildings. Barry looks around, helpless, and spots a tire iron! Now I know The Flash is fast, but the lug nuts from 18 wheels in 3.2 seconds? That’s gotta be a new record! Anyway, the truck with no wheels grinds to a halt just short of the buildings. Barry heads back to the lab, and we see Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash from Season 1, the DEAD Reverse Flash. Well technically he was wiped from time so I guess he never even existed in the first place, but if that’s the case how can he be here? Oh God, I’m confusing myself already. Eobard tells Gideon that he has now worked out what time period The Flash is from, and they can move on with their plan to get home.

Back at the lab, the crew are discussing The Turtle who has been found dead in his cell *Dr. Wells whistling innocently in the background*. With him dead, they are no longer able to run tests to find out how he slows time and help defeat Zoom. Paging Dr. Wells!  They decide to work on closing the breaches, and Barry heads back to CCPD to catch up on work for his actual job.

Barry gets back to work and Patty arrives with evidence from the truck crash, he tells her he will do it as soon as he has caught up. They have the most awkward discussion about Patty leaving; Patty trying to get a reaction out of Barry and Barry being all butthurt and dismissive. Will these two ever use their words properly? Iris arrives and tries to offer advice but Barry seems to think it is too late, and he doesn’t want Patty hurt more than she already is. Papa Joe rocks up, and tells Iris that her mother Francine is not doing well in hospital and now might be the time to go and say goodbye.

Cisco and Wells have come to the conclusion that closing the breaches is not going to be enough to stop Zoom. They discuss Cisco’s power of the Vibe, and how to make it a more accurate tool. So far, Cisco has no control over when or why his visions start and they need to find a trigger. Wells has Cisco follow him to the Time Vault.  Cisco enters, is totally creeped out about being back in the Vault, and turns around . . .

Wells is dressed as the Reverse Flash and attacks Cisco, the fear of which triggers him into Vibe mode *snort*. While in his vision, he sees the Reverse Flash, HE’S HERE says Cisco coming out of the vision.

At Mercury Labs, we see Christina McGee, the CEO and two security guards investigating alarms going off. The Reverse Flash zips in, wipes out the guards and attempts to kidnap Christine. The Flash appears in time to stop him, and confronts him. Eobard Thawne, he says in disbelief. You know who I am? YOU DIED, yells Flash. Good to know, replies Eobard, and guess what Flash? I know what time period you are from, so very soon YOU will die. Reverse takes advantage of Flash’s shock and goes in for the UFC Superman punch. When Flash shakes it off, Reverse and Christina are gone.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs Barry is trying to take in all that has just happened. Eddie Thawne (Eobard’s relative) killed himself, effectively erasing Eobard Thawne’s existence. Eddie being a great-grandparent of from the future Eobard. With me? So it appears that this Eobard Thawne is what you would call a timeline remnant. Dr Wells then gets out his Good Will Hunting equipment and tries to explain this all to me and Joe, who are both looking at him going *huh?* with our mouths hanging open. Eobard basically came back from the future when Barry was a child, to kill Barry’s mother. Such was his hatred for The Flash, that he found the ultimate way to hurt him before Barry even became The Flash. When Eddie killed himself, Eobard was in the speed force which protected him from death *drool forming at corners of mouth*. The Eobard that they are seeing now, is a previous version than the one they fought last time. This version is only just discovering who Barry is and has not been back in time to kill his mother yet *eyes glazed over*. Alrighty then!

At the hospital, Joe and Iris go and see Francine. Iris tell her that she forgives her and just wishes that they had all been able to make memories as a family. Francine tells her that Wally has not been to visit as he is too angry with her for not telling him about his sister and father.

Caitlin has enlisted Barry, like he’s got nothing else to do, to help find Jay Garrick’s doppelganger on Earth 1 as his cells are dying after Zoom stole his speed. Caitlin has a theory that if she can harvest cells from his healthy twin, then Jay will stop getting sick. Barry is running Jay’s photos through various systems trying to find a match, when Patty appears, hoping to talk to Barry. Caitlin leaves, and Barry explains that he and Joe occasionally do some work for S.T.A.R labs. Patty is confused as she didn’t know that, and Barry was her boyfriend and Joe her partner. They talk about their relationship again, Patty can’t work out why Barry is being so distant, and Barry tells her that everyone he loves leaves, so he’s used to it. There are things about each other that they can’t change and that he wishes things were different, but they aren’t.  Me too says Patty, and leaves his lab.

Cisco and Wells are back in the lab working on Cisco’s Vibe goggles, that help him reach the right stage of sleep to bring on the visions. The new found fear trigger, has prompted them to modify the googles to stimulate that part of the brain, and enable him to Vibe whenever he needs to. Cisco tries them out and immediately begins to see various historical events throughout time. Wells tells him to focus on the Reverse Flash and track his location. He finds him arriving in Central City, as we did last week. Wells then tells Cisco to also focus on Christina McGee, and we see them in a lab with a tachyon machine fully charged and ready to transport Eobard back to the future. Christina tells him that it is ready and he can let her go now, Eobard then sets his hand to super fast vibrate (ah jeez) and puts it through her chest, killing her instantly.

Cisco wakes and tells the others of his vision, and that Christina is already dead. They ask him to try and describe the location and he tells them of the machine, the lab and the big clock on the wall showing 9.52pm.  It’s only 6pm.  Cisco has gone beyond just visions, and is seeing the future. Whoa dude. They now have 2 hours and 52 minutes to track down Eobard and Christina and stop him from killing her.

At CCPD, Patty is packing up her desk, getting ready to study to be a CSI at college. Joe comes in to say goodbye and finds Patty still working on some files. She tells him that she has noticed that some of Barry’s reports contain things that he shouldn’t have known, things that only they and the Flash knew. And also, he and Joe have been working for S.T.A.R Labs? Barry is The Flash, isn’t he, she asks Joe. Well no shit Sherlock he says. No, not really. He lies and tells her she is totally off base. Patty tells him he is a terrible liar and leaves. Well, there ya go. Patty can detective after all.

Iris goes to visit Wally to try and convince him to go and see Francine before it is too late. She was angry too she tells him, but she and Francine both managed to find some closure and peace. He turns up at Iris’s later and asks her to accompany him to the hospital. Iris agrees, knowing that it is the thing Francine wanted most in the world before she dies.

The crew are at the lab scanning the city for tachyon activity, to no avail.  Time is running out and they have no idea where Eobard and Christina are. Joe arrives and tells Barry that Patty knows and that he should talk to her. Barry does not want anyone else put at risk because of him and thinks letting her go is the best way of keeping her safe. The scanner suddenly detects a burst of tachyons, and Barry quick changes and races to the location. He arrives just in time to save Christina and destroys part of the device so Eobard cannot use it.

Barry tells Eobard that he is stuck here for good, but Eobard insists he will get back and also that he is a heaps, cooler, faster Flash than Barry: so there.  Eobard takes off and Barry gives chase through the city, finally taking him down and giving him a super fast but super effective beating. To Barry, this is still the man who killed his mother, and he has to pull back at the last minute so as not to kill him. Barry takes him back to the lab where there is a cell waiting for him.

Cisco goes to see Eobard in his cell just to let him know that he was a big part of catching him, and that Eobard was actually the one who gave him his powers in the first place. So suck it!  Cisco leaves and notices his nose is bleeding. Uh oh.

Patty confronts Barry and tells him she understands why he didn’t tell her, and that she can handle it. All she wants to do it fight crime by day and have Barry by her side at night, if he’ll tell her the truth. Barry is firm on her not being involved and denies he is The Flash. Patty leaves heartbroken, and I think our adorkable couple is kaput.

Barry then goes and sees Eobard. As he is yet to find out Barry’s identity, he hides his face in shadows and ask him why he hates The Flash so much. Eobard explains he was obsessed with The Flash and worked to recreate the accident, and it worked! After learning to use his powers and time travel, he began to understand that he would always be The Flash’s enemy and that he was in fact the reverse of everything The Flash was. He decided to embrace this and use it to destroy The Flash. Barry then gets an urgent call to get back to the lad, Cisco is seizing.

Caitlin sedates Cisco which stops the seizures, but then Cisco starts to fade in and out. Wells believes it is the changes they have made to the timeline by capturing Eobard, it has made Cisco’s existence unstable. The only way to save Cisco is to help get Eobard back to his future and let time play out the way it already has. Barry will need to release him and use his own speed to help him break through into the future. Dr Wells explains that we are witnessing the Reverse Flash’s origin story, he is just learning about Barry, Wells, S.T.A.R. Labs and there is nothing they can do. They have to help him escape and save Cisco. Once Barry realises that this is the only way to save him, he agrees.

They release him and he and Barry head down to the particle accelerator. They run several laps getting faster and faster until a breach appears, and Barry pushes Eobard through, effectively releasing him and accepting the fact that things that have happened cannot be changed. Cisco wakes up, with a cracking headache, but could possibly still stomach a Big Belly Burger or two. That’s my boy.

Jay takes Caitlin to a park and explains that he had already had the same idea and searched, but he then realised that his DNA has been mutated and that it would do no good. He did, however, find his doppelganger and he is sitting right over there. His name is Hunter Zolomon, though, not Jay Garrick. His mother died in childbirth, and he did not get the power of speed and is not able to help them. The only thing that will help is stopping Zoom.

Joe and Barry talk about Patty and all the sacrifices Barry must be prepared to make to be The Flash. Barry tells him he is ready and at peace with letting Patty go. He then gets a distress call from Patty. She’s on the train and a man has a gun!  Barry flashes off and onto the train.  There is no gunman, just Patty, prank calling him to see if the Flash turns up. Barry tells her that he just wanted to make sure that she was alright, and Patty tells him that she is now.  They smile sadly at each other and say their goodbyes with their puppy dog eyes. Barry goes, and Patty says bye, Barry as the train continues on.

Okay, so a much more action filled episode this week!  A lot more Cisco and Wells, and bye bye Patty. Oh, and a potentially bloody huge clue as to who Zoom might possibly be.  Let’s just say if you haven’t heard the name Hunter Zolomon before, you might want to look it up.  Til next week!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw0DYMaWpsc