The Flash Season 2 Finale The Race of His Life recap starts now!

Spoilers ahead!

We pick up exactly where we left off last week, Jay/Hunter/Zoom has just put his phasing fist through Barry’s father Henry Allen’s chest. Henry drops to the floor and Barry begs him not too leave, but its too late. Henry is gone and Barry is beyond distraught. Zoom tells him that family is a weakness and now they are just the same.

Barry attacks him and Zoom tells him to use his anger. They set off through the streets of Central City, and Barry catches him. He has him on the ground and ready to kill him with his hand. Zoom commands him to use his anger and end him, but Barry hesitates. Before he can decide to do it, another Zoom appears and kills the other. He’s made a time remnant in an attempt to trick Barry. He tells Barry that he can do that too, he just needs to be prepared to kill himself.

Cut to the funeral, and Joe gives a moving speech when Barry finds himself not ready. Joe speaks of the losses that Henry suffered, but also the happiness he experienced and gave to others throughout his life. Henry Allen was proof that love can get you through the darkest of days, and the love will keep him alive in all of their hearts. Barry promises to take from Zoom what he took from his father.

Back at Joe’s, Wally thanks Barry for all that he has done for him as The Flash. He still can’t believe it, and is blown away by all that Barry has done for them and for the city. Barry thanks him, and then turns to the others and tells them that they need to come up with a plan. They don’t know Zoom’s end game yet, but Barry tells them that he told them he’s almost ready for . . . something. There’s also the issue of Cisco’s Vibe of Earth-2 splitting in half. Like a Transformers movie, with better acting. That also cannot happen.

Barry goes to get some air and Iris follows. Barry tells her that he had made his peace with his mother’s death while in the Speedforce. The moment he was at the place he could move on, his father is taken from him. How can he ever find peace again? Iris tells him he has to, or it will tear him apart.

They’re interrupted by Zoom flashing past the house, and Barry takes off the follow him immediately, despite Iris’s protests. Zoom gave him some time to mourn, and now he has his final proposition. He NEEDS to be the fastest man alive, and wants to race. If Barry wins, this is all over and he gets to be the hero. Barry refuses straight up, and Zoom informs him that his father won’t be the only person he loses, then.

At STAR Labs, Barry fills the others in, and while it does sound like the kind of crazypants thing a psycho like Zoom would want to do, it’s not the only thing he’s up to. Harry has worked out that the Magnetar stolen from Mercury Labs can also be used as a pulsar. A pulsar that can destroy worlds, exactly what Cisco has vibed. It just needs a power source, enter The Flash. This race will be a way for Zoom to siphon Barry’s power off and power the Magnatar. But he doesn’t just want to take out one Earth, he wants to take out multiple Earths. And just how many are there in the Multiverse? Infinite.

Barry has come to the conclusion that he has to race him, and he has to win. Joe goes to speak to him and tells him not to race, and Barry tells him that there’s no way he can sit back and let him hurt anyone else. Joe tells him that Zoom needs him, they have the advantage here. But Barry is too angry, all he has to do is beat him, and he won’t let another person he loves die. Joe realises that he’s not just doing this to win, he wants to kill Zoom. Barry agrees that he does, and a lot worse than that. He wants him to suffer. Joe tries one more time to calm him down and get him to change his mind, but Barry is set on this. Cue Harry with the tranq gun, night night Barry.

They lock him in one of the cells at STAR Labs and when he wakes they tells him that have decided as a group that this is the best way of dealing with the situation. Barry is too angry, and without a plan he’ll lose. Barry is hurt and betrayed that they have done this to him, but Harry tells him it’s for his own good. They seal the cell.

The rest of the crew go back to the lab and go over their own plan. Cisco has tracked Zoom to an industrial park. Caitlin has the job of distracting Zoom, she’s the only one who has managed to reach the human side of Zoom. As scared as she is, she wants to stop him for good. Harry and Joe and going to shoot an electric collar at him, while Cisco opens a breach, and then they push him through and seal the breach. Harry will then destroy the Magnatar. They decide one more thing, if anything goes wrong, the plan goes ahead regardless.

Jesse goes to see Harry and tells him that when they’ve stopped Zoom she’s decided that she’d like to go back to Earth-2. She knows that he’s found people he really cares about here, but her friends are all still at home. She’ll understand totally if he wants to stay, but she just wants to go home.

At the industrial park they are all set up ready to go, and Caitlin sets the plan in motion. She calls out Jay and tells him that she’s sorry that she left him. He was right about the darkness inside her, and he’s the only one who understands. She wants him to help her embrace it, and she’ll never leave him again. She needs to get him to move closer and keeps sweet talking him until they are face to face. Zoom tells her that it’s too little too late, and goes to kill her. But she’s just a hologram, and has gotten him into exactly the right place for Harry to shoot the collar on. Cisco opens the breach, but Joe’s tranq gun has jammed. Joe runs down and injects the tranq directly into Zoom. Harry shoots Zoom through the breach, but he grabs on to Joe and drags him through as well.

Cisco is trying to Vibe on Zoom and Joe, but it’s like his brain is channel surfing. Harry has also been unable to disarm the Magantar. This plan is not going so well, at all. Wally turns up, and Iris has to break the news about his dad Joe. Wally is furious that they have locked Barry up and tried to stop Zoom alone. He tells them they have to get Joe back, he’s only just lost his mother, he can’t lose his father too. Iris tells him they all agreed to close the breach no matter what happened, but Wally is not having it, he didn’t agree to that!

In Zoom’s lair, Joe wakes up chained to the ceiling with Zoom watching him. Joe tells him to kill him  and get it over with, there won’t be a race, they made sure of it. Joe asks who the man in the mask is and Zoom tells him his story.

He got his powers the same way Barry did, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to go faster, be the fastest. So he created a speed drug, Velocity 9. It worked a treat, allowed him to break the interdimensional barrier and travel the other Earths. Which is where he discovered the man in the mask, he’s another speedster. The V9 was having one particular side effect though, it was killing him. He tried to find a cure, even tried to manipulate the Speedforce but it didn’t like that and has been sending its enforcers, the Time Wraiths, after him ever since. He tried to steal Mask’s speed but it didn’t take. But that’s when the skies parted and he saw Barry. He stole his speed and it worked, he’d beaten the Speedforce. Now he just keeps Mask around as a trophy, and as a bit of inside joke. He also stole his name, you see.

Barry is pouting in his cell when the door suddenly opens, Wally has let him out! He tells him everyone will freak when they find out but he doesn’t care, they need his help. They flash up to the lab just as they are noticing he’s out of his cell. Wally tells them he couldn’t just stand there and let that happen and Barry is on the brink of a major tantrum. Barry yells that they had no right to make those decisions without him OR Wally; they should have let him race. They try and calm him down, but Barry insists he is fine. They’re running out of time and he just has to beat him. Whether he has their help or not.

Cisco vibes Barry to Zoom’s lair and he tells him that the race is on. There’s one condition, he has to bring Joe back unharmed. Zoom agrees, but he won’t release him until after the race.

At the industrial park the Magnatar is primed and ready to go. Harry tells Zoom that they know what he is planning to do, and that he has no plans to let any of them leave. Zoom tells him that he’s wrong, this Earth is at the centre of the Multiverse, the access point to every other Earth. He can blow all the others but keep this one as his very own. Zoom tells Barry to get ready and zooms off with Joe. Barry tells the others to leave but they refuse, they’re all in this together.

Zoom sets out the rules. They need to do about 500 laps of the Magnatar to fire up the pulsar, so all Barry has to do is stop him. If Barry stops the race at any time though, Joe gets it. As well as everyone else. They begin and Barry is having trouble catching Zoom and the laps are stacking up at an alarming rate. The Magnetar starts to power up, and Barry is still behind.

Barry runs and manages to go fast enough to travel back in time and create his own time remnant. The two Barrys nod to each other and split up. One heads for Joe and releases him from his cuffs and tells him to run, he’ll explain later. Zoom notices what’s happening and stops the race, throwing Barry 1 off the Magnetar. Zoom tells Barry 1 that he’s impressed he stole his trick but its too late, he has sourced enough power. Barry 1 starts to fight Zoom as Barry 2 starts to runs circles around the Magnetar, running fast enough to create his own pulse. It should be enough for the two pulses to counteract each other. BUT his body won’t be able to handle that and he’ll die. Barry 2’s plan works.

Zoom is beyond pissed and keeps fighting Barry 1 (well, the only Barry now). Barry gets the upper hand eventually and has Zoom on his back, phasing hand at the ready. Zoom tells him he doesn’t have the stones, but Barry is saved from making that decision by the appearance of the Time Wraiths. They’ve come for Zoom, and they drag him off into a breach of their own making. Is that a glimpse of Black Flash we see? Is that who Zoom becomes next?

Back at STAR Labs, the crew is trying to get their heads around what Barry did while Harry and Cisco work at getting the mask of the speedster they’ve rescued from Zoom’s lair. The lift the mask, and we finally see and hear the man himself. Jay Garrick, and Henry’s Allen’s doppelgänger. Barry freaks and has to leave. Joe finds him crying his eyes out in the corridor, he’ll be okay but he just needs a minute to get his head around it.

Jay Garrick gets into his suit, and is back to full power now that the mask has been revealed. He phases his hand through the mask, saying he never wants to see it again. He does take a shine to Jay’s helmet though, and places it on his head. All he has to do now is find his way home, he thinks they would probably call it Earth-3.

Cisco tells him he can get him to Earth-2, and Harry informs him that he and Jesse can help him from there. They’re going home, together. They all gather around and Harry says his goodbyes, he’s changed a lot since he’s been on Earth-1 and has genuine love for all of them. Especially Barry who has changed him more than anyone. Cisco and Harry have a lovely bromance moment, and that is one twosome that I’m going to miss. Harry, Jesse and Jay head for the breach, and they’re gone.

At Joe’s, they’re all hanging out watching the news of the day. Barry heads out again and is more troubled than ever. Seeing his dad’s doppelgänger should have made it easier but it didn’t, it just made him miss him more. They just won, they beat Zoom, but he feels like he’s lost. Iris tells him that he’s lost a lot in his life, but maybe the two of them together can give him something for a change. That’s all that Barry has ever wanted to hear but he’s not in the right place to try that with her right now. But he feels so hollowed out inside, more broken than he’s ever felt. He needs to fix himself first and find some peace before that can happen.

Iris tells him that she knows that he’s waited for her for years. He let her get to a place where this was possible, so she will do the same for him. Wherever he needs to go, whatever he needs to do, he should just do it. She’ll be here waiting.

Iris leaves him to his thoughts and Barry says to himself “That’s why I’m so sorry. But I have to do this.”

Barry runs and sends himself back through time to his childhood home. The Reverse Flash is there about to kill his mother. This time Barry steps in and stops him, and saves his mother. And undoes everything that has happened since that moment in time.

WHAT THE FRACK BARRY. I can’t even wrap my tiny little mind about what that all means. Does that mean Barry never becomes The Flash? Why is he still standing there then? Is he fading?? MY BRAIN HURTS! Is Season 3 just called THE BARRY SHOW?? HALP!