The Flash S2 E18: Versus Zoom Review

**SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE FLASH**The April 19^th episode of the Flash was one of the most single insulting and infuriating episodes of television in a long time. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this episode pissed me off. This is a full on spoiler and curse filled review because I’m so angry that I can’t write one that isn’t. You have been warned. The entire episode is contingent on character, after character making insanely stupid decisions. The end of the episode has me almost shaking in fury because it was, repeat after me again, stupid. I am amazed that they writers couldn’t come up with a smarter way to achieve their goals.

The episode starts out stupid and gets dumber by insulting the intelligence of the fans. It starts by showing Hunter Zolomon/Jay Garrick/Zoom’s father killing his mother. Of course before that they showed what happened with Barry (as if any fans watching wouldn’t remember) because clearly no fans would be intelligent enough to pick up on the parallels between the two without them hitting us over the head with them. This follows Barry showing how much faster he has become and says that they need to open up a rift to Earth 2 and fight Zoom without a plan at first because, well, he’s faster.

Ladies and gentlemen, it only gets dumber from here. With Barry insisting on going along without a plan at first, they figure out Cisco can open breaches. Wells and everybody tells Barry what a bad idea it is, and we all know they’re right. Of course he continues with the plan. A whole bunch of stuff that doesn’t really matter happens until Caitlin reveals that Jay’s real identity is Hunter Zolomon, a man that Wells reveals is a serial killer. From there they come up with a convoluted plan to capture him.

This is where it gets even dumber. The team lets Zoom into Earth 1. They then use his family to distract him, and get a speed dampener on his leg. Of course instead of just throwing him into a holding cell where he cannot escape the moment that he’s disabled, Barry goes into what is, essentially, a good guy version of a villain’s monologue. As some click bait websites would you use on a link to get you to click on it: You’ll never guess what happens next? Oh wait of course you will because it is the most predictable fucking thing in existence: Zoom escapes. It’s so insanely fucking stupid that the only people who couldn’t predict this are characters that should know better.

So Zoom escapes and captures Wally West and brings him back to Earth 2. Now when faced with an established serial killer who has already lied to them over the course of the season, do they decide to really take the fight to Zoom with a good plan on how to defeat him? Of course not, as that would make sense. Nope they do the dumbest thing possible next. Barry figures the only way to get Wally back is to give Zoom his speed, despite the fact that it’s already established that he’s faster. Heck, not only that, he has more experience fighting other speedsters. So they trust the homicidal maniac to do what he says. Of course, for some reason Zoom gives up Wally before Barry’s speed is drained. GREAT. Wally’s free, now they Barry can just fight Zoom. Wait, he didn’t? He just goes ahead and let’s Zoom take his speed? What the flying fuck? So Barry allows his speed to be drained, and gives it to Zoom. Of course Zoom immediately attacks him. Caitlin appeals to Zoom, and gets her ass kidnapped back to Earth 2. Thus ends the episode.

It was, from start to finish, a godawful, insulting episode. It is almost enough for me to swear off the show. The fans deserve better than this, and the characters deserve better. Throughout the course of the episode characters make dumb and the dumber decisions. No one bothers to think for five seconds about the actual consequences of their actions, and the result is predictable to anyone not directly involved in the show. It’s really enough to make me question the intelligence of the writers if this is the best that they could do. If you’re going to watch this episode, hate watch it. Watch it because it moves the plot along in the season, but don’t watch it expecting an entertaining episode.