The Flash 2.15 “King Shark”

King Shark, one of the many meta-humans that Zoom sent from Earth-2 to kill the Flash, escapes custody from A.R.G.U.S. and is now making a beeline to Central City to challenge the Scarlet Speedster again. This threat is big enough for Arrow’s Diggle (John Ramsey) and the new head of A.R.G.U.S., Lyla Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson) to come to Central City to give Barry and his crew a head’s up about the threat that is headed their way and begin a wave of some really great Jaws-themed jokes. The storyline with King Shark is pretty good, and the final battle on water where Flash takes King Shark out by electrifying the water, is one of the best fights we’ve seen on the show so far. In the end, though, the return of King Shark is just a red herring for what is the real heart of the matter for this installment and that is the fall-out from Team Flash’s recent trip to Earth-2.

The prevailing wisdom between Barry, Cisco and Harry is that what happens on Earth-2, stays on Earth-2. They all agree to not talk about who and what they saw, but that really becomes a cross to bear as the hour rolls on. The episode starts by recounting one of the biggest WTH!? moments of this current season, the death of Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) at the hands of Zoom and this gets Cisco worrying that the death of Jay has hit Caitlin hard enough that she could run the risk of becoming as cold and emotionless as her doppelganger, Killer Frost, was on Earth-2.

The fears and concerns that Cisco has is nothing though compared to what Barry is carrying on his shoulders. After an attack on the West home jeopardizes Joe, Iris and Wally, Barry finally comes clean to his family about what happened on Earth-2. After telling Joe and Iris about their doppelgangers, Barry tells them how Joe on Earth-2 was killed by Zoom’s thugs that came looking for him. Barry blames himself for the death of the Joe West from Earth-2, and he feels that Jay’s death is his fault. Even more than that though, Barry is feeling guilty over saving his world from Zoom by sealing the breaches and leaving Earth-2 at the mercy of the Dark Speedster with no hope of anyone stopping him. The scene where Barry almost breaks down from the weight he is carrying is so moving and so powerful. Grant Gustin just keeps adding to his portrayal of the Flash and continues to show us what real hero is supposed to be.

It has been my personal experience that sometimes people will take the same advice faster from those they don’t know that well than they will their most trusted friends. In this episode, Barry gets some much-needed words of encouragement and support from guest-star Diggle. “When I was in Afghanistan, I lost a lot of friends; brothers,” Diggle tells Barry. “So losing Jay, I know what it feels like. Question yourself. Blame yourself for his death. And that guilt, it can tear you apart, but trust me, man, you got to get control of it, or it’ll rip you up inside. Use this, man. Let it guide you, so it never happens again.” These are words that Barry takes to heart and by the end of the episode, Barry comes to realize that he can’t undo the past, but he can learn from his mistakes. As the episode ends, he calls a meeting of Team Flash together to tell them that he is going to top Zoom and that they will save Earth-2 from his threat.

And of course, the kicker of all kickers is the big reveal at the very end of this episode. We finally learn that Zoom is in reality Jay Garrick (or at least someone who looks like him). I am dying to know how this is going to play out and I’m eager to know just how much this is going to rock Team Flash’s world when they all find out the truth.

All in all, this was a pretty solid episode, minus some whininess from Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) over Barry being Joe’s favorite son and Jesse (Violett Beane) over being stuck on Earth-1. Even with that nonsense, I give this one 4 Stars.