The Flash 2x18 Recap: "Versus Zoom"

Versus Zoom. 
Barry believes his fast enough to stop Zoom with a new device and it's time to open the breaches again. After he convinces Wells, Wells reveals that Cisco has the power to reopen the breaches, which will allow them contact with Earth-2 once again and ultimately lead to Barry's face off with Zoom for the first time since knowing that Zoom is Jay. We're also learning about Zoom's origin on Earth-2 for the first time.

Hunter's Past.

Little Hunter Zolomon's life wasn't the best in the world. His father, after returning home from war, abused his mother and shot her right in front of him after giving him his helmet. The helmet would eventually become the one he would later wear as The Flash. After this happened, he was brought to an orphanage to live in since he had no other family that wanted him.

Caitlin mentions the name Hunter Zolomon to Barry and Wells overhears, and that's how the team at STAR Labs discovers all about Hunter Solomon's past. Turns out that after entering foster care, Hunter Solomon became a serial killer. He was eventually committed and given daily electroshock therapy. When Harry's Particle Accelerator explosion occurred, it created the unstoppable monster who came to be known as Zoom.

The Chase for Zoom.
With the new device that Barry attaches to his chest, Barry's going 4x faster than he's ever been. That's faster than Zoom. Now, they need to find Zoom, but Wells doesn't want to help. He promised he'd help him get faster, but not that he'd help them find a way to get to Earth-2.

Even Joe's worried about Barry taking on Zoom and going back to Earth-2. After Joe makes a comment about wondering what Wally's doppelgänger would be like, that gives Barry an idea. Cisco may be the way back to Earth-2, especially because of his doppelgänger Reverb. Cisco does have the power, but Wells goes to Joe to advise him to tell Barry that it's a bad idea. The thing is, once Barry sets his mind to it, that's that, but Joe asks Harry to go along with him because he thinks Barry's chances of defeating Zoom are higher with Wells by his side.

So, Wells goes to help Cisco and Barry open the breach, but then Cisco stops. He asks Barry to have him not open the breach before running off. When Barry sits down to talk to him, through a few Star Wars references, Cisco expresses his concern for eventually becoming "Vader." He's worried that, like his doppelgänger, learning new abilities will push him to the dark side, but Barry says that he has family behind him at STAR Labs and that he also worries about the same thing. So, we're giving this another go.

Now that everyone's aware of Hunter's past, Barry's got an idea on how to stop him. Cisco opens the breach and Zoom make his way through. Barry's faster than Zoom and he leads him to STAR Labs, into a room that pops up a cardboard image of Hunter's father, then mother. Each time, Zoom is slowed down enough for Barry to punch him and then use a different gun on him to bring him to the floor. He asked how they knew and Barry admits that he screwed up in telling Caitlin who his doppelgänger was. The Velocity 9 turning blue was the thing that told him that he was Zoom. The Darkness in Zoom pushes through and allows him to get through the chains and escape from Barry's hold.

Once Zoom has escaped, things change when Wally is kidnapped by Zoom. The way to get him back? A trade: Barry's speed for Wally. Cisco vibes to see where Wally is and if he's alive. He is, and Hunter can sense him. Cisco tells him that Barry will do it. The trade will be made.

Zoom brings Wally to STAR Labs and hands him over. Wally's now seen everyone, including his father and sister, involved, so it's safe to assume he'll have questions. Now, it's the tricky part. Let's explain how Hunter's still alive if him and Jay are the same person. Hunter's still alive because he went back in time and met another version of himself, a time remnant. He needed Barry to want to increase his speed and knew that his hatred for Zoom would fuel that. So, he goes back in time, convinces his time remnant to allow him to kill him, and that's how we are where we are. Caitlin repeats those same words Hunter's mother told his father: he's a monster. So, the whole time, Caitlin was actually dating Hunter Zolomon, who was putting on the persona of Jay. Hopefully that makes sense.

Agreeing to the deal, Barry runs out the speed force and he becomes human again. Hunter injects himself with it and becomes stronger than ever. Caitlin begs that if any of the feelings he had for her were real, that he let him go, and he does, but then takes Caitlin with him.

Wally's troubles. 
Wally's no longer living on campus at school because room and board has gotten too expensive, but he doesn't want Joe to help him out and says he'll cover it on his own. Meanwhile, he'll be doing his laundry at the West household.

Joe asks Barry for help because he knows that Wally's not letting him help him and Barry points out that Wally doesn't want money for a place to live, he wants a place to live. He wants to be able to live at home with his dad for the first time, and it'll be fun with him in the house, as well. As soon as Wally finds out the surprise, he's very happy, as is Joe.

Iris' new feelings. 
Last episode we saw Iris agree to go on a date with her boss, but on tonight's episode, her feelings are a bit different. She's been looking at Barry in a different way, and she knows that all signs point to them ending up together in the future. She's wondering if maybe the fact that she's ready to move on means that she's ready to move forward with Barry and take on this destiny.

So, Hunter's now got a hold of Caitlin, and next week, he'll be taking Wells, too. Without his speed, Barry will have to figure out a new way to stop Zoom before more people get hurt.

Tune in next week at 8/7c on The CW for an all new episode of The Flash.