‘The Flash’ Recap: S2E19 “Back To Normal”

The Flash returned this week following last weeks shocking twist, audiences find themselves witnessing their favorite scarlet speedster lament about being a normal person, and dealing with all the problems that come with it.

This week seemed to be a roller coaster of content. It started with Barry dealing with his new found normalcy, touching base on Earth-2 where we saw Caitlin dealing with her new life as a captive of Zoom, and eventually we finally saw the return of Jesse Quick as her father Harrison Wells finally located his daughter in another attempt to protect her. It wasn’t until this interaction that the story finally kicked into gear as saw the debut of  Griffin Grey, a meta-human with super strength but the side effect of rapid aging who blames Wells for his condition. Following Wells kidnapping, the heroes make a valiant effort to save him, resulting in Wells and Jesse finally making amends upon his safe return.

Instead of our usual play by play of the entire episode, Heroic Hollywood is now going to simply recap our top 5 moments from the episode.

The Intro – A day in the life of a normal person

The episode begins like any other, with a voice over from Barry. He starts by recanting how easily his daily life is with his powers, then it quickly cuts to viewers watching Barry now deal with each of these problems without his speed. Finding clothes, taking the bus, waiting in line for coffee, and even struggling with work. The episode began by trying to show our hero coming to grips with the new reality and understanding that everything that made him great is now missing.

Caitlin Vs Killer Frost

One of the many plot-lines this episode juggled was Caitlin dealing with her new life as Zoom’s captive. Almost immediately after being left alone, Caitlin discovers that she is not alone in her new prison, and one of the many captives is her doppelganger Killer Frost. After a lengthy attempt at breaking Killer Frost free, Caitlin succeeded in freeing the classic comic villain, only to have her turn on her. The murder attempt was brief, with Zoom speeding his way to Caitlin’s rescue, he phased through the damsel only to brutally kill Killer Frost with her own icicle.

Ace Chemical

The the first attempt at this week’s confrontation between the hero and its villain of the week took place at the classic Batman location Ace Chemical. While die hard DC fans will instantly recognize this location as the birthplace of the Joker, its likely that the remaining audience didn’t catch the “blink and you’ll miss it” Easter egg.

Barry being… The Flash

It comes as no surprise that our hero decides that he needs to save Wells at any cost. Barry dons the costume, despite having no power at all, in an attempt to save Grey’s captive. After each crushing blow, Barry kept fighting back, knowing that this fight would easily cost him his own life. Moments like these typically define our heroes and show audiences the level of sacrifice that they are willing to go to in order to keep people safe.

That cliffhanger

The final moments of this week’s episode saw Harrison Wells vow to restore Barry’s powers….. by recreating the particle acceleration explosion. While the show doesn’t elaborate, fans should quickly realize any attempt at another particle accelerator explosion could very well result in the birth of new meta-humans… or even more speedsters.

This week’s episode of The Flash was a good one, but it wasn’t one of their best. While it successfully showed what a de-powered speedster would do after losing their powers, but it seemed like the rest of the episode’s filler wasn’t exactly on point. Admittedly the episode does make some tremendous strides in this season’s overall plot, it definitely had the filler feel to it. But it goes without saying that following that cliffhanger, next week is sure to be an episode to remember.

Taylor Landine

Taylor Landine

Taylor Landine is a Veteran to online entertainment journalism who has been covering television and movies since 2005. Follow him on twitter via @taylorlandine