‘The Flash’ Recap: S2E23 “The Race of His Life”

Here it is. This week’s episode of The Flash has been the moment we have all be waiting for: The Flash vs Zoom.  With “The Race of His Life” picking up immediately where the last episode left off, the episode wasted no time at all jumping right into the thick of it.

The episode opens immediately where last week left off, Zoom has killed Henry Allen. As Zoom begins to monologue, Barry rushes after him in a violent rage, ready to kill him. They run, they fight, and Barry wins. Vibrating his hand, Barry is ready to kill Zoom. Zoom screams “end me!” but this causes Barry to hesitate, and another Zoom comes in and kills the Zoom that Barry has defeated. Zoom looks at Barry, tells him he’s “almost ready” and speeds away.

Following Henry’s funeral, Barry is convinced he needs to kill Zoom for what he had done, he declares that he had just found peace for his mother’s passing, and now Zoom has destroyed everything else. Interrupting the wake, Zoom appears and tells Barry that he demands that they race to see who is the fastest. If Barry wins, Zoom will leave, if he says no, Zoom will kill everyone else that Barry loves.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, the team discovered that Zoom has stolen a magnate from Mercury Labs and he wants to use the race as a means to power the device and destroy Earth-2, which Cisco reveals is what he saw in his vibe vision last week. Unable to convince Barry to change his mind, Wells and Joe capture Barry and lock him up in the pipeline so they can attempt to stop Zoom themselves.

With Caitlin acting as a distraction, the team attempts to ambush Zoom but fail and wind up getting Joe taken by Zoom to Earth-2. In Zoom’s Lair, Joe discovers that Zoom had captured the real Jay Garrick from Earth-3, and had used him as inspiration to create a time remnant hero to fight. Zoom reveals that he had traveled to other worlds in an attempt to take the speed of others, but discovered that the Time Wraiths were being sent to kill him for his actions.

The team unable to figure out what to do next, Wally releases Barry from the pipeline and Barry convinces Cisco to allow him to vibe a message to Zoom. Barry accepts his challenge on the condition that he releases Joe. They meet at an industrial park, with the giant magnate set up in distance awaiting their speed to power it. Zoom reveals that he wants to use the device to destroy the entire multiverse, with the exception of the world they are on (which he plans to rule). The two begin to race, and Barry creates his own time remnant to destroy the magnate while Barry attacks Zoom straight on. Barry defeats Zoom while his time remnant is dissolved by the destruction of the magnate, but instead of Barry killing Zoom, he leaves him to be devoured by the time wraiths that appeared during the race.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the team helps the man in the iron mask remove his mask, only to discover that Jay Garrick is none other than Henry Allen’s Earth-3 doppelgänger.

Jay suits up, with this speed returning now that the mask has been removed, and tells everyone that he needs to find his way home. Wells decides that it is time that he returns to Earth-2 and tells Jay that he can assist him with returning to his world, Wells, Jesse, and Jay pass through a breach that leads them all to Earth-2.

Back at home, everyone is celebrating the victory over Zoom but Barry is still heartbroken from the loss of his father. He departs to the porch, where he and Iris share a moment where she confesses her love to him and tells him that she will wait for him to be ready. She heads back inside, and as Barry looks into the window, he says saying “That’s why I’m so sorry, but I have to do this,” and he runs back in time to the moment the Reverse-Flash was attempting to kill his mother. He stops him and prevents his mother from being killed , telling her not to worry; shes safe now.

Now that you have read the recap for the finale, you can check out our top 5 moments from the episode.

Jay Garrick

Since the tease of the man in the iron mask from the early part of this season, fans began to speculate who was being kept by Zoom, and with the reveal that Jay Garrick was a fraud, many began to quickly realize that it was likely the real Jay was in the mask. When Zoom explains that he had traveled to other worlds, met the real Jay, and eventually captured him and used his name and likeness as part of his sick boredom, the confirmation that the real Jay was alive, well, and wanting to be free made his eventual reveal even more poignant.

Barry makes his own time remnant

During their first encounter of the episode, Zoom reveals to Barry that he would need to be willing to kill his copy before if he would want to create his own time remnant, and while Barry didnt kill him, this second copy sacrificed his own life to ensure that the plan would work.

Death of Zoom

Barry had plenty of justification to kill Zoom, but instead he allowed Zoom to be consumed by the very creatures that had been hunting him all along. In a moment that felt very akin to something out of Batman Begins, Barry chose not to kill his foe, but chose not to save him from his death either.

But what seems to be one of the coolest nods is that at the moment of his death, Zoom looks suspiciously almost exactly like the time wraith that tried to kill Barry earlier in this season.

Jay Garrick… Earth-3 doppelgänger of.. Henry Allen!

In a moment that shocked fans and characters alike, Jay Garrick was revealed to be Henry Allen’s doppelgänger. While at first it felt like something that was almost a waste, given that moments after the reveal he runs back to Earth-2, fans should recall that following the finale of Legends of Tomorrow, the JSA has now been established, and I have a feeling we may see Jay Garrick again soon enough.

“You’re Safe”

Despite all of his progress at the end of Season 1, and over the last few episodes, the loss of his father pushed Barry over the edge. In a shocking moment, Barry runs back in time and without hesitation he prevents the murder of his mother. Barry has just changed the past, and the beginning of season 3 will likely begin with a whole new world to see.

While many could argue that The Flash Season 2 Finale wasn’t nearly as amazing as the Season 1 Finale, its hard to deny that the repercussions of the final scene seem to imply that the start of the next season will take a page out of the Flashpoint story line, and who knows, its quite possible that this is how they bring Supergirl into this TV Universe.

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