This episode wasn’t all happy-go-lucky. There were three non-superheroic subplots that overshadowed the main plot of the episode. This wasn’t a thing to do considering who the villain was that Flash had to defeat in this episode. There’s Patty and Barry’s relationship, which is on the rocks in this episode. Then there’s Earth-2 Dr. Wells and his struggles to find a way to increase Barry’s speed, but viewers also find out that Wells is offered to steal Barry’s speed for Zoom. There is also the West Family 2.0 that viewers got to see. The looseness of the main plot heightened the serious tone from the subplots.
Cisco's Turtle
Cisco presents a new idea to slow down Zoom. Cisco tells them about a Metahuman, who has the ability to stop kinetic energy around him and thus slow everyone to a halt. Barry is surprised to find out that everyone but himself actually knows about Cisco’s Turtle. Even Iris and a couple of CCPD officers knew about Cisco’s hunt for Turtle, yet Barry has been clueless for about two years now.
After failing to stop Turtle at a diamond unveiling, the team sets up a trap at an art exhibit. Barry uses Patty as bait with the invitation to tell her his secret, but the Turtle is aware of the trap and almost succeeds in killing Patty before escaping. Turtle later kidnaps Patty in an effort to punish Flash. The team tracts down Turtle in a library, that was to be owned by Turtle’s wife, before he killed her. Flash has a hard time taking down Turtle but manages to knock him out on his second attempt by generating enough speed to move through the kinetic waves. This way of combating Turtle’s power is low-key, but what else is there to do when the Flash is almost incapable of moving? By this point in the episode, the slow-down pulses lost its gleam.
Goodbye Love
Patty tells Barry she is leaving Central City. The danger she faced this week, coupled with closing the book on Mordon killing her father, helped to make her decision to head to Midway to focus more on her forensics training. Patty’s been in more harm than Iris and Caitlin, but she is capable of taking care of herself - not to mention that she clearly wants to take things to the next level, but Barry isn’t because of everything going on in his life. Of course, Barry can’t tell her that he’s the Flash and informs her that she should go ahead and leave Central City.
Playing His Own Game
Dr. Wells is cornered by Zoom and given an offer he can’t refused as Zoom dangles Wells’ daughter, Jesse, over his head - metaphorically speaking, that is. After learning about Turtle’s abilities, it would seem that team Flash is gaining ground with defeating Zoom. Only, that hope was squashed when Wells entered the particle accelerator and kills Turtle by extracting a portion of his brain matter! Seems everyone knows whose side Dr. Wells is on, his own.
Jay Is Dying
Remember those hobbies that Caitlin mentioned last season when she revealed she had a portable blood scanner in her purse? Well, apparently reading DNA is on her list of hobbies. Caitlin collected Jay’s DNA from his champagne glass at the diamond unveiling. By doing so, Caitlin discovers Jay is dying of an illness caused by Zoom stealing his speed.
West Family 2.0
One of the cliffhangers from the mid-season finale that left everyone hanging was the appearance of Wally West, the son whom Joe didn’t know he had. Both Joe and Iris immediately want the three to become a happy family and attempt to do so, but Wally isn’t having it. This is the natural thing to do when a person has never known their parent their whole life. They feel neglected. What hits Joe hard is when Wally rejects his attempts at being a father to him and reminds Joe that he’s a detective and didn’t even figure out that Wally existed or where his wife was. It may seem like Iris and Joe are trying to force a relationship on Wally, but that’s just the kind of people that they are. They’re all about being a family. The progression of West 2.0 will be interesting to see as the season continues. Another thing to look forward to is the interaction between Wally and Barry assuming that there is tension between the two. After all, Barry did kind of take Wally’s place growing up as being a son to Joe. Wally's appearance is also significant as there are now three Flash on the show, even though two of them aren't the Flash at this point.
The Return Of Reverse Flash
One thing that shocked fans with this episode was the appearance of Reverse Flash at the end. That’s right! Eobard Thawne seems to still be alive. Considering Eobard didn’t know what point in time he was in is a clue that there is a catch with his appearance. Only the next episode can say why Eobard has appeared and how.
