The Flash Episode 205 - "The Darkness and the Light"

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

On this week's episode of The Flash, on Earth-Two, Harrison Wells gives a speech, 8 months in the past. He talks about metahumans appearing in Central City. He comes up with a piece of technology that allows users to detect metahumans. Jay Garrick shows up and says Wells created all the metahumans, including Zoom. Jay wants Wells to help him stop the metahumans. Wells is egotistical and tells Jay to stop them on his own.

Meanwhile, on Earth-One, Earth-Two Wells meets Caitlin and Cisco at STAR Labs. Wells says he has proof of his identity. Cisco wants to know why they're listening to him and Barry says Wells saved him. Wells says he knows everything about Zoom. Joe shows up and just starts firing at Wells, Barry stops the bullets. Joe and Barry talk in the hallway about why Wells is there. Barry is pretty trusting and Joe is stand-offish. Joe goes to visit Iris and catches her up on everything. He gives Iris a gun to protect herself.

Barry and Cisco head to the coffee shop and Patty sneaks up on them while they're talking. Patty says that she saw King Shark almost eat the Flash. As they get to the counter, Cisco and Barry argue about going on dates. Cisco asks the coffee shop employee out on a date, Kendra Saunders, who turns him down. Cisco has visions. He sees Dr. Light robbing a bank.

Barry rushes to Central City Bank and Dr. Light is there, robbing the joint. She escapes in a ball of light. Back at STAR Labs, Wells explains who is Dr. Light is. Jay Garrick shows up. He and Wells go back and forth. Barry asks Cisco about how he knew the bank was being robbed, but he doesn't explain exactly why. At CCPD, Barry asks Patty out.

Cisco visits Wells while he's working on Cisco's computer. Harrison wants to know why Cisco can't look him in the eye. Cisco explains that Wells killed him, but Barry erased the timeline. There's another robbery and Flash heads there. He tries to talk to Dr. Light. She says no one can protect him from Zoom. She takes her mask off and it's Linda Park?! She blinds Flash and runs off.

Caitlin explains Barry is blind, but his eyesight will come back. Wells says they should keep an eye on Earth-One Linda Park. Iris walks in and stops dead in her tracks when she sees Wells. Barry goes on his date with Patty but wears sunglasses that Cisco is tapped into so he can help Barry out. It's pretty rough but very humorous. Caitlin and Jay are on a stakeout and Jay says they shouldn't put too much trust in Wells. Patty and Barry are getting along on their date while Cisco is "creeping and peeping." Patty knows Barry can't see and Barry says he got his pupils dilated.

On Caitlin and Jay's "date," Jay talks about Atlantis and right before they kiss, their van gets blasted with light. Dr. Light enters Iris and Linda's work and threatens to kill Linda. Iris shoots Dr. Light's helmet off. Iris is confused and Jay comes in. Linda disappears.

Patty and Barry kiss at the end of their date and Barry gets his vision back. Patty and Barry head to Iris and Linda's work, as their boss is being put in a bodybag. At STAR Labs, Jay says Dr. Light has never killed before, but Wells says they can't reason with someone under Zoom's power. They argue and eventually start a fist fight. Barry talks to Wells. He says Barry is better and faster than Jay. Wells takes a look at Dr. Lights mask and says Cisco can find Dr. Light because he's a metahuman, outing him in front of everyone.

Cisco says he was going to say something, but he didn't want his powers to make them evil. Caitlin says none of them would go evil if they got powers.... Yes.... Caitlin Snow said that. Foreshadowing anyone? Cisco touches the mask and nothing happens. Wells shoves the mask at him and Cisco sees Dr. Light. Flash heads to the train station to find her. They square off and Wells tells Barry to create a speed mirage by running so fast it leaves an image. It works, up until Light does a huge blast. Jay encourages Barry and he tries again and succeeds. Barry knocks her out and she gets locked up inside STAR Labs.

Cisco gets more coffee at the shop and Kendra comes up to him to talk. They're going to go on a date. Barry gives Cisco the name "Vibe." Wells sees Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin having coffee. On Earth-Two, Zoom shows up and has a girl tied up. She says her father is the smartest man alive?

First thing is first, I was not expecting Dr. Light to be Linda Park. I really thought it was going to be Kimiyo Hoshi under the mask, so for the first time, in a long time, The Flash threw a curveball at comic book fans. Anyway, this little change goes a long way for the episode. Making Dr. Light the Earth-Two version of Linda Park is perfect because it causes Barry to pause when he finds out and he doesn't take the action, just like Wells said would happen. It really raises the stakes for the episode, since there is that connection between Barry and Linda and even though it's not the Linda he knows, he still wants to help. On top of that, Dr. Light's outfit worked extremely well for the episode. It looked really cool, the helmet had a function, and it's a pretty stand-out look.

A lot of this episode deals with the STAR Labs team dealing with Harrison Wells being back in their life. There are a lot of trust issues here, obviously, so the team isn't all gung-ho on letting him into their inner-circle. Viewers probably feel the same way about Wells. Sure, we see him, in the opening of the episode, on Earth-Two, doing his thing, but with all that happened between Wells (Thawne) and the STAR Labs team, it's near impossible for the viewer to trust that face.

There is a big difference in the Thawn-Wells and Earth-Two Wells. Earth-Two Wells is a giant jerk or a "dick" as Cisco puts it. Wells doesn't have a filter. He says what he wants and is straight to the point, which is usually pretty brash and cold. This feels like a very different Wells, even if we can't trust that face. His jerkiness leads to some great back and forths between himself and Cisco, which end up being pretty hilarious. However, Wells is actually the person that progresses Cisco forward as a metahuman here. Cisco is forcefully revealed that he has powers in a moment in need.

Another big part of the episode is the growing relationship between Patty and Barry. It's awkward, weird, and silly at times. This episode gets pretty cutesy and awkward during the scenes between the two. However, the date between the two, with Cisco helping out Barry, was actually a pretty great part of the episode. Sure, Patty is forced into a lot of scenes, but the two work well together. The actual date between them is sweet and a great insight into both of the characters, especially Barry who has been more of a hero without a personal life as of late.

This was another solid episode which does add a little bit to the overall season story. What the episode does well is develop the personal side of Barry a bit more and develop a new relationship between Cisco and the new Harrison Wells. Everything feels very clever for how it all comes together and while this episode didn't blow me away, it was still a ton of fun.

Moments of the Night:

• Wells calling Cisco "Crisco." Cisco calling Wells a "dick" later on.
• Iris' necklace looks like an open Pokeball.
• The moment Dr. Light is unmasked.

Question of the Night:

• Could Zoom be a someone we know on Earth-One?

Good Episode Harrison Wells is a boss.

Jay got punked by Wells and made Jay look like an incompetent boob. D*mn dog. I hope you get to redeem yourself.

Wells was boss like always I really love that he is back.

I love Earth-2 Dr. Wells, but I hate Earth-2 Dr. Light.

If Zoom is soo powerful and fast, it doesn't make sense that he doesn't kill Barry himself. It seems so obvious, yet no one asks why he hasn't.

Anyway, I'm glad Wells is back. Definitely the best part of the show imo. I am probably one of very few that hope he usurps Zooms speed somehow during the finale.

i can't wait for Wally to show up.

Man, this Wells is a jerk. Zoom's face mask is really creepy and cool. And Hawkgirl arrives in central city! Dr Light took down Barry twice with the shock wave attack... why did she even try to hit each image individually? Just spam the shock wave then zap him when he's on the ground.

I don't get the deal with killing the doubles. Atom Smasher did it, but it wasn't to escape Zoom, he was still after Barry. Is it some "Welcome to Night Vale" bit where they're compelled to try to kill their duplicates?

I was disappointed the series devovled into an episode of Three's Company. "Oh no! Barry is blind and has to go on a date! Hijinks ensue!"

Because he's an anime\RPG villain. Barry's not worth his time, he must send weaker enemies first. It's a brilliant plan and in no way gives Barry experience and training to enhance his abilities for when Zoom decides to fight him. What could go wrong?

One thing that I think Flash needs is a foil to Dr. Wells. There are not characters that are as suave and composed as Wells and can compete with him in discussion.

Awesome episode. I was genuinely shocked Light was Linda and while I still wouldve likes to see Kimiyo Hoshi, I enjoyed it. I just hope we don't get bombarded with Earth-2 versions of Earth-1 characters we know.

Oh Caitlin...how ominous it was to hear her line about not going evil after getting powers. Especially considering what her future most likely holds. Since Wells' machine didn't reveal her to be a metahuman, it does make me curious as to how she will make her transformation. I hope HIVE plays a role just like comics.

I'm guess Zoom is telling people they have to kill their doubles to live... Either that or they think their only chance at escape is to replace them.

Also, that was Wells' daughter from the intro, right?

@gregalicious: They made a big deal about pointing the metahuman detector app thingie at Caitlin, so I hope they aren't going to just have Earth 2 Killer Frost show up and be the only Killer Frost of the show. They need to have another meta-human causing event, or let her be bitten by a radioactive icicle.

(also, they really didn't learn their lesson about the their creepy prison. Especially when real prison is supposed to have a meta-human section...)

Ha! Crisco!

@gregalicious: I'm pretty sure Earth-2 Caitlyn is going to be Killer Frost, I just don't think they'd turn Earth-1 Caitlyn into a villain.

Welcome back Dr. Wells you glorious *******.

Found the jay being a coward stuff interesting. Lots of story potential there. Also love patty and Barry, so adorable. Hopefully the writers ignore their initial iris plans like arrow stopped pushing laurel and Oliver once it wasn't working.

The end fight sucked, Barry coulda punched her out a million times. He never needed speed mirages. If he's moving that fast to make them he coulda just knocked her out instead.

They need to never let Tom Canavagh go ever. Just have him come back and play the same but different character he's just soo fun to have around.

Glad they gave Malese Jow more to do she was solid as Barry's gf last seaosn but here we get some E2 fun as well. Also hilairous Flash love interest trifect at that crime scene.

Not sure how to feel about the kinda sorta queer subtext surronding Cisco's metahumanity. I mean last week (?) we had Victor Garber telling him to essentialy be honest with himself and then Jerk Wells outs him in front of everyone but also don't worry he's assumedly straight since he's got Hawkgirl's number. idk.

Anyone else feel like the set piece direction has taken a step back so far? Sure they lack the novelty of slowly building Flash's powerset; which this ep did have. But there's a sense of scale that isn't being created anymore or at least so far.

Cheap Plug to user review

Wells telling Barry to use a speed mirage and then Ciscos reaction to that because RF flash had already demonstrated that to him almost makes me think he could actually be RF. Calling it. RF is afraid of Zoom

Good episode, but the fights still don't make much sense.

Barry could of just use his speed to knock her out at the beginning, instead of doing the after-image.

And Light could of just use her light blast to disperse all the images...again.

Same issue was with most of the season 2 fights. Barry can run fast, but then slows down to punch at normal speed (EG: Atom Smasher episode)

@comicman1000: It'll be the lamest moment EVER in Flash history if Frost is Earth-2 Caitlin.

If it isn't "our" Caitlin, then what's the point? Unless she secretly violently kills Earth-1 Cait and replaces her, it'll be worthless.

Hopefully some type of failed experiment or brainwashing will be the culprit...again, hopefully by HIVE

Who's Teddy?

"You haven't been hunting him, he's been hunting you!" - I'm loving Dr. Wells, Tom Cavanagh is killing it right now.

I can't handle waiting a week for the next episode, they're all so great.

@xsbrx: every episode would end in 10 minutes if they actually use their real ability

I'm going with Zoom being Earth-2 Barry. Or Eddie.

At first I thought Zoom would be Earth-2 Wally or something now I'm getting Black Racer vibes from him especially that mask

earth 2 zoom is Eddie thawne. Calling it right now.

I thought this was a very humorus episode. I especially enjoyed the blind date. Wells from Earth two was interesting-especially with the personality change. He is much more brash. Tom Cavanagh had another excellent performance. My main negative is that I didn't really like the villain reveal with two characters being combined.

Man, and I thought last season had a villain-of-the-week feel. Looks like they may change things up a bit next week though which will be great.

So far this season my favorite moments have been the all the personal interaction. Patty and Barry, Iris and Joe, the star labs team and Wells... They're doing a good job writing all this.

But by far the worst part is the metahuman battles. Ugh, So much pointless blasting and dodging, and they feel very stiff and unexciting.

I was also getting annoyed with the way everyone treats earth 1 Wells. I mean they know his body was taken over by the reverse Flash but they keep insisting that Wells was such a bad guy. I feel even worse for him now, his legacy had been tainted by the real villain, Eobard Thawne.

I completely agree about the first part there. They've never met the real Wells, so it's weird they're treating him like he has any connection to Thawne. I don't feel too bad for him, though, because he's a complete jerk.

I'm guessing Jay goes by Rorschach's motto to when it comes Wells lol: "Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon/Zoom"

I got kinda angry when they said Barry is "always be better and faster then Jay".

Its weird that they keep saying Wells is evil because they never actually met the real Wells, it was Thawne.

@mutant_god: Yeah but they knew Eobard as Wells. It's hard to see anyone else.

Barry and Patty are relationship goals.

So Earth 2 Wells is basically Donald Trump.

I don't get why the Earth One crew doesn't understand that Earth One Harrison Wells WAS NOT EVIL. That was actually Thawne simply using Wells body. Kate made mention of it, yet they still use that as some sort of evidence to be suspicious of Earth 2 Wells (If that's who he really is.) I expect better from scientist who are trained to use facts and not emotions., though I guess we're all emotional beings. That said, still enjoyed the episode, but that point kinda nagged at me.

Loved it!

Finally, an episode of The Flash season two that was wholly enjoyable to watch. I've gotta say, while Arrow season four has thusfar been an improvement on the previous season, Flash season two has felt like a step backwards. But this episode was a very good return to form.

The twist with Linda being Doctor Light, for starters, was unexpected and very welcome. It added some interesting stakes to the episode, and the actress pulled off the new role very well. If I remember correctly, we should expect to see the actual Doctor Light on Flash soon. Perhaps Earth One Doctor Light will be Kimiyo Hoshi while Earth Two will continue to use Linda Park.

I'm glad we made a few strides forward with Cisco's powers. His insistence upon keeping them secret - while having the potential to be a great character moment - has largely fallen flat in previous episodes. Better that the secret is out now and we can move forward with Vibe. Also, the naming scene was nice.

The comedy was on-point for the episode, and didn't detract from the more serious portions. This is a large part of what has been missing from the previous episodes of this season. There hasn't been a great deal of wit in the comedy, and has contributed to a bizarre tone that doesn't appropriately match that of the first season. Hopefully future episodes will continue to employ levity and seriousness in proper portions.

And, now for the MVP of the episode, Harrison Freakin' Wells. I swear, Tom Cavaghan just breathes life into this show. Every time he's on screen, it's just magic. I love that we get to become reacquainted with a new version of Wells, and the mystery surrounding the character is fantastic. Not gonna lie, I'm kind of hoping he eventually becomes a second Reverse Flash, just because it doesn't feel right to lose Barry's greatest enemy after only the first season. But time will tell. Also, the Wells-Jay and Wells-Cisco rivalries were very nicely handled. I'm looking forward to more of those.

Patty is a character who is endearing, but just feels a bit out of place. Her realizing that Barry was blind was a nice touch to their date, but aside from that I'm not really sure where they're going with the character and the relationship. Like Barry said in the previous episode, right now Patty just comes across as a placeholder for Iris. Until the show can convince the audience that she's more than that and that Patty has a place in the show's action, I don't see anybody truly appreciating the character.

The action scenes were kinda blah. Metahuman fights haven't been great this season. It all kinda feels like the same thing. I was expecting that a fight with Doctor Light would add a new layer to the super speed fights, given the "speed of light" concept, but all we got was the typical blasting and running away when Barry could've just punched Linda2 out. Also, I hate when Barry catches bullets. Joe firing at Wells was great, but Barry's simply catching speeding bullets without needing to decelerate them always just looks bizarre. They would've been better off just having Barry move Joe out of the way.

Very solid episode. 8.5/10. Some awkward moments aside, this was a great filler that still managed to move the plot forward.

Looking forward to an actual confrontation with Zoom (whose appearance unfortunately pales in comparison to Reverse Flash's), and to the upcoming Flash-Arrow crossover.

What I liked about the episode.

1. New wells, his unfiltered taskmaster personality is great and reminds me that this ain't the old wells

2. Wells and Garret's fist fight. I would have love to that go farther

3. The lighted hearted comedy was great, especially seeing barry struggle on his date

Note worthy things

1. atlantic is in earth two, aquaman anyone

2. Wells is only doing stuff now because his daughter is kidnapped

3.Was coffee girl cisco asked out hawkgirl

Mixed in with a bit of Mark Zuckerberg for good measure.

That's true, Earth 2 Wells is a dick (as stated). I'm trying to remember the season 1 flashbacks to Wells before Thawne got to him. I'm pretty sure he was a nice guy wasn't he? Anyway, we're all being pretty nitpicky about this one thing but I wish they'd all start calling bad-guy Wells Thawne or Eobard.

@d9000: Yeah, I thought there were far too many leaps of logic to treat Earth-2 Wells like a villain just because he looks like someone else. Barry saying "It's taking everything I have to not kill him" and Joe's itchy trigger finger were just bizarre.

Similarly, I thought Linda's immediate jump to "How is it possible that she looks like me!?" breakdown was strange. Normally someone would think "Well, that person looks oddly similar" instead of having a full-on existential breakdown.

Also, does anyone else think it's strange that Earth-2 characters refer to their world as Earth-2? I can imagine Jay is just saying it to go with the flow, but Earth-2 Wells doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd just accept the idea of his world being Number 2 and the one he's visiting being "Prime".

Also there was a nod to Aquaman and that he and Jay are friends.

He doesn't want to kill Barry. He wants him to become really fast so he can steal his speed later on.

This was the best episode of the season. 5 Stars all the way.

Again, the whole Caitlyn and Jay thing is absolutely stupid and pointless. I'm sure it will lead to some kind of Caitlyn emotional rift when Ronny returns, and everyone can see it coming.

Lol, so true. Between that and the illegal prison in their basement the Star Labs team is coming off as very shady these days :p

That would have been funny if Wells was like "hold up, we're Earth 1 and you can be Earth 2". But maybe there's like a big sign when you come through the wormhole that says "Now leaving Earth 2, Welcome to Earth 1".

Yet again they altered a character for no reason. I'm done with this show.

That was pretty good, but I still think Arrow is (surprising) slightly better. But damn, Zoom is scary. lol

Well, gotta have a whole season don't we haha

@lukehero: I'm thinking Wells will end up being the one that steals his speed. Either that or he'll die unselfishly saving Barry or somethi nf like that. In any event, Zoom shouldn't send people through that can't really push Barry if he's trying to get him to run faster. He should push Barry himself to make him better. I'm betting it will be the Earth 2 Eddie Thawne btw

stop nit picking every little thing abou this show , ITS A LIVE ACTION COMIC TV SHOW ,do you really expect them to be exact with everything from the comics? that would be so boring

@supermanwithatan01: I don't see Earth 2 wells dying to save Barry. I could see him dying to save his daughter, but not Barry. I hope Jessie has her speedster powers. I'm still very bitter than Jay is a powerless coward so far.

Who are you talking about?

I figure only Light thinks she could escape Zoom by pretending to be Linda of Earth Prime. Atom Smasher probably wanted to get the attention of Flash, and well...why not kill himself?

To be fair to one of your points though,

Fighting Atom Smasher is absolutely nothing like fighting Zoom. I'm gonna call it and say Zoom is the big dog in the Central City evil Meta Community, but still wants to get rid of anyone he probably thinks could be competition against him. He could probably have killed a lot of these other villains, but why not let them go get themselves killed or locked up and cull the heard so that all of Central City can be his?

He faced Sand Demon and Light alone without powers. At a time Barry was also afraid of the Reverse Flash.