This appropriately titled episode sees the return of everyone’s favourite apex predator King Shark and also brings about new obstacles for Barry Allen.
While Caitlin still mourns the apparent loss of Jay, Harry, Cisco and Barry agree to refrain from talking about what happened on Earth-2 to the others, in order to prevent any repercussions. Caitlin decides that being angry is the only way she can get through this loss and stop herself from being hurt again. I think anyone could relate to this. It’s hard to constantly lose the people you love over and over again.
Meanwhile, King Shark has been kept captive by A.R.G.U.S.. John Diggle and Lyla Michaels arrive just in time see the walking Sharknado escape, and they make their way to warn Barry. The three team up and try to track King Shark down.
In an attempt at tracking King Shark at STAR Labs, Harry and Jesse work together (on science-y things) and manage to bond once again. Jesse, who may or may not have an integral role in the show later on, has visibly shown distress about the fact that herself and Harry are probably stuck on Earth-1 for a long time. I think it’d be fun to see her have a bigger role and stick around.
At Casa de West, Joe tries to get Wally and Barry to bond by asking Barry to help Wally out on a supercar project that Wally had been working on. It’s safe to say it didn’t work out and the two butted heads. The two (Wally more than Barry) probably feel the need to fight for Joe’s love, but I’m sure eventually we’re going to see the two become the best of buds.While Wally tries to leave Joe’s house out of anger/hurt, King Shark shows up and claims to smell The Flash’s presence. Attempting to stop him, Barry gets slightly injured and A.R.G.U.S. arrives, forcing King Shark to retreat. Once Barry is out of his speedster suit and returns back to his family, Wally accuses him of being a coward and walks away. Barry, once again, blames himself for all the events taking place.
Using a Flash doll as bait, the team try to lure King Shark out of the water, only to fail. Barry then forces King Shark to chase while he runs on water, eventually creating an underwater cyclone that is then electrified, thus knocking him out and enabling A.R.G.U.S. to capture him again.
At the end of the episode, Barry vows to open another breach into Earth-2 and defeat Zoom. Which means Harry and Jesse eventually get to go back home and maybe fight metahumans together? Harry seems pretty capable of doing so without Team Flash, so it could work. Back in Zoom’s lair, Zoom brings Jay’s body, takes off his mask only to the face of Jar Garrick.
This was an emotionally packed episode for Barry Allen. Like Diggle said, he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, even though he doesn’t need to. But Grant Gustin never fails to deliver amazing and emotional scenes that really tug on your heartstrings. Speaking of Diggle, it really was refreshing to see him on a lighter note.
Now for the “big Zoom reveal”, it can either elicit a shrug or a gasp from fans. I understand both reactions, to be honest. WIth the last season, Barry was betrayed by his very own mentor and it really took a toll on him. While Barry has shown to trust Jay in this season, the bond still wasn’t as strong as Barry’s bond with the first Harrison. Jay (or someone who looks like Jay) is still a slight betrayal, but not something to that extent. At most, Caitlin would be the one who was betrayed more than the others. Zoom, who is believed to be Hunter Zolomon, is something I can roll with. The writers are still managing to stay true to the source material, even if they aren’t going by it exactly word from word. And introducing the doppelganger named Hunter Zolomon should’ve been a giveaway, but some fans didn’t want to believe that a man who has Jay’s face could be Zoom, since they too have grown to trust him.
King Shark was one of the better episodes of this season and I’m glad they were able to bring in such an underrated villain and do him justice (and kind of make him a little more cooler). The reveal at the end threw me a little off guard as I expected a reveal only towards the final three episodes of Season 2, and this reveal did not overshadow King Shark at all. While somewhat surprising, King Shark stole the show for me. I love Sharks, they’re scary as heck, and this was just done beautifully – writing, producing and directing wise.
The episode was directed by Hanelle Culpepper, who has directing credits on shows such as Criminal Minds, The Originals and Castle. You get a good director, and you’re going to get a pretty darn good episode.
