You don't have to re-open breaches in order to learn about these secrets.
Ambitious as always, Barry insists upon re-opening the breaches in order to get to Zoom—who, by the way, has a pretty tragic backstory. Harry helps Cisco fine tune his powers so that he can use them to control the breaches, and Barry uses his fancy tachyon device to get the upper hand. (Where can we get a tachyon device? Do you think they sell them at Sharper Image?) Barry’s new extra speedy skills have to be enough to stop Zoom... right? While Team Flash battles Zoom, they race into these secrets:
- Zoom's troubled past
- Time and speed tricks
- Is he a saint?
Want to carry on the conversation about the #DCTV Secrets in the episode? Race to #DCTV on Twitter and see what clues others have found.
Don't run any further if you don't want to know any more. But of course you do and you will.
You Don't Want to Revisit This Past
We touched on Hunter Zolomon's sad history in the comics in a previous installment of DCTV Secrets, but it's worth discussing again given the events of tonight's episode. We witness a young Hunter watching his father James abuse and then kill his mother Ashley. Yikes.
In the comics, it’s even worse. Hunter’s father not only kills his mother, but he’s a full-on serial killer. The name “Ashley” also has a tie to Hunter’s comic storyline—it’s the name of his eventual wife.
On the page, Hunter was affected by his past differently than on the show. The comic book Hunter worked to stop people like his father by becoming an FBI agent. Things didn't work out quite so well for him in the television series, where he became a serial killer responsible for 23 murders.
Another flip: the Hunter of the comics worked with Wally West and the two were good friends before Hunter became Zoom. For more on Zoom, be sure to check out his DC character page.
Speed + Time = What Is Happening, Exactly?
Ah, remember the good old days when the limitations and rules of the speed force were easier to wrap your head around? Barry's developed his powers—he's had to in order to keep Central City safe and sound—and as he's become faster, he's discovered new abilities. He ran on water, and he traveled through time. The latter skill has caused some problems, and Zoom proved it's an ability that can be abused. We've heard them talk about speed mirages before (it came up briefly in this episode), and that's similar to an illusion Barry Allen used in the comics to "clone" himself so he could appear to be Barry Allen and the Flash at the same time.
Zoom actually cloned himself by making a time remnant version of himself with Jay. The remnant is sort of like a longer-lasting speed clone.
Different, but the Same
Cisco re-opens the breach in the St. Perez Children's Hospital on our earth, but in Earth-2, the same location is St. Perez Mental Asylum. Saint Perez happens to be a real Catholic saint, but he just happens to have the same surname as legendary artist George Pérez. Perez has worked on numerous titles for DC, including CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, which saw the destruction of the Multiverse (only five Earths survived). Let’s hope that’s not a harbinger of things to come on The Flash.
Zoom! Will you just tell us who the man in the mask is already?! Maybe next time?
