“The Man Who Saved Central City,” the second season premiere of The Flash opens up with a cheerfully deceiving tone. Barry is duking it out against Captain Cold and Heatwave, and after an assist from Firestorm, they defeat the duo. The entire team is reintroduced at Star Labs, and you think everything is fine when the show pulls the rug and reveals none of that happened.
When the wormhole ripped through Central City, Barry nearly closed it on his own, but ultimately needed Firestorm’s help. They successfully defeat the threat, but not before Ronnie Raymond is sucked into the vortex, presumed dead.
The Flash‘s opening half deals with loss. The singularity closing and Raymond disappearing has separated the team. Barry has gone solo for the last six months, trying to clean up Central City singlehandedly. He’s quite literally running from his problems. Meanwhile, Caitlin has mourned her husband and moved on to Mercury Labs while Cisco is assisting Joe with the CCPD’s Metahuman Task Force. Iris still misses Eddie, who nobly sacrificed himself to stop The Reverse Flash.
The villain of the week is the Atom-Smasher (aptly named by Martin Stein, which makes Cisco a proud father). He’s a metahuman with he ability to grow his body molecularly, with the help of radiation. He shows up during Flash Day, the cities honoring of the hero. Originally a hero himself in the DC comics, this version is out to kill Barry. The Flash doesn’t have the big budget of a movie, but his costume verged on ‘dominatrix with a mask’ and the special effects of him growing were shoddy.
The group, through various trickery and setups, eventually catch the Atom-Smasher, and when they get him down to his normal size, it’s revealed he’s not the same man he was on earth (who they found dead earlier in the episode). He tells Barry “He promised he’d take me home,” if he killed Barry and refers to Zoom. This is setting up the big bad mysterious villain Zoom.
With the death of Eobard Thawne, Star Labs is left to Barry. Thawne gives him a USB video to watch, which he initially refuses. After bonding with Caitlin about sharing guilt for the death of Ronnie, they watch it together. Thawne has done of a confession video for the death of Barry’s mom, which allows his dad to be released from prison. When they hold a welcome back party, in quite a sentimental moment, his dad reveals he can’t stay in Central City, and that he’s going away because he’s afraid he’s holding Barry back. Barry doesn’t seem to understand but accepts the devastating news. As shown in prior flashbacks, Barry still has Joe, the man who raised him around, which may help deal with the loss.
With the team reassembled at Star Labs, substitute Martin Stein for Harrison Wells, the show ends on a thrilling introduction. After Barry is shown an updated look of his suit, Jay Garrick, aka The Flash from Earth-2, emerges from the shadows and tells the team they have a big threat to worry about.
“The Man Who Saved Central City,” doesn’t have much excitement, but it’s an excellent setup for season two. The episode set up the groundwork for things to come. It’s clear Earth-2 is going to play a huge part of season two, and that’s presumably where Ronnie Raymond ended up, and where Zoom is coming from. This episode won’t be remembered for being its boldest or best, but it will be remembered for introducing one of the trippiest storylines in comic book show history – I’m ready for Earth-2.
