- Title: The Flash – Rupture
- wiki: link
Although we see none of the Flash in action, aside from Cisco‘s (Carlos Valdes) parlor tick of using a hologram in an attempt to convince the people of Central City that their hero hasn’t abandoned them, “Rupture” may prove a pivotal episode not only in the season but the entire series. Offering the return of John Wesley Shipp, a new meta-human in the evil doppelganger of Cisco’s brother (Nicholas Gonzalez), the return of Zoom (Teddy Sears) and the beginning of his reign of terror on this Earth, and giving us the origins for two new speedsters in Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) and Jesse Quick (Violett Beane), the main focus of “Rupture” focuses in the internal struggle of Barry (Grant Gustin) weighing the costs of a risky opportunity to regain his speed.
Including arguments among all three of Barry’s father figures, Barry struggles to balance the risk of letting Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) recreate the accident which gave him his powers against the danger of something going terribly wrong, not just for him but all of Central City. Although it drags out the decision a tad too long, in the end Barry’s choice is made for the right reasons. Risking all to regain his speed not for himself but for a city in peril, the Flash makes the right choice for the right reasons. However, given the tease at the end of the show it may be an episode or two before we have the Flash back in action.
The episode gets its name from the meta-human brother of the alternate-Earth Cisco who, aside from helping Zoom terrorize the Central City Police Department, helps bring Cisco and his brother closer together. Relationships are a constant theme over the episode as Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) continues to try and reach a humanity in Zoom that appears to be gone, Iris (Candice Patton) drops a bombshell on Barry as the show apparently feels ready to finally delve into a romantic relationship between the pair, and the once and future Flash watches his three mentors argue the costs and benefits of attempting to regain his speed. In a single throwaway line the episode also offers a new possibility to the identity of the the man in the iron mask. I’d considered it before but thought it was unlikely. However, with the show looking to set up a Central City with multiple speedsters next season, I have to wonder if the only other actor to play the Flash on television will get his chance to suit up again sometime this, or next, season.
