On last Tuesday's episode of The Flash, Earth 2's version of Harrison Wells made himself known to this universe's Barry Allen, showing up in the nick of time to save him from King Shark. Patty ought to be preparing her "I told you so" dance about that particular metahuman, but still, King Shark is just another henchman of the actual big bad of The Flash Season 2, Zoom. He is enough of a threat that Jay Garrick was willing to let Team Flash lock him up in the S.T.A.R. Labs holding cell until he was able to convince them of his trustworthiness. And now even Harrison Wells himself is getting involved. Why does Zoom want Barry dead? What does Harrison Wells care if he does? And, most importantly, why doesn't Zoom just come through one of Central City's 52 portals and kill Barry himself? There's one possibility that though shocking, would provide answers to all of these questions: Zoom is Barry Allen, but from Earth 2.
The opening of the singularity set The Flash up to be able to play with time, alternate universes, and alternate personas in those universes. And thank goodness, because otherwise Harrison Wells could not longer have been a part of the show. But Wells is still as shady as ever; his motivations for saving Barry from King Shark and therefore Zoom weren't made clear in "The Fury Of Firestorm." The episode ended with Harrison revealing himself to Barry and Barry's answering incredulous stare. "What the...?" says the thought bubble I imagined hovering over his head.
But the promo clip for this Tuesday's episode provides a hint at what's at stake for Harrison Wells as far as Zoom's actions are concerned. In the trailer, Wells drops a bombshell. "What do you know about Zoom?" Barry asks. "Everything," Wells answers. "I created Zoom." Hmmm, who else did Harrison Wells claim to have created? Just Central City's ultimate hero and espresso drink namesake, The Flash.
Since Jay Garrick is the speedster for good over on Earth 2, it's clear Barry Allen doesn't fill that role. But what if he's a speedster of a different kind? What if this Harrison Wells helped the other Barry unlock his potential in the same way before his conscience took a turn? It might explain why Zoom is sending metahumans through the portals to take on Barry, rather than just clearing the Flash out himself. That sounds like the kind of thing that could pose a paradox, and Central City has dealt with quite enough of those, thank you.
Showrunner Andrew Kreisberg spoke to IGN about the double personality possibilities inherent in the Earth 2 storyline, and it seems that Wells won't be the only alternate universe version of the main ensemble that fans will be introduced to.
It’s about to go doppelganger-a-go-go on the show. With time travel last year, we kind of tried to ease everybody into it and we kind of tried to do the same thing here where the first episode was how the two guys look exactly alike and then Jay comes over and we establish the idea of Earth-2 and then we’ve had it sort of playing in the background for episodes three and four just to remind everybody that the show is still The Flash and you’re still going to get the typical Flash episodes that sort of tie into the normal mythology of the show.
The Flash has only cast the voice of Zoom — that's actor Tony Todd. So anyone, really, could be under that suit. And with the Wells connection so strong, I wouldn't be surprised if Zoom is revealed to be Earth 2's Barry Allen.
Image: Cate Cameron/The CW
