It was the shocker that nobody expected, and which will leave The Flash fans reeling for a month when the show goes on its month-long hiatus: the big bad Zoom, who makes the Reverse-Flash look like a whiner, is no other than Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the heroic speedster from Earth-2.
In its recap of episode 15, Forbes Magazine rightfully jumps to the end-of-credits trailer that left us more questions than answers. Garrick, supposedly the Flash of Earth 2, had been killed by Zoom, also from Earth-2, as he is trying to close the dimensional breach between the two universes. Zoom brings his lifeless body to his Earth 2 and unmasks himself, showing himself to be another Jay Garrick. The man in the iron mask, the prisoner in the lair he is taunting, looks at him silently in fear.
Nobody saw that reveal coming. Garrick was the silent hero in Team Flash, the mentor who showed a far greater humility than Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the romantic love interest comforting the widowed Caitlin Snow (Danielle Pannabaker). Fans had already lined up Earth-2 versions of Joe West, Henry Allen, and even Barry Allen as the secret identity of Zoom - but the episodes that showed our Flash sojourning to Earth 2 put those theories to rest.
Andrew Kreisberg, one of the creative geniuses behind The Flash, says that Garrick-as-Zoom is no stunt. In fact, the show had already hinted of it in the previous episode when Garrick showed Caitlin his Earth 1 doppelganger, Hunter Zolomon. Zolomon is the real name of Zoom in the comic books. Says Kreisberg in the Den of Geeks, '"... we assumed the comic book fans would say, 'A-ha' right away. 'Jay must be Zoom."
But it's not that simple, as Screenrant points out. Obviously, the man in the iron mask who keeps tapping 'J-A-Y' in Morse code knows something. Second, Garrick himself admits to Caitlin he lied about losing his speed; Zoom didn't steal it from him - his cells are reacting to the speed-infusing Velocity drug he injected into himself. Third, if Garrick is Zoom, then how can he carry a lifeless body of himself back to Earth 2?
Screenrant posts its own mind-blowing theory. Jay Garrick was a hero until the drugs deranged him when he was much older. Needing compatible cells to replenish his own, he went back in time and locked his younger, heroic self and took his place as the Flash; that locked-up younger alter ego is the man in the iron mask. When the breach opened, the older Jay Garrick becomes Zoom and journeys to Earth 1 to infiltrate and gain the confidence of Team Flash.
It does sound logical, but it still does not explain who the third dead Garrick is. Unless Zoom is not really Jay Garrick but only took his name and identity, and the real Garrick is the man in the iron mask.
The theories wil keep on spinning until the show returns in March. Expect things to heat up when Team Flash races to the finale. Kreisberg promises that everything will become clear - and as the show ends, every riddle, every twist, will finally make sense.
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