It’s a Metapocalypse in Our Recap of The Flash Episode 2.22

It’s the Metapocalypse! Earth-2 Metahumans are everywhere and attacking everyone, but Barry has his powers again and he takes quite a few of them out with ease. Back at STAR Labs, Caitlyn has returned but is more shaken and doe-like than ever before. She says they can’t stop Zoom, but Barry has a boundless optimism after his trip to the speed force, which everyone worries is overconfidence. Cisco tries to talk to Barry about it, but has an inexplicable vibe of a dead bird. Meanwhile at Mercury Labs, the Earth-2 version of Laurel Lance arrives and begins to shatter the support columns for the building. Dr. McGee begins the evacuation process, but gets caught in the collapse only to be saved by The Flash, who she knows is Barry.

Back at STAR Labs, Dr. McGee reveals they have a device, sort of a “blackbox for buildings,” that holds all the security footage, which could reveal their attacker. There’s a lot to catch her up on since they last saw her, and since she last saw Harrison Wells. Elsewhere, Wally uses his car to stop a purse snatcher, but he gets more than he bargained for when it turns out to be a metahuman. Luckily Joe and some cops arrive to corral the ne’er-do-well, and lecture Wally about being safe and letting the cops and The Flash. Wally, however, wants to prove to the Scarlet Speedster that he was worth saving.

Caitlin runs some tests on Jesse to make sure her genetic structure didn’t change after getting hit the particle acclerator explosion, but Dr. Wells reassures her she’s not a metahuman. Perhaps its wishful thinking on his part. Things aren’t as calm for Caitlin though, who briefly sees a flash of Zoom. Barry returns to the lab with the surveillance box. As they try to find the footage, Henry Allen tries to talk to Barry about his newfound optimism, but that’s just it. He’s gotten over his demons and is happy. The two bicker about not being in each other’s lives enough but quickly make up, only to be interrupted by an alarm: The Flash symbol burnt into the side of the CCPD.

Barry runs to his old lab where Hunter/Jay/Zoom is hypothesizing that the two of them are the same person really. Tragic past, desire to be fast, but there is one big difference: Barry thinks he has to be a hero. Back at the lab, Barry says they need to target the Metahumans as their Zoom’s armor here on Earth-1. He goes on to suggest they build some sort of vibrational tech to take them out, but he leaves the heavy lifting to Wells and Cisco, who has another vibe of the dead birds. Joe stops Barry and asks him to talk to Wally, as The Flash naturally, which he agrees to do. Later, Cisco is frustrated in trying to figure out what to do. Caitlin has another Zoom-panic and confides in Cisco that Jay took everything from her, even her sanity. She may never be whole again.

Elsewhere, Wally listens to a police radio and gets a visit from The Flash. Despite Barry’s insistence he should leave it all alone, Wally wants to help, it’s his city too. Barry gets an alert from across town and runs to stop it, but he said the address out loud and Wally decides to follow. Once he arrives, Barry sees who has been leveling buildings in the city: Earth-2 Laurel Lance, aka Black Siren. She uses her powers on him and gets a few good licks in as Barry’s ears ring. Wally and his car then appear at the exact right moment and knock Black Siren out of the way and pick up a ringing Barry. Back at STAR Labs, Joe is none to happy with Barry’s talk since it definitively didn’t dissuade Wally. Barry brushes it off again, but Iris makes sure to let him know it’s okay to consider what risks are worth taking.

At CCPD, Black Siren asks Zoom what his grand plan is, but he’s not giving it up even to her. In the depths of STAR Labs, Cisco’s idea works and it functions as such: Earth-2 inhabitants vibrate at a higher frequency than their counterparts, so by creating a device that emits a higher frequency and having it bound off of a refracting field created by Barry (naturally by running in a circle around the city very fast) the frequency will increase and render them all unconscious. Even Zoom. Everybody got that? As they prepare to start, Black Siren attacks a building, but Cisco has a plan.

Laurel observes her next target, a whole series of buildings, but she’s soon joined by Cisco and Caitlin disguised as Reverb and Killer Frost. They act as though the reports of their deaths were greatly exaggerated and try to recruit Black Siren to their “plan” to ambush Zoom. Barry begins running around the city and Jesse and Wells put in special ear protection as they turn on the machine. The idea does the trick and knocks the high frequency waves around the city, knocking out all of the Earth-2 metahumans. Black Siren is affected to an extent, and Cisco somehow gains actual vibration powers while wearing the Reverb disguise and uses them on her. Zoom even stumbles about the halls of CCPD but quickly opens a rift and escapes.

The team locks up the metahumans in the Pipeline and at Iron Heights, and though she’s not fully recovered, Caitlin is certainly feeling better about things. Barry meets up with Joe later and tells him he’s not going to talk to him as The Flash again, he won’t stop him from becoming a hero. He’s gonna get speedster powers people! That night a big family celebration is in order at the West house and as Joe completes his toast, Cisco vibes one more time and relizes what he’s seeing: Earth-2, cracking in half and falling to pieces. Right on cue, Zoom appears, and grabs Henry Allen. Barry runs after them, revealing himself as The Flash to Wally, and finally catches up at his childhood home. Zoom reiterates how similar they are, while Henry Allen tells Barry how proud of him he is, and they now have something even further in common: they’ve seen their parent die in front of them. Zoom sticks his arm through Henry Allen, killing him.

Watch a preview for the Season 2 finale in the player below!