The Flash - 'Escape from Earth 2'

Yep; you were a real scary villain until we got up close.

With Barry a prisoner, Cisco and Harry realise that Zoom will be coming for them, and hide in Harry's time vault with E2Barry. They make contact with E2Iris and make a plan to go after Killer Frost, perhaps the only person who knows where Zoom's hideout is, and who might be persuaded to betray the man who killed Ronnie Raymond.

Back on Earth 1, Caitlin is working on progressively better versions of Velocity to allow Jay to fight Geomancer. He is able to save the occupants of a collapsing building, but his cellular degeneration is accelerating. Caitlin thinks she can do better.

"Nobody knows, the trouble I've seen..."

In his cell, Barry gives Jesse Wells a pep talk and tries to communicate with the Man in the Iron Mask, who manages to use a POW code to spell out the name Jay, but is frustrated when Barry tries to tell him that Jay is safe on his Earth. Barry gets the idea to try to phase through his cell, but is out of resonance with Earth 2.

Caitlin finds a variant of Velocity that triggers Jay's regenerative abilities (her biochemistry is better than her counting, as she appears to jump directly from developing Velocity-7 to administering Velocity-9,) repairing his cell damage, but then Geomancer busts in. He threatens to bring the place down, but Caitlin snags him with the Boot, and can I just say that it is about time Caitlin got some badassery. I am very much in favour of this development. Unfortunately, the tremors disrupt the speed cannon and destabilise the breach.

Strange bedfellows.

Team Cisco find and recruit Frost, after a fight, who takes them to what Cisco dubs the Cliffs of Insanity. They rescue Jesse, but Barry and Buckethead are still trapped behind unbreakable glass. With a bit of a pep talk from E2Barry, however, Barry finds his mojo and phases out of the cell. At that moment, Zoom shows up, thanks Killer Frost for bringing them, and threatens to kill everyone but Barry and Harry, keeping them alive until Harry gives him Barry's speed.

Fortunately, Frost's hatred of Zoom motivates her to blast him with her powers and allow the others to get away. Buckethead is left behind, but Barry swears to return for him.

With Zoom not far behind, Barry catapults Cisco and Jesse to Earth 1 just as Jay, Joe and Iris get the speed cannon going and the breach stabilised. Barry snatches Harry from Zoom's grasp and Jay seals the breach, but Zoom pulls him through just as it collapses.

Now, this is a very interesting episode, and I'm calling that the real Jay Garrick is in that iron mask. I'm not sure if fake Jay Garrick is Zoom or some other speedster or what, but I'm guessing that his not-Jayness is why Hunter Zolomon's DNA wouldn't help. I know that Hunter Zolomon is at least one version of Zoom, but I will say right now that I really, really hope that the face under the Tony Todd-voiced mask isn't white and I reserve the right to caption the reveal 'What's a Nubian?' if he is.

But the real problem with Zoom in 'Escape from Earth 2' is that of necessity they have to get away from him, and even with the last minute Garrick-grab this means he is no longer as scary as he was. Likewise, the critical revelation that Zoom can't actually steal Speed without help makes him less scary; less an apex Speed-predator and more the fastest bully in the playground.