The Flash Episode 2.04 recap
We flashback to the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion and meet one Jefferson Jackson, a star high school quarterback and team player. When the explosion occurs, he runs to help his teammates and friends get away but gets blasted by the dark matter energy anyway. In the present, Dr. Stein’s seizure continues but Cisco is able to stabilize him with the Firestorm device, though they’ll need to work on another power source or he’ll become too unstable. In researching potential matches out of people affected by the particle accelerator, Caitlyn finds a Henry Hewitt and Jefferson Jackson as likely candidates. Barry runs to the location of both men to take a blood sample, which he does really fast even for him.
Iris looks at old photos of herself and her mother, allowing Joe the opportunity to reminisce and remind her that she doesn’t have to meet her mother if she doesn’t want to; however she claims she does. At CCPD, Patty meets up with Barry about working on a metahuman case together, one involving a giant shark man. Barry downplays his interest in working on metahuman cases but agrees to take a look at the teeth anyway. After a brief chat with Joe about the flirtations between him and Patty, Barry heads back to STAR where Dr. Stein is trying out his energy-powered cane. They go over the two Firestorm candidates, with Caitlyn clearly favoring Hewitt due to his background and work ethic. Everyone agrees to try them both though, and we see none other than Earth-2 Harrison Wells wandering the hallways of STAR.
Dr. Stein and Barry go to see Jax at the autobody shop where he works, under the guise of government agents investigating people affected by the particle accelerator. They offer to help him, but he flatly refuses. Meanwhile at Jitters, Iris and Joe meet up with Francine, where Iris plainly tells her she doesn’t hate her, but she doesn’t want to see her either. At STAR, Hewitt gets briefed about everything that went on and will go on if this is successful. Cisco straps the Firestorm device to him but the convergence between him and Dr. Stein fails to carry out and he leaves the lab in a huff, his hand glowing from some external energy.
That night, Dr. McGee at Mercury Labs is going over her schedule when an alarm sounds. Guards rush to the applied sciences lab and see a figure leaving with some equipment, only Dr. McGee gets a good look at the thief and realizes that its none other than Dr. Wells. The next morning she speaks with Joe and Patty about the theft, confiding the identity of the perp to them as Joe reassures her that Dr. Wells is very dead. Patty offers to fold Barry in on the case, but Joe tells her not to do that due to Barry and Harrison’s past, it wouldn’t be good for him. She reveals that she isn’t good at lying, ironic given Barry has already lied to her once this episode. They return to CCPD where Francine is waiting once again and reveals to Joe that her reasoning for coming back was specific, she’s dying from MacGregor’s (a fictional disease that Arrow’s William Tockman, AKA the Clock King had as well as both Nora Freeze and Alfred Pennyworth in Batman & Robin.Yes, really).
Jax comes by STAR Labs, hoping to hear that the team will be fixing his knee, which was ruined in the explosion and thus ended any hopes he had of a football career. They explain their true intetions to him, the powers he is capable of, but he just laughs it all off. He leaves after Caitlyn hounds him about squandering his potential, and though Barry tries to remind her of the importance of this decision, she decides to go after Hewitt once again. That night, Barry reveals to Patty that her shark teeth are 100% human DNA and her previously-discussed bad lying comes into play when Patty says she can’t talk to Barry about another case she’s working on. He goes to Joe about it, but Joe plays it off as no big deal. They talk briefly about his visible feelings for Patty and how he needs to explore something new instead of lingering on Iris.
At his lab, Hewitt watches a video of The Flash and gets berated by his boss. The lights flicker at his power and some burst as he raises his voice. The next morning they see a news report about the blackout at the lab, and it becomes clear they triggered his abilities by trying to fuse Hewitt with Dr. Stein. Cisco isn’t surprised given the man’s police record, but everyone else is a little shocked since they didn’t know about that part of his character. Stein has a brief hiccup in his stability and Caitlyn realizes how badly she’s goofed up this whole situation. Back at his home, Joe tells Iris about her mother’s condition and that if she wants to see her, it’s fine by him. Iris remains skeptical, however.
Caitlyn goes to see Jax at his shop to try and reconvince him to come back, but he’s still not swayed. Hewitt appears out of nowhere and begins syphoning energy from the building to attack Caitlyn. Jax quickly subdues him and they escape to STAR Labs where things aren’t looking all that good for Dr. Stein. Seeing him in this condition, Jax agrees to merge with Stein, but Barry makes sure that he’s sure about this decision, and Jax agrees. Cisco lays out the whole process to him and puts the device on his chest. They bring Dr. Stein out of bed and the pair touch, merging into the all-new Firestorm with Jax hearing Dr. Stein inside his head. Just when he asks when he can take his powers for a test drive, an alarm sounds – Hewitt is attacking the Central City High School football field.
Hewitt continues to pull energy from the lights at the stadium while Barry saves the practicing football players from any harm. Cisco cuts the power to the stadium to prevent him from taking anymore energy and then their bout begins. Barry runs in circles to keep Hewitt attacking and keep him mad, which will likely make him “blow a fuse.” Jax and Hewitt trade blasts and Jax gets the final blow in that knocks him out.
Iris goes to meet Francine, but it’s not to hear her story or get to know her, it’s to confront her about her lies. Not that she’s dying, that’s true, but that she has a son born 8 months after she left Central City. Is it Iris’ brother? Joe’s son? She doesn’t know, and she doesn’t want to know, she just wants Francine to leave. Meanwhile, Dr. Stein and Jax prepare to head to Pittsburgh to meet up with his colleague that helped him and Ronnie harness their powers. Cisco recalibrated the device allowing for an easier convergence, but before they mesh, Dr. Stein tells Cisco that his powers are not a curse and he should tell his friends about them. The pair merge and fly away, allowing Barry the chance to reiterate the theme of the episode – take a leap of faith. In watching Patty from a distance, none other than a spectacular-looking King Shark appears and attacks him, citing that Zoom says he needs to die. Patty happens to walk by and sees her fabled “Man Shark” and opens fire, though her bullets do nothing. A shot rungs out from behind where a hooded figure holds a mysterious weapon and walks away. Barry confronts the shooter to find that it’s none other than Harrison Wells.
You can check out a preview for next week’s episode of The Flash, titled “The Darkness and the Light,” in the player below!
