The Flash: 8 Mistakes It Must Fix In Season 3

Enter Zoom was the sixth episode of Season 2. Versus Zoom, meanwhile, was the 18th.

In terms of creating a villain that serves as the Big Bad for an entire season, they should be stronger (as a character, not necessarily power-wise) the closer it gets to the finale and the ultimate showdown. So of these two episodes, which share a similar title and focus on the main baddie, it should be the latter that's the better of them.

Instead, Enter Zoom stands as a high watermark for Season 2, and Versus Zoom as one of its low-points. And that points to a big problem with the villain: he's just not interesting. When first introduced, they're an electric air of mystery surrounding him, and we don't know who he is or what he wants, but he's either to completely destroy Barry. That first fight (though it's so one-sided it can hardly be called that) is a devastating takedown of our hero, and a fascinating, frightening introduction to Zoom.

Gradually, as the layers are peeled away, he becomes way less magnetic. His story gets caught up in the weird way the character even exists, with doppelgängers and time remnants, and his motivations are rather lacking and muddled: he wants to steal Barry's speed, he wants to be the only speedster, he serves as a dark parallel to Barry, he's going to destroy the multiverse. Zoom was at his best when he was behind a mask and we knew hardly anything about him; the more he became a character, the worse he got.

Season 3 needs to craft a villain that can pose a huge threat to Barry and co., but also be an interesting, layered character in his own right.