The Flash Season 2: 7 Ups And 5 Downs From 'Versus Zoom'

Should The CW's Scarlet Speedster show have kept The Flash alive?

by Andrew Pollard
The Flash Jay Cisco ups downs
The CW

After having a few weeks off, The CW’s Flash is back as the second season of the network’s Scarlet Speedster sprints towards the finish line. Having been tormented for so long by über-rogue Zoom, Barry Allen finally gets another chance to confront his foe as he desperately looks to neutralize the threat of this nefarious speedster.

The aptly-titled Versus Zoom sees Barry manage to up his speed to such a level that he is in fact faster than the big bad of Season 2. With that in mind, he targets Zoom and looks to put an end to his evil, speed-sapping plans once and for all.

As ever, this latest Flash offering was littered with some fantastic moments and a few happenings that felt a little off, but overall this was another great outing for the Sultan of Speed. Sure, maybe at one point it looked to have brought the season to a close after The Flash had seemingly bested his rival, but that was all merely a ruse.

With Versus Zoom now in the books, let’s take a look at what this latest episode got right and what it didn’t do quite so well. First, the downs... 

12. Persuading Cisco Ramon

The Flash Jay Cisco ups downs
The CW

For once, the usually fast-talking, quip-delivering, reference-making Cisco Ramon was shown to be actually scared about what could be about to happen,

So often Cisco is the show’s comic relief, but, in a rarity, we saw a different side of “Vibe” here.

With his powers potentially able to open up a path to Earth-2, Barry finally manages to convince Cisco to unleash his powers and help him get to Zoom and put an end to his evil plans. Only Cisco has a shuddering change of heart, unable to go through with the act for fear of this being the beginning of his path to the dark side.

It was great to see the ever-confident and funny Cisco portrayed in a different light here, and it really gave a sense of gravitas to the situation to see him hesitant to help out Barry for fear of the repercussions.

With that said, it then felt like a bit of a slap in the face to have the supposedly iron-willed Ramon change his mind so easily and decide to help out Barry in the end.

Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.