'The Flash' recap: 'Trajectory'

After a small mid-season hiatus that left us after "King Shark," it's safe to say the flash needed to come back on a higher note. Fortunately, "Trajectory" was just that. It had a little bit of everything: Team Flash getting out for a little bit of fun, science that is equal parts confusing and unrealistic, family drama and a solid villain. As Cisco aptly remarked, "A female speedster? Took us two years, but we finally got one!"

Barry and Team Flash are facing depths they’re not sure they can defeat...literally. On the edge of a cliff, they’re trying to help increase Barry’s speed through practice. He prepares to jump across a canyon, jetting off to a good start before seeing how deep it is and faltering, only to be caught in a net by Cisco’s drones. They’ve still got a bit of work to do.

Getting Loose

Back at the lab, Jessie is catching up on pop culture on Earth-1. (Fun tidbit: Beyonce is known as Senator Knowles on Earth-2.) Feeling down about their failure at the canyon today, Cisco suggests they take a night off. After a little cajoling, Wells agrees to let Jessie tag along. Not without protection, of course.

Dressed up to get down, the crew heads out for a night. They’re joined by Wally and Jessie, who fumble their way through their introductions before Jessie runs off and turns off the watch -- prompting her to hear what Wells darkly confessed in his logs regarding what he would do to whoever it was that kidnapped and/or hurt her. On the dance floor, Cisco and Caitlin are goofing off while Barry and Iris watch them from a table. They make a couple awkward jokes about the fact that they’re not only married on Earth-2 but in the future, as well, as seen on the newspaper headline from last season. They’re interrupted before they’re able to actually talk by a golden blur, similar to The Flash. She’s faster than Barry, zooming ahead of him as he runs after her, leaving him behind.

The Pressure Is On For Iris

The morning after the appearance of the Mystery Flash, Iris is trying to do some digging on her own before getting called in to work. Her editor has the entire team working on this new angle with the Scarlet Speedster. He wants the city to be aware that even their heroes have to account for their wrongdoings. He once again puts the pressure on Iris to generate a story that’s not the pro-Flash pieces she’s used to writing.

In an effort to distract him, she takes him out to coffee. Iris and Scott are on what almost appears to be a date as she questions him as to why he hates The Flash. He doesn’t; he just wants to make sure the public doesn’t put him on the same pedestal as the one they put his former mayor on. The man seemed nice enough but, eventually, the public realized his campaign was entirely funded by the mafia. Scott just wants to make sure someone is holding him accountable for his actions. He then asks if she considers being “anti-Flash” a dating deal-breaker, surprising both of them when he realizes she didn’t ask him out on a date. Flustered and embarrassed, he stalks off.

A Chemical Speedster

The team is confused as to how this new speedster came about. As all the portals are closed and the particle accelerator would’ve taken effect by now, they’re puzzled - until Caitlin admits that there is another way. She explains that she, Wells and Jay were working on a serum to help him (at least temporarily) regain his power and had some help in recreating it. Barry’s upset that she and Wells wouldn’t tell him about this when he’s been trying to up his speed. But Caitlin stands by her belief that this would’ve hurt him more than helped him, as the Velocity serums are what’s killing Jay.

As Cisco goes to comfort her, he vibes when he touches her shoulder. He sees Zoom but not much else in his dark vision. He comes back to reality quickly, but before he can delve into what he saw, his computer system alerts the team that “Bad Flash” is at it again. Barry runs after her and gets defeated, but not before getting a glimpse that this speedster is actual a female.

Caitlin and Joe run off, as well, heading to Mercury Labs to speak with Eliza Harmon, a fellow scientist that was helping her create the Velocity 9. Caitlin claims to only have given her a small portion of the ingredients but isn’t sure if the formula was later compromised. Eliza laughs off her worries, explaining that while security at Mercury Labs is bad since a recent break-in, she personally destroyed all the evidence of their research. Caitlin seems appeased by this answer but asks her to keep her informed if anything comes up.

After hours, Eliza is conversing with a faceless voice, arguing about getting the V9. Turns out, she knew exactly what Caitlin was working on and is now addicted to the formula. She’s apparently not been able to recreate it though; she takes it and, looking at her reflection, she reminds her they know where to get more.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry is battling his own desire to take the V9. Wells reminds him that by “levelling the playing field,” he starts to lose a bit of his humanity every time he compromises his beliefs. Barry drops the vial, breaking it. The duo makes their way back to the main section of the base, where Barry’s promptly taken by the female speedster and locked in the secure prisons they use for the other metahumans. Though Barry tries to warn his other team members, “Trajectory” manages to get Jessie in her grasp and threatens to kill her if she doesn’t get another fix of V9.

Having created a fresh batch of V9 for Eliza, Wells and Caitlin hope this will appease her. Distrustful of them, she decides to ensure that they didn’t lace the vial with a sedative instead and injects Jessie with it first before deciding it’s fine and zooming off, leaving Jessie to go into shock. Wells and Caitlin set up for a blood transfusion to save her life.

Wells v. Wells

Jessie finally gets a chance to confront her father, asking him about the confession he made regarding the killing of Turtle. She’s hurt by this confession: “Now...now you’re a killer and I barely recognize you at all,” she tells him.

When she wakes from Eliza’s attack, he apologizes for what he did to protect her, but she’s not sure if he realizes how dark he’s going just to save her.

Speedster Standoff

Fortunately, Caitlin injected the new serum with a microtracker, tracing her to a local bridge. She’s running back and forth; with enough vibrations and friction, she could collapse the entire bridge, taking everyone on the bridge with her. Barry rushes over just as the bridge starts to collapse and he starts to empty it, attracting the attention of the other speedster. The bridge collapses, leaving them both on opposite sides.

Wells warns him he needs to hit Mach 3.3 speeds to make the jump, but Barry decides to do it anyway. He gets her just as her speed runs out and tries to talk her off the edge. She doesn’t heed his warning and takes her dose of V9 anyway, running off. Her lightening, instead of being the same yellow as Barry’s, starts to turn blue. As she keeps running, she evaporates.

Iris finally gets her article turned in and Scott begrudgingly admits that her article on The Flash was good. She apologizes for having misread his signs and admits that his anti-Flash sentiments are “not a deal-breaker,” promising something maybe new.

Wells searches for Jessie inside the lab’s base and, in her place, finds the watch he gave her. She leaves him a message of her own: she’s heading out, trying to find her own life. She’s making her way for Opal City, ready to find her own life on Earth-1. However, the team is trying to understand why Eliza’s lighting turned blue before she died, just like Zoom’s.

Cisco finally admits he’s been vibing Zoom each time he’s near the helmet. Barry smashes the glass holding Jay’s helmet and, as Cisco grabs hold of it, he vibes to Zoom, who takes off his mask and reveals Jay. The team is shocked by this revelation and Barry, hurt by finding out yet another one of his mentors has betrayed him, runs off to the canyon to scream in frustration.