THE FLASH Writers on Wells, Patty Spivot, Francine West, and More

THE FLASH didn’t save its biggest shocks for the season premiere.

In THE FLASH’s second episode of its sophomore season, The CW series dove into the Earth 2 of it all, revealed how Tom Cavanagh is playing into the show this year, brought back an important member of the West family, and more.

The writers of the hour, Aaron and Todd Helbing, and guest star Teddy Sears (Jay) spoke with reporters about what went down…Dr. Wells is alive…on Earth 2.

The tag of the hour showed STAR Labs on Earth 2, a tour guide got very excited when the group ran into Dr. Wells.

“I think since we introduce Earth 2, there’s always a possibility we’ll go there,” Aaron Helbing said. “Not necessarily early on but…you’ll see more of it.”

“I think it’s such a unique opportunity to have a character that everybody fell in love with and everybody hated at the same time and try to reinvent him in a different way,” Todd Helbing added. “I think that was always the plan [to keep him around], it was just a challenge to figure out how to do that and have it be satisfactory.”

Jay is the newest member of Team Flash.

Jay Garrick made his presence known to Barry and the STAR Labs team, but there was a twist: he’s lost his powers since he arrived in Earth 1.

“I would certainly say there are definitely frustrations to not being able to do what he’s used to doing and helping the way he’s used to helping,” Sears acknowledged. “But given his background as a scientist, he’s able to put that into play, so even though he’s not able to physically do what he’s used to doing, he’s absolutely able to help with his knowledge.”

“I think because of that, he can’t do it himself so he might as well use what he knows and push Barry to go further and go deeper,” Sears continued. “Maybe he would just jump in and do it himself, but he’s got this young guy and that also deepens and strengthens that coach-athlete dynamic.”

Jay’s experience will allow for Barry to have a different kind of mentor than he’s had in the past.

“Last year he didn’t really have anybody that he could speak about being a speedster with,” Todd Helbing said. “It’s not like he could go out and have drinks with Wells and talk about being a speedster, but he can with Jay. And Jay can sort of mentor him in some of the powers that he has and figure out the best way to use them.”

If Barry can use his full potential, the team might have a chance to take on the new baddie, Zoom.

“Jay’s biggest rival is Zoom and he needs Barry’s help to defeat this guy,” Sears said. “I think when we see him he arrives without his speed and he knows what Zoom is capable of so he very much needs to enlist Barry and he needs to, I guess, have Barry harness these powers and these sort of depths that he didn’t know he could reach. He needs Barry to achieve these things in order for him to defeat Zoom. It’s sort of the wonderful mentor/mentee thing we see start to develop…I think he just wants Zoom gone and he certainly can’t do it by himself.”

But Barry won’t be the only person Jay befriends: Sears confirmed the bond Jay had with Caitlin will be explored.

“There’s a connection these two have,” Sears said. “A comfort level; almost an instant comfort level. That wonderful thing you don’t get with too many people in life, these two experience. They’re going to explore that a little bit. Jay and Caitlin are part of a bigger team at STAR Labs, and they’re going to have a series of interactions that…yeah, I think they’re going to explore a little bit.”

Zoom is “your worst nightmare.”

So far, Zoom has sent people from Earth 2 to try and kill The Flash, and “there is a reason” why he hasn’t just gone there to do it himself, Todd Helbing said.

And though Wells was quite the adversary for Barry, Zoom is a whole other thing to deal with.

“He’s a speed demo,” Todd Helbing said. “I think Reverse Flash/Wells had to sort of hone Barry to get what he wanted. Zoom is just like your worst nightmare. He’s going to come in and if he doesn’t get these guys to do what he wants, he’s going eventually show up and try to take him down himself. He’s the scariest speedster on the planet.”

“I think where Wells had a bit of a conscience now and then when it came to Barry, Zoom [just] wants to kill Barry,” Aaron Helbing said.

And, of course, there’s the matter of the 52 breaches between the Earths.

“But they figure out a way to sort of control it,” Todd Helbing teased. “It’s very bad — there are 52 breaches and Zoom can come through any of them with whoever he wants, so they have to figure out quickly how to manage the biggest threat to them.”

Francine West has returned!

After being MIA for a very long time, Joe’s ex (and Iris’ mother) has returned.

“She came back to see her daughter and reestablish this family that she once had,” Todd Helbing said.

But it might not go as smoothly as Mama West hoped.

“Iris obviously has this conception about her mother and her being away from her her whole life,” he continued. “And I’m sure you can imagine learning that is not the case can sort of turn your world upside down, so that’s the jumping off point that she’s going to be starting with.”

Meet Patty Spivot.

Joe West gained some of his own help with the introduction of Patty Spivot, a young cop who proved herself worth of joining his metahuman task forc.

“We wanted to make her this very strong, hardcore female cop who has a purpose,” Todd Helbing said. “Originally, we talked about she’s kind of like Felicity, but the second we started writing her, we felt like we had to make her quite a bit different. We wanted to have her feeling part of the show and part of the universe we set up. Just somebody that was in this for the right reasons, hellbent on stopping Mark [Mardon/Weather Wizard] and metahumans and somebody that could feel like she was part of the metahuman task force and hold her own.”

And sparks could fly between Barry and Patty, as well.

“I would say Iris is always Barry’s lightning rod — best friend, first love of his life,” Aaron Helbing said. “But she just lost Eddie, so as she is dealing with this and Barry and Iris are slipping back into that friendship mode, it leaves an opportunity to explore a relationship with Patty. We’ll see how that develops. But Iris and Barry are childhood friends and loves and that’s always going to be there for both of them.”

Cisco and Martin are in trouble.

Cisco wasn’t able to keep his new powers a secret for long, as Martin Stein figured out something was going on.

“I think just like what we saw him say to Stein is…Wells gave this power to him and Wells was very evil so he’s just a little freaked out,” Todd Helbing said. “So I think as the season goes on you’ll start to see him deal with that problem of how do I tell these guys? When do I tell them? And then sort of figure out this power that he has and how to control it more.”

His pressing need to reveal the truth is a bit less now that Martin, himself, collapsed.

“I think obviously with what happened to Ronnie he’s missing a side of him that he’s had for quite a while now,” Todd Helbing teased. “And that’s going to start to sneak up on him.”