Flash: King Shark

"I think we're going to need a bigger Flash."

- Cisco Ramon

"King Shark" is the fifteenth episode of season two of the live-action superhero fantasy series The Flash and the thirty-eighth episode of the series overall. It was directed by Hanelle Culpepper with a script written by Benjamin Raab and Deric A. Hughes based on a story treatment by Brooke Eikmeier. It first aired on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016 at 8:00 pm.

Synopsis
King Shark escapes from A.R.G.U.S. and is on his way back to Central City to complete his original mission - defeat the Flash, so that his employer, Zoom, will allow him to return to Earth-Two. A.R.G.U.S.'s new director, Lyla Michaels, brings husband John Diggle with her to Central City where they enlist the aid of the Flash.

Caitlin Snow is in a severe funk, having only recently watched another lover killed before her eyes, Jay Garrick. She is acting cold and distant, which greatly worries Cisco Ramon, since her behavior is reminiscent of her Killer Frost counterpart from Earth-Two.

Meanwhile, Barry Allen once again feels the weight of multiple worlds on his shoulders and blames himself for the recent calamities. Joe West invites him to dinner in the hopes of having Barry bond with his son, Wally. Wally tries to engage Barry, but Allen is distant, causing Wally to once again feel like an outsider.

Then there's that pesky shark problem. King Shark, towering more than fifteen-feet tall, picks up Barry's bioelectric signature and tracks him to the West house. He tears open the roof, looking for him, and Barry quickly changes his costume so he can deal with this marine menace.

Barry and his friends at S.T.A.R. Labs devise a plan to capture King Shark, and they lure him out into the middle of the ocean. The Flash creates an electrically charged whirlpool around King Shark, which puts him down for the count. With this debacle resolved, they hand the metahuman over to Diggle and Lyla.

Crew

 * Geoff Garrett - Co-producer
 * Jennifer Lence - Co-producer
 * Carl Ogawa - Co-producer
 * Glen Winter - Producer
 * JP Finn - Producer
 * Sarah Schechter - Executive producer


 * Aaron Helbing - Executive producer
 * Andrew Kreisberg - Executive producer
 * Greg Berlanti - Executive producer
 * Todd Helbing - Executive producer
 * Curtis Krick - Associate producer
 * Scott Sebert - Associate producer

Notes & Trivia

 * The Flash was developed for television by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns based on the character created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino as seen in The Flash comic books published by DC Comics.


 * Actor Tom Cavanagh receives a "With..." credit in this episode.


 * Actor Jesse L. Martin receives an "And..." credit in this episode.


 * Actor David Ramsey is given a "Special Guest Star" credit in this episode.


 * Actor Teddy Sears receives his guest star credit at the end of the episode so as to not spoil an important revelation from the episode.


 * Producer Joseph Patrick Finn is credited as JP Finn in this episode.


 * Director Hanelle M. Culpepper is credited as Hanelle Culpepper in this episode.


 * Story developer Brooke Roberts is credited as Brooke Eikmeier in this episode.


 * This episode had a viewership of 3.803 million people, which is down by 0.1 from the previous episode.


 * This is the second appearance of King Shark. He appeared last in episode 2x04, "The Fury of Firestorm". His human name is revealed to be Shay Lamden.


 * The Earth-One counterpart to Shay Lamden (King Shark) died in the particle accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs.


 * The final scene in this episode finally reveals the true identity of Zoom.


 * Actor/Stuntman Sylvesta Stuart also played a pirate in the "City of Heroes" episode of Arrow and a gangbanger in the episode "Beyond Redemption" from the same series.


 * John Diggle chronologically appeared last in the "Code of Silence" episode of Arrow. He appears next in "Taken".


 * This is the first time that Lyla Michaels has appeared on The Flash. She appeared last on the "A.W.O.L." episode of Arrow.

Allusions

 * Several references are made to the 1975 film Jaws by director Steven Spielberg in this episode, most of which comes from Cisco Ramon. Upon seeing King Shark he says, "I think we're going to need a bigger Flash", which is a reworded version of Roy Scheider's famous line, "I think we're going to need a bigger boat". He also compares himself to Quint, a character from the film, until Harrison Wells reminds him that Quint was killed in Jaws.


 * The line, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water" was the original tagline to Jaws 2, the 1978 sequel to Jaws.


 * Numerous references are made to Jay Garrick in this episode. Caitlin Snow watched Zoom kill Garrick by vibrating his fist through his chest at the end of "Escape from Earth-2".


 * Barry Allen comes clean to Joe and Iris about things that happened on Earth-Two. He tells him about the Earth-Two version of Joe and how he was killed in the crossfire by Deathstorm and Killer Frost. This took place in "Welcome to Earth-2".


 * Cisco Ramon makes a reference to Kool-Aid Man in this episode. Kool-Aid Man is the mascot for Kool-Aid, which is a brand of flavored drink mix manufactured by Kraft Products. In their advertising, the Kool-Aid man's trademark is to smash through a wall while shouting, "Oh yeeeah!".


 * Reference is made to Patty Spivot in this episode. Patty was a member of the Central City Police Department and the partner of Joe West. She is the former lover of Barry Allen and relocated to Midway City in "The Reverse-Flash Returns".