Flash season 2 finale
Barry and Zoom race in The Flash season 2 finale The CW

Barry Allen will fight Zoom head-to-head in the final race of his life in The Flash season 2 finale, airing next Tuesday (24 May) at 8pm EST on The CW. Episode 23 will pick up immediately after Zoom kidnapped Henry Allen and killed him, to teach Barry a lesson.

Grant Gustin, who plays the Speedster, spoke to TV Line at The CW upfront presentation in New York about Barry's emotional state going into the season 2 finale. According to him, Barry Allen will be in the "darkest place" after witnessing the death of his father, right before his eyes.

Gustin said, "He will obviously be in the darkest place.. very vulnerable. The thing about Barry Allen, the Flash is he is an optimistic character and his kind of way of life is to keep moving forward and to stay as positive as possible. I imagine we're not going to lose that."

"I think it will harden for him going into season 3, but I think we will still see Barry fighting for his optimism and trying to move on with his lives," he added.

In the past, fans have seen Barry coping with major deaths by pushing his loved one aside and distancing himself. Gustin addressed Barry's emotional state and spoke about whether Henry's death would be an obstacle in Barry and Iris's budding love. He said, "Probably... I don't know. Barry makes a decision at the end of this season that obviously he'll be vulnerable going into season 3, but, I think because of some stuff that goes down, the timeline will also be vulnerable going into season 3. I think regardless of what happened, this will affect every other relationship in Barry's life."

"He's at a crossroad. [He's] at a really dark place and not sure what to do, I would imagine. So, I haven't thought about Barry or where he is going since we ended, because it was such an emotional ending and I needed a break from the character," the actor added.

The plot description and promo for The Flash season 2 finale episode tease Zoom challenging Barry for a race. Below is the promo and synopsis for the episode: