The Flash Review 2×13: “Welcome to Earth-2”

Team Flash’s trip to Earth-2 demonstrated that being bad never looked so good.

The Flash - It’s the episode we’ve all been waiting for as Barry (Grant Gustin), Cisco (Carlos Valdes), and Harry (Tom Cavanagh) finally travel to Earth-2 in order to try and rescue Jesse (Violett Beane) from Zoom’s clutches. Before traveling to this other dimension, they are advised by Jay (Teddy Sears) not to believe anything they see and that if they don’t return within 24 hours, they will be trapped there forever. While it’s fun and games at first, the team’s presence on Earth-2 leads to some fatal outcomes and an especially dangerous situation for Barry. With so many shocking moments, let’s not waste any time and get straight to it!

That old familiar feeling.

Upon arriving on Earth-2, Barry and Cisco are both wildly fascinated at how different it is from their Earth. When we say different, we mean downright trippy. Not only is the tech more futuristic and advanced, their counterparts are nothing like the original. They realize this upon meeting Henry Hewitt (Demore Barnes) aka Tokamak at S.T.A.R. Labs. Like Earth-1 Hewitt, he is a scientist, only mild-mannered and not evil. The more surprising changes come moments later, however, when a televised newscast announced that Mayor Snart (Wentworth Miller) has issued a curfew because of Zoom and then shows the Earth-2 version of Barry himself. Barry is flabbergasted to see how different his twin dresses and behaves, which he uses to his advantage when he disguises himself as Bartholomew (his Earth-2 given name) in order to infiltrate CCPD and locate Zoom.

Once inside the precinct, he is even more startled to discover that Captain Singh (Patrick Sabongui) was a petty criminal, Floyd Lawton (Michael Rowe), a cop (with terrible aim), and his partner was Detective Iris West (Candice Patton), who’s married to Bartholomew! Jaws, meet floor. After some down-low PDA at the station, Barry and Iris head to their home where Iris tells him his mom, Nora (Michelle Harrison) called. He tells her that he’s glad to hear she’s happy and as he breaks down, so do our hearts. Later, he and Iris head down to Jitterbugs, Earth-2’s version of Jitters, where we see good ol’ papa bear Joe (Jesse L. Martin), or Joseph, as he calls himself, belting out a tune on stage. Yes, you right that right, he’s a jazz singer. Who knew Jesse had a set of pipes on him? He also has a very hostile relationship with Bartholomew, a far cry from Joe and Barry’s.

Any chance of Barry repairing that relationship is put to a halt when Earth-2 baddie couple Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) and Deathstorm (Robbie Amell) crash the party searching for “breachers” - people who crossed over from Earth-1. While trying to protect Iris, Joe is hit by Deathstorm’s flame, and later dies at the hospital surrounded by a grief stricken Iris and Barry. Feeling guilt over failing to protect Joe, Barry tries to come up with a way to save Iris but Harry pleads with him not to get emotionally involved. If Killer Frost and Deathstorm knew Barry was on their turf, so would Zoom, which meant Jesse was as good as dead. Barry, altruistic as he is, instead ignored Harry’s warning, and vowed to saved his loved ones, no matter the cost.

“No matter what universe I’m in, they’re my family! I would think by now, you would get how important family is!” - Barry

Woah, a lot to wrap our minds around! We were so amused by Cisco’s reactions to being on Earth-2 and Harry’s annoyed father-like behavior towards he and Barry but we especially enjoyed how Grant Gustin successfully transformed himself into a full blown nerd, right down to the bowtie and glasses. He especially sold it in his acting, first when fanboying over meeting his idol, Harry, and later when breaking down on the phone while speaking to his mom. We also noticed some important names on the West-Allen’s home phone: Dad and Eddie. Do you guys think this disproves the theory that either Earth-2 Henry or Eddie is actually Zoom? Probably, but our guts are still saying he’s Eddie.

A poison paradise.

Meanwhile, back on Earth-1, Jay faced difficulty taking over Barry’s responsibilities as he, Caitlin, and Joe try to stop meta-human of the week, Geomancer. Joe pressured Jay into taking Velocity-6 once again, but Jay aggressively refused. When left alone, he explained to Caitlin that he had done a terrible thing and because of that, he wasn’t deserving of her affection. After the particle accelerator granted him super speed, he used his scientific background to make himself faster and created Velocity-6. Problem is, that’s why he lost his speed and it’s killing him. Caitlin says Jay now has something he never had before: her. And she won’t stop trying to save him. All together now: Awww.

Later, as it seemed that Joe and the CCPD would have to face Geomancer Jay swooped in, uniform and all, to save the day, thanks to Caitlin’s Velocity-7 serum. It quickly wore off, however, leaving him completely helpless. As Geomancer was about to burst his skull, Joe fired a few rounds into his chest, killing him. Don’t worry, except for a few scraps and hurt pride, he’s fine. As Caitlin patches up Jay, she tells him that she’s working on the more potent serum, Velocity-8, which means Jay will be a speedster sooner than we think. For right now though, he needs to focus on stabilizing the breach so Team Flash can return home.

Things were not nearly as peaceful on Earth-2 with Killer Frost and Deathstorm wreaking havoc everywhere they went. On the plus side, they looked really good doing it. Barry attempted to get through to Caitlin but failed; she said her name was no longer Caitlin and that she enjoyed being a villainess. Ditto for Ronnie - He revealed that while Earth-2 Stein lived inside him, he snuffed him out long ago, regaining total control of his mind and body. When Barry revealed himself as The Flash, they instantly tried to dispose of him but failed and retreated back to the shadows. These two caused enough destruction on their own, but the person calling the shots was even more wicked.

“Good thing the only man I can kiss is the only one I want to.” - Killer Frost

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

At CCPD, Iris and Lawton were suiting up to hunt down Killer Frost and Deathstorm when Barry introduced her to Cisco and the weapon he created to neutralize her powers. Barry insisted on going with her but she told him to stay put for his protection, taking Cisco and Lawton with her. Just when Iris thought she had them cornered, a mysterious figure appears from the shadows and says Frost and Storm work for him and he works for Zoom. Get ready for this: It’s Cisco’s evil doppleganger, Reverb! We told you, this earth is straight trippy! His hair was different and he spoke with an accent but he was much more powerful than our Cisco (who he calls Francisco), which he demonstrated by blasting Lawton into a wall with his hands.

Refusing to go to the dark side, Cisco calls in Barry for help, and then the showdown really begun! Iris shot Frost in the shoulder, leading Storm and Reverb to blast him with their waves, while Frost begged them to stop or else face Zoom’s wrath. That they did when Zoom raced in and killed Storm and Reverb. As a reward for obeying him, he spared Frost’s life, and then disappeared with Barry in tow. When Barry awakens in Zoom’s lair, he sees that he’s locked in a cage next to Jesse and other inhabitants. He tells her he’s with her dad and that he’ll get her out of there, but Zoom has other ideas as he tells Barry not to make promises he can’t keep.

“Look around. This is the last place you’ll ever see.” - Zoom

Conclusion/Final Verdict: Yet another brilliantly written episode of The Flash has us counting down the days until next Tuesday.

Holy cow, what an episode! We first want to praise writers Katherine Walczak, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg for not only coming up with this episode idea in the first place, but also choosing to resurrect fan favorites Deadshot and Firestorm in a completely different way. We’re upset at you guys for making Zoom kill Deathstorm though. Why?! We really hoped that Robbie Amell could return in the future, but now that dream is completely dashed. Excuse us while we mope forever. We also want to give props to the makeup and costume departments for spectacular hair and wardrobe. We loved how they made Earth-2 look like a 50s gangster film and futuristic at the same time!

Let’s give a huge round of applause the MVP of the night, Danielle Panabaker! The way she went from sweet, nurturing Caitlin to deadly, sexy Killer Frost totally floored and amazed us! Like Carlos Valdes, it sounded as though she changed the tone of her voice to sound sinister, which she totally pulled off, along with the blonde wig. That blue lipstick could have been done without though. Our feelings about blue lipstick: it looks good on no woman. We were also in awe at the amount of chemistry she shared with both Jay and Ronnie. A bit jealous too, because both Teddy and Robbie are super hot. Sadly, RIP to our favorite Earth-2 couple, Froststorm.

Ever since the announcement of “Welcome to Earth-2,” we waited the episode with anticipation and we are pleased to say it did not disappoint. We felt the episode should have been a two-parter and that the writers should not have made Geomancer so cartoonish, but other than that, it was everything we hoped for and more! We would give it an A++ if we could. For those of us who get anxiety at the thought of traveling to foreign places, we say the trip to Earth-2 was definitely worth facing our fears and we look forward to continuing our “staycation” there next week!