The Flash continues its torrid pace through the lengthy source material and, as the title states, “Welcome to Earth-2,†we’re delving into Earth-2. There have been plenty of TV shows that have gone to alternative dimensions of sorts, with surprisingly great results. I am happy to say that The Flash continues the trend.
Once the STAR labs crew gets the speed canon prepped and ready to go, Barry, Wells and Cisco are tossed toward Earth-2. There are many easter eggs of things yet to come as they travel across dimensions; notably Kara Danvers, which makes sense since The Flash is going to make an appearance on the CBS Series, Supergirl.
Earth-2 is quite the peculiar area. While they immediately appear much more advanced than Earth-1, they have some oddities where they haven’t made the technological leap. Point in case is their rotary telephone. Quite strange considering they have watches that can alert them when a meta is around. But where all the fun comes in, is when we meet their doppelgangers on Earth-2.
Not only are the character’s Doppelgangers awesome across the board, but the smaller characters from the universe are represented insanely well. On Earth-2, Iris is a detective and is married to the ultra-dorky CSI, Barry. Floyd Lawton is indeed Deadshot. But, he received the nickname because he’s the worst shot at the CCPD. With the CW not able to actually use Deadshot, I love that they still found a way to incorporate the character in their universe. As for the rest of the crew, Caitlin and Ronnie are henchmen for Zoom as Killer Frost and Deathstorm. Cisco is Reverb, the polar opposite of Vibe.
The first doppelganger that the group meets is Henry Hewitt, you know the scholar that didn’t turn into Steins other-half that tried to kill The Flash; well, he is a lab assistant to Harrison Wells. I love the way they sort of turn these characters on their side. They all do a fantastic job of portraying their doppelgangers, especially Caitlin as Killer Frost. Her voice and demeanor are night and day from the Caitlin we’ve come to know and love.
The interactions Barry has with the dopplegangers is, at times fun and interesting, but often terribly sad. Thumbs up for him and Iris being married, but apparently the blues-singing Joe of Earth-2 and Barry can’t stand each other. Caitlin, Ronnie and Cisco are Villains, but Barry’s mom is alive and well. The scene where he begins to tear up when talking to his mom is gut-wrenching. I love the predicament that this puts Barry in, because parts of this sound perfect versus what he has experienced on Earth-1. However, seeming perfect and being perfect are entirely different things.
In a scene in Jitterbug, the hip CC Jitters of Earth-2, Killer Frost and Deathstorm are looking for the breachers, and of course Barry outs himself trying to save everyone. However, Joe takes a fireball to the chest and later dies. I love the fact that they aren’t keeping Barry an easy-going character. First he suffers the loss of ‘losing‘ Patty, and now it is essentially his fault that Joe from Earth-2 has died. The burden of trying to always be the hero will surely take its toll.
They eventually track down Killer Frost and Deathstorm, but now, we get to meet Reverb. Reverb is just as great of a character as CIsco is, just in the evil-twin sort of way. The fight scene is as spectacular as we have come to know from The Flash. this time with Reverb’s advanced powers and Deathstorm’s brutality, The Flash is near death. Too bad for Deathstorm and Reverb that Zoom specifically said not to harm The Flash. To further cement the point that  Zoom is the Alpha in this universe, he kills both Reverb and Deathstorm because they didn’t follow his orders. Killer Frost is the only one spared because she obeyed his orders. The show leaves off with Barry in a cell next to Wells’ daughter, Jessie.
As for the Earth-1 storyline, it’s a tad bit jammed in there, but there are some nice takeaways from the scenes. A new enemy named Geomancer is creating earthquakes across Central City goading The Flash to come out. But, since he is on Earth-2, Jay Garrick will have to take his place. It’s revealed that his reluctance to wanting to take Velocity 6 stems from the fact that his need to be fast by using V6 on Earth-2 is what has made him sick. Caitlin convinces to use newly formed V7. The fight scene is short and sweet, short because the V7 wore off incredibly fast and sweet because he created force-like projectiles from rapidly hitting his helmet. Unfortunately, they have more pressing matters than chasing after Geomancer. The speed canon blew apart, and if they don’t fix it within 24 hours, the group could be stuck in Earth-2 forever.
