The Flash Review by Henry Tran

The Flash 2.13: Welcome to Earth-2

The Flash 2.13: Welcome to Earth-2

Written By:
Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Katherine Walczak
Directed By:
Millicent Shelton

The much ballyhooed trip to Earth-2 has finally arrived. And I don't want to be the killjoy of the fandom, but the episode is a mixed bag. It's not even the fact that this is the first part of a two-part story, which means that it will be incomplete without the concluding hour that will air next week. In that way, it's much like the "Legends of Today" and Legends of Yesterday" crossover episodes from earlier in the season on both this show and sister show Arrow. One probably needs to watch the two episodes back-to-back in order to get a full sense of the story the writers are trying to tell.  





My (slight) dissatisfaction with the episode mainly stems from the occasional turns back to the Earth-1 storyline. It does make some sense to show the immediate aftermath of Barry shutting down all of the breaches, then having himself, Cisco, and Harry go through the STAR Labs breach with the speed cannon. At which point the speed cannon explodes, and thus, Caitlin and Jay have 48 hours to fix it or Barry and Cisco will be stuck in Earth-2 for a long time. I would argue that the show should have just stopped there with the Earth-1 story. Leave the audience to wonder if they'll be able to go through with fixing the speed cannon. In effect, focus the entire story on what happens in Earth-2. Take a page from the Marvel universe, which aired a fabulous episode earlier this season on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. called "4,722 Hours," entirely set on a planet far away from Earth. Just look at the title of this episode! 


Yes, budgetary concerns may have played a huge factor in this, but keep in mind that the glimpses of Earth-2 have been wonderfully rendered so far (I love that the world embraces retro-chic with '50's-style cars melding with advanced technology for example), and this is the show's best chance to make a full impression of the world on the audience. They have two episodes' worth of material to do so. And yet, there is a criss-cross form of editing where a part of the Earth-2 story stops and then it abruptly has to check in on what is happening on Earth-1.






That storyline in itself starts out well enough: I like the reciprocal nature of the predicament, where Barry and Cisco is protecting Jay's world from Zoom's destruction so he has an unacknowledged obligation to protect Earth-1 while it is without the Flash. It gives Caitlin and Jay a subplot that has some meat on it, with him taking Velocity-7 and becoming (at least temporarily) the Golden Age Flash that was teased in last season's finale. The problem is the enemy the story provides for Jay to battle, a seemingly minor meta-human called Geomancer. Cisco would not stand for such a lame moniker, which immediately knocks his stature down a peg. The entire subplot on Earth-1 unfortunately stands as something minor and forgettable. 


The real story is in what happens on Earth-2. The changes are not that immediately apparent. The Barry Allen here is more of a nerd, yet still works as a CSI for the Central City Police; He's married to Detective Iris Allen, which singlehandedly fulfills the wishes of every Barry-Iris 'shipper in the fandom. I particularly like this version of Iris, who isn't as inhibited or easily duped as her counterpart. She's partnered with Floyd "Deadshot" Lawton, a man who ironically can't hit the side of a barn with a gun. Earth-1 Barry can barely keep up with her, though I suspect that's because he can't get over the shock of being married to Iris. To add to that shock, Nora Allen is still alive, and Barry gets to have a conversation with her! 







Despite hearing what Jay said to him before going to Earth-2, Barry can't help but feel a connection to this place once he hears his mother's voice. It's going to make their eventual departure from this world all that much tougher. This show is quite effective in tugging at the heartstrings, and most of it is due to emphasis on the familial ties within the show's (various) world(s). It's the superhero's life not lived, which is a familiar trope not only in comic books but in science fiction as well (see: Fringe). So with Barry's biological parents still alive and presumably happy together, the Joe West of this Earth is lounge singer (at the aptly named "Jitterbug," which is a slick way to change the Jitters setting) who can't stand Barry as his father-in-law.


The most cheer-worthy change in this Earth is the fact that Caitlin is a villain named Killer Frost (finally paying off what we saw in the Speed Force during last season's finale) and she's partnered with Robbie "Deathstorm" Raymond. Deathstorm is defintely a much better name than "Firestorm" so that's an improvement. In addition to allowing actress Danielle Panabaker to cut loose with a character who has been so buttoned-up so far, Killer Frost is all kinds of gorgeous despite the usual goth-like appearance. The various battles they have with Barry as he engages his Flash abilities are definite highlights of the episode. The initial faceoff results in Joe getting killed by Deathstorm and lends more urgency and emotion to the final faceoff at the end of the episode. The writers then throw another great twist into the mix: We meet Cisco's doppelganger, strangely named Reverb in this Earth, and yet, he's much more powerful than Vibe. 






While that's a great series of scenes, I didn't like that Cisco and Harry were essentially reduced to simply looking for Zoom once the three of them come to Earth-2. It turns out that they're all minions for Zoom, though they take matters into their own hands too much, nearly killing Barry in the process, which prompts intervention from (the still terrifying) Zoom. Zoom kills Deathstorm for his insolence, then kills Reverb in exactly the same way that Reverse-Flash Harrison Wells did to Cisco last season, then whisks Barry away in the same prison where he holds Jesse hostage. Naturally, the next episode has to resolve all of these issues. 


But all of this commentary is proof that the Earth-2 happenings would have been enough to carry the entire episode (I didn't even get to mention Supergirl's appearance in the Speed Force, teasing the crossover event later this season! What implications could that single appearance hold?!) We didn't really need to see what was happening on Earth-1. It's all still well-done, but it's more an irritating distraction than anything else. You have to take what you can get with these shows most times.

Our Grade:
B
The Good:
  • Just about everything to do with Earth-2!
The Bad:
  • Just about everything to do with Earth-1!

Henry Tran is a regular contributor of review for Critical Myth; The Critical Myth Show is heard here on VOG Network's radio feed Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You can follow him on twitter at @HenYay

The Flash by - 2/10/2016 7:47 AM171 views

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