The Flash promised Earth-2, and it delivered Earth-2. And gave us a few references. And a twist or two for good measure.
Barry goes around shutting all of the breaches with the device he and Harry built last episode, in preparation for their trip. Iris has some serious misgivings about the reason Barry’s going to Earth-2. He let’s her know it’s not about Patty; it’s about stopping Zoom. Jay warns him not to chase the rabbit, as traveling through the breaches opens up all sorts of possibilities and visions across time. It actually makes for a few cool little nods.
Turns out that closing all the breaches was a bad idea, though. Since all of the pressure was put on the one they left open so that they could travel between worlds, it caused their stargate speed cannon to overload, trapping Barry, Cisco and Harry on the other side. On the plus side, they did make it to Earth-2.
Barry and Cisco immediately begin fanboying over how cool alt. STAR Labs is, to Harry’s annoyance. That is, until they run into Earth-2 Henry Hewitt, who isn’t a villain and also works for Harry. Honestly, this sort of thing makes for much of the episode’s comic relief, which is welcome because it takes a dark turn soon enough.
In Harry’s office, Cisco tries his Vibe goggles. They don’t work, however, since Earth-2 vibrates at a different frequency. They catch a news report that clues them in to the fact that Earth-2 Barry is also a forensics technician. So Barry gets him,brings him to Harry’s office, they taser him, and Barry takes over his alternate identity to figure out where Zoom is hiding.
When Barry visits the precinct, the craziness doesn’t end. Captain Singh is a criminal, and Iris is the Detective West mentioned earlier. Also, Barry’s married to Iris, Barry’s mother is alive, he knows half the Earth-1 Justice League founders, And Joe is a lounge singer. Who hates him.
Unfortunately, the Earth-2 versions of Caitlin and Ronnie (Killer Frost and Deathstorm, respectively) ge marching orders from Zoom. And he orders them to kill the breachers that came through, since he’s somehow aware of their presence.They almost immediately track down Barry, and in the confrontation, Joe catches an atomic fire burst to the chest. Barry spends an awfully large amount of time dodging their attacks, but eventually manages to drive them off by redirecting one of Deathstorm’s blasts at Killer Frost with a helmet he pulls off of a nearby statue. Also of note, Deathstorm hasn’t let Dr. Stein out in years, which has sent him into a catatonic state.
Harry tells Barry that he needs to stop getting involved with the lives of people from Earth-2, since the entire reason they’re even there is to get Jessie back and stop Zoom. Barry decides not to listen, and goes to check up on Joe in the hospital. He gets there in time to watch Joe ultimately succumb to his injury, but not before letting Iris know that he’d dedicated every song he sang to her.
On Earth-1, there’s a metahuman that Jay identifies as Earth-1’s version of Geomancer. Joe asks Jay to take Velocity 6 to at least pick up some of the slack Barry’s left behind. Jay’s against it for more reasons than one. He reveals to Caitlin that he’d actually invented Velocity 6 in the first place to enhance his powers, but there was a downside. It is what ultimately made him sick in the first place, which is why he wanted Barry to keep away from the stuff.
Jay decides to take a form Caitlin modified to stop Geomancer. It works briefly; it gives out on him mid-fight in the worst way. But with Joe’s help, it’s enough to drive Geomancer off for the time being.
On Earth-2, Iris decides to hunt down Killer Frost and Deathstorm, with the help of the weapon Cisco invented to stop them. Yes, the introduction was awkward. Regardless, they track them down, and discover that they were, in fact, being led by Earth-2’s Cisco. This Cisco calls himself Reverb, and as Cisco puts it, “Cloud City Vader“‘s him, offering to teach him how to use the full extent of his powers and rule their respective cities together.
Cisco calls for Barry and shoots Killer Frost. Barry… gets curbstomped by Reverb and Deathstorm. They’re about to kill him when Zoom shows up and kills Deathstorm, before turning his attention to Reverb. He kills Reverb for having the audacity to ignore orders, but leaves Killer Frost alive for her loyalty. He drags Barry off to his dungeon, cliffhanging this episode of The Flash.
Final Thoughts:
- “Join me, Cisco, and together we will rule the multiverse as doppelganger and doppelganger!”
- Jonah Hex on Legends of Tomorrow? Yes please!
- They sure do kill off a large amount of Earth-2 characters. It’s almost a Doctor Who body count.
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