The Flash: “Escape From Earth-2” Review

Team Flash have overstayed their welcome on Earth-2.

After last week’s stellar Flash episode, it seemed prudent to have lowered expectations going into “Escape From Earth-2.” That’s a high bar to reach two weeks in a row, and this show has never been terribly consistent when it comes to two-part storylines and crossovers. Unsurprisingly, “Escape From Earth-2” didn’t quite live up to the standard of its predecessor. But that hardly means it wasn’t am enjoyable and dramatic addition to Season 2.

Half of the fun with “Welcome to Earth-2” was in getting acquainted with the Earth-2 setting and seeing all the amusing ways the lives of various characters have diverged in this alternate world. That element was much less a focus this time around. It didn’t help that the writers pretty much cleaned house last week, killing off the Earth-2 versions of Joe, Cisco and Ronnie before the end. It’s unfortunate we didn’t see more of the latter two, especially since there’s no telling when or if we’ll see Ronnie on this show again.

The flip-side to all of this is that “Escape From Earth-2” was able to narrow its focus and dig a little deeper with two Earth-2 residents in particular – Barry and Caitlin. Even as our Barry spent most of this episode trapped in an invisible cage, his doppelganger was running around trying to play the hero despite being grossly under-qualified for the job. It was very entertaining to see Grant Gustin play two distinctly different versions of his character. That was the only area where the fun and silliness of last week’s episode carried over. Earth-1 Barry might be kind of a dork, but Earth-2 Barry is on another level entirely.

That juxtaposition between Barry’s culminated in a strong scene where Earth-2 Barry had to coach his doppelganger and give him that extra drive to phase out of his cell. As often as we’ve seen both versions of Dr. Wells give Barry the all-important pep talk, it was nice to see Barry getting a boost from himself for a change. This moment also emphasized the idea that, no matter how much the circumstances of a person’s life might change from one Earth to the next, the fundamentals of who they are generally don’t. Except when it comes to Cisco, apparently.

That truth was at the heart of Killer Frost’s character arc this week. Having lost her boyfriend and her partner-in-crime, Earth-2 Caitlin was adrift and forced to choose between her loyalty to/fear of Zoom and her desire to avenge Ronnie’s death. This allowed Danielle Panabaker to stretch her muscles a bit more with this darker version of Cailtin. She wasn’t simply preening malevolently for the camera this week (as Geomancer did), but instead wrestling with complicated emotional problems. I’m really hoping this version of Caitlin returns at some point and we learn more about what drove her down such a dark path in the first place. But her continued survival doesn’t seem terribly likely now that she double-crossed Zoom.

Zoom is being a less than gracious host.

The climactic showdown with Zoom offered a nicely dramatic way to cap off this two-parter. Caitlin’s Return of the Jedi moment was probably the biggest, but everyone had their chance to shine as they raced their way back to STAR Labs. Wells was more than willing to sacrifice himself to save his daughter, and for a while it looked as though Zoom would take him up on the offer. The show has reiterated the fact that Jessie is as smart as her father enough that she seems poised to become his successor sooner or later. But for now, Wells and his daughter are safe and sound in Earth-1, and it was Jay who paid the price in one last act of vengeance from Zoom.

That twist was a nice way to wrap up what was otherwise a fairly dull Earth-1 subplot. I didn’t mind Earth-1 storyline last week, but this time around it seemed to stick out more. Geomancer was very much a plot device rather than a real villain. He only ever showed up long enough to spur Jay into action and create a little extra tension leading into the desperate escape from Earth-2. What was the point of having Jay repair the portal off-screen only for Geomancer to break it again? The Iris subplot didn’t really help matters either. The introduction of her new editor and his anti-Flash soapbox was very random. It’s like the writers wanted a J. Jonah Jameson character but neglected to give him any personality along the way. Iris’ gung-ho, Earth-2 doppelganger was far more entertaining this week (though at times you had to wonder what she actually found attractive in the nervous, jittery Barry of her world).

A few other tidbits worth pointing out this week:

• Earth-1 Caitlin perfected her Velocity-9 formula. With Wally West and Jessie Quick now living in Central City, it seems like the show is poised to bring a few new speedsters on board, and Velocity-9 is probably how their powers will be introduced. But could it become a catch-all, super power-endowing drug not unlike Arrow’s Mirakuru?
• It was interesting to watch Carlos Valdes’ performances this week. This episode leaned a little less on Cisco for comic relief, and there’s a real sense that the character is haunted by his brief encounter with Reverb and the notion that he’s only begun to tap into his superhuman potential. Hopefully the show focuses a lot of attention on Cisco in the weeks ahead.
• It’s seeming more and more likely that Zoom is the Earth-2 Henry Allen, or possibly even the Earth-1 version having a hard time adjusting to life after prison. And from what I could tell by staring at the back of the mystery masked prisoner’s head, he could also be a version of Henry Allen. Maybe Zoom needs an alternate version of himself for whatever master plan he has cooked up? How long until Barry realizes he hasn’t heard from his father in a while?
• The problem with that theory is that the masked man seems to know Jay Garrick. Maybe it’s Hunter Zolomon under that mask?