For all the talk of Earth 2 on this season’s The Flash, whenever it gets mentioned, I can’t help thinking back to the short-lived mid-90s sci-fi TV of the same name that I watched as a kid. Despite its dwindling ratings denying a second season, it was quite an enjoyable show, and in many ways ahead of its time. Before Kathryn Janeway had even sipped her first coffee in Voyager’s Captain’s chair, Earth 2 become one of the first female commanded sci-fi shows with Debrah Farentino’s Devon Adair calling the shots. It also incorporated many different social and political themes such as the conflict with planet’s indigenous residents. On this week’s The Flash, we take our first real dive into its world of Earth 2, and one thing is for sure: the destination will not be short-lived. This episode is nothing short of incredible, and the show needs to keep Earth 2 as a regular feature.
Welcome to Earth 2 – After closing all but one dimensional breach Barry, Harrison Wells and Cisco travel to Earth 2, so they can rescue Jessie from Zoom. Barry discovers first hand just how different his life could have been. Meanwhile, in his absence, the ground shaking metahuman, Geomancer, calls out the Flash forcing Jay Garrick back into action.
Now as the team steps up to the breach, Jay Garrick gives them a warning about everything being upside down where they’re going. It’s a very typical statement from any show in an alternative episode that usually results in just a few major changes, but The Flash genuinely delivers on it! Every single part of our existing Central City world is turned inside out in outstanding fashion as writers Berlanti & Kreisberg find a way squeeze fun and surprise out of every single cast member’s Earth 2 counterpart, including several appearances you will never see coming! This episode has more Easter Eggs than Wal-Mart in April. From the alternate character incarnations playing to different comic publications (the passing reference of “Mayor Snart” harks right at Citizen Cold from Flashpoint) to some first pump worthy details like the Justice Society mural in the CCPD or Earth 2 Barry having Bruce Wayne, Hal Jordan and Diana Prince on speed dial. The entire world of Earth 2 is wonderfully fleshed out and not to mention, being darn stylish is the general cultural trend is a '30's art deco approach with not a single hipster in sight (yep... I wanna go there too). As hinted in our glimpses earlier this season, it has a welcome feel of Bioshock’s rapture, and a transformed jazz lounge Jitters sums it all up perfectly (not to mention their choice of singer).
This is the first of a two episode story which thankfully means there is no rushing to catch the last train back to Earth 1. Much of the episode sidelines the main purpose of finding Jessie and /or Zoom in favour of enjoying the scenery and letting Barry switch places with his geeky bow tie-wearing counterpart. It’s not all plays for fun and humor either as the simple instance of Barry speaking to his (not dead) mother on the phone becomes an incredibly heartfelt moment. Yet fun and entertainment are still the top priorities and the biggest contributors are seeing Catlin Snow and the returning Ronnie Raymond re-imagined as Killer Frost and Deathstorm. The later is taken in name only, baring no connection to Blackest Night or Black Lantern Corps, being merely an evil Firestorm equivalent. Killer Frost, however, is very comics-respective and Dannielle Panabaker steals every scene she’s in as she takes delightful pleasure in being a very bad girl. It’s a similarly contrasting (and just as awesome) character change up to Vampire Willow in Buffy’s The Wish/Dopplegangland episodes, and proves that the tease in last season’s finale was well worth getting excited over. Speaking of teases, we get a similar set of random glimpses during the great visual effects multi-verse travelling. For anyone that didn’t pause their way through it (#geekandproud), we see Legends of Tomorrow character previews for Connor Hawke and Jonah Hex. Future Flash teases like Gorilla Grodd and Supergirl ahead of the crossover. Finally, a couple of oddballs like a Legion Flight Ring (allows the wearer to fly including in outer space) but most excitingly of all, a shot of John Wesley Shipp’s Flash..... if the show delivers him in speedster action (via a different Earth?) then a global day of celebration may actually be required.
What’s really impressive about this episode is the way it manages to keep Earth significantly developing with minimal screen time. It makes some good expansions on Jay Garrick’s sickness via his confession and as this episode Catlin develops “Velocity 7”, it seems a mathematical certainty that the Velocity 9 drug will feature before the end of the season. Teddy Shears is great back in action although Jesse Martin steals it with Joe’s reaction to Jay’s surprising hat trick, “That’s a new one”. The early Earth 1 establishing work is also highly-rewarding as the intrepid trio accept the entirely real possibility that they won’t come back including Barry having on final family dinner with Iris & Joe and Cisco even composing a death letter. The almost absence of Wally West feels very relevant. We see him clearly on the verge of telling Joe something implying further developments for his character and the lack of his Earth 2 counterpart further supports theory that either he or his Doppelganger is Zoom (if you missed last week’s review, clues were dropped of similarities between Wally’s story and the Daniel West Reverse Flash arc from the New 52 universe).
After toying with the ideas of Earth 2 and the multi-verse all season, this wonderful episode finally sees The Flash reap their full potential in an incredibly entertaining hour of audience and fanboy fulfilment. Just the mere moments of a newly arrived Barry and Cisco talking selfies says it all: if you’re going on adventure this big, for God’s sake, try and have some fun with it. It delivers on the action as Barry squares off against Killer Frost and Deathstorm, if packs twists and surprises round every corner including an ending the means next week’s “Escape From Earth 2” can’t come fast enough.