The Flash 2.14: “Escape from Earth-Two” Review

NOTE: Full spoilers for this episode of “The Flash” are present in this review

 

 

The Flash’s Earth-Two event continued to be entertaining in its second half, and while, “Escape from Earth-Two” wasn’t quite as outstanding as its predecessor, the conclusion to the arc was still a satisfying one.

As time runs out for Barry, Cisco and Wells’ deadline to return to Earth-One and close the final breach, Cisco and Wells frantically try to plan their next move. Around this time, the Earth-Two Barry wakes up and begins demanding answers, leading to a forced reunion with his wife. Cisco and Wells must then explain how the Barry that the Earth-Two Iris interacted with in the previous episode wasn’t actually the right Barry, and that Zoom needs to be located so that Earth-One Barry and Jesse can both be rescued.

Flash - Footage 1

While this is going on, Barry meets Jesse while in confinement within Zoom’s lair, continuing to hear the mysterious taps of a masked, silent individual in another cell. We still have no idea who this mysterious person is, but eventually, Barry and Jesse deduce that he’s tapping a message. After some thinking, they figure out that the message is in reference to Jay Garrick, who is still hanging out on Earth-One with Caitlin.

This continues to point the finger at some version of Jay Garrick being the actual Zoom, and could suggest that the Jay that’s with Caitlin on Earth-One is some sort of impostor, and the silent masked man could be the real Jay Garrick. Yes, we did see Jay pointing out his Earth-One doppelganger, Hunter Zolomon to Caitlin recently (Zoom’s civilian identity in DC Comics lore), though recall that speedsters like Reverse-Flash have managed to fool other characters with speed mirages before. It’s not damning evidence that Jay Garrick is a villain, but it definitely seems to suggest that there’s more to his character than the show is currently telling us.

Flash - Footage 2

Speaking of Jay, back on Earth-One, he and Caitlin are still attempting to perfect the Velocity drug to return Jay’s speed, so that he can stop our latest metahuman menace, Geomancer. Geomancer continues to put the, “False Flash” to the test by using his powers to topple buildings, having Jay speed to the scene to save innocent civilians, and this pushes the two to finalize, “Velocity-9”, the familiar version of the drug from DC Comics that can give Jay his speed, without degrading his cells and gradually killing him. It’s still enjoyable to see Jay’s own style of heroics in action, though sadly, the arc ended up petering out before it got all that interesting. Despite Iris getting a hardcore new CCPN editor that wants to damn The Flash in the press for failing to save Central City from Geomancer, J. Jonah Jameson-style, the issue seems to resolve itself when Geomancer (somehow) comes knocking at S.T.A.R. Labs, and he quickly ends up subdued by Caitlin thanks to a convenient power-stopping collar gun, with Jay not even being necessary. Seriously? Why didn’t they use that gizmo with all of the metahumans then, if it was that easy to just shoot them, stop their powers, and throw them in Iron Heights Prison?

Oh, but the Geomancer arc has one last ace up its sleeve, as the villain’s tremors ended up damaging the Speed Cannon, again, despite Jay fixing it off-screen at the start of the episode, and once again forcing Caitlin, Jay, Iris and Detective West to scramble to get it working. Again though, this proves to be a non-issue for the most part, since some quick help from West gets the Speed Cannon back online after some speed power from Jay.

Flash - Footage 3

It comes just in time too, since Cisco, Wells, and the Earth-Two versions of Barry and Iris locate Killer Frost in her woodland hideaway, and convince her to take them to Zoom’s lair, which happens to be up high on a treacherous cliff. After Killer Frost creates some icy footholds and they climb up the cliff (off-screen, sadly), they reach the Earth-One Barry, and give him the necessary pep talk to phase out of his cell (that’s all it took?), while Wells reunites with Jesse. Apparently though, this was a trap, and Killer Frost set the group up to be captured by Zoom… Yet again though, this doesn’t end up sticking for long, as Killer Frost eventually decides that Zoom did kill Ronnie, and she then helps the group escape, with all of them, including Wells and Jesse, narrowly making it back to Earth-One as Jay closes the breach, though not before standing in front of it like a goof, before Zoom pulls him in to close out the episode! Uh oh! This continues to raise the question of Jay’s real connection to Zoom, though again, this could end up being a parlour trick.

This episode still proved to be an entertaining and dramatic conclusion to the Earth-Two arc, though it was evident that the show had already exhausted its best ideas with the Earth-Two storyline in the previous episode. Killer Frost’s fate isn’t even determined one way or the other, the Geomancer threat didn’t end up being very serious on Earth-One, and even the glossy golden finish of Earth-Two didn’t even seem to be present in the second half of the trip. It sadly felt like a second part of diminishing returns.

Flash - Footage 4

Still, the show continues to build toward exciting future developments with, “Escape from Earth-Two.” There will no doubt be big consequences for Cisco, after encountering the evil Earth-Two versions of himself and Caitlin, and similarly, Jay being pulled back into the breach will probably mean another potential trip to Earth-Two later in the season, especially with the Earth-One Barry promising that he’ll return for the masked man from Zoom’s lair, to free him. The perfection of Velocity-9 could also mean that we may start finding an excuse to give Jesse Quick, or even Wally West, their super-speeding powers from DC Comics, though this may be more of a Season Three idea. Even with the dimensional breaches closed however, it sure seems like the fight against Zoom is still far from over.

The Flash delivered an exciting and dramatic conclusion to the two-part Earth-Two event this week, though one that didn't quite recapture the outstanding excellence of the first half, especially with the fizzling of the Earth-One storyline.
THE GOOD STUFF
The daring Jesse/Barry rescue
Hints of a sinister secret with Jay
Killer Frost's treachery and redemption
THE NOT-SO-GOOD STUFF
Geomancer arc ultimately fizzles out
Speed cannon hiccups are ultimately pointless
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