TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 2, Episode 13: Welcome to Earth-2 [The CW]

The CW’s The Flash Welcome to Earth-2 TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 2, Episode 13: Welcome to Earth-2 exceeded all expectations when it introduced the concept of multiverse in the series’ second season as Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), Cisco (Carlos Valdes), and Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) travel to Earth-2. The episode has easily become the best of the season so far, as this week’s installment had a mix of comedy and tragedy with that Flash flare.

The episode made good use of the Earth-2 concept, showing viewers what life is like living in this alternate world and noticing the differences between Earth-1 and Earth-2. We got to see most of these characters in different avatars, like Joe (Jesse L. Martin) becoming a lounge singer who doesn’t like Barry or Iris West (Candice Patton) who is a detective in this alternate universe. We even experienced sinister versions of Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) who go by their metahuman aliases Killer Frost and Deathstorm. After growing familiar with these characters, it was fun to see how these personalities and relationships change when we see them in a new light. There’s so much potential to challenge these characters’ traits and twist them around in this parallel universe.

Barry’s reactions to these changes in Earth-2 worked out really well, as he became lost in this world along with the viewers. There were so many funny moments with Barry when he tries to impersonate his doppelganger facing one crazy twist after another. The writers also managed to balance he humor with drama when Barry got to speak with his mother, who turned out to be very much alive in Earth-2. Watching that scene as Barry felt happy hearing his mother’s voice was very reminiscent to that heart-wrenching farewell to Nora during the first season’s finale. We never though the episode would go all dramatic, but it worked out to it’s benefit.

Another heartwarming moment we got to experience was seeing Iris and Joe still a part of Barry’s life in Earth-2. In this universe, we find that Barry and Iris happen to have tied the knot, which is an interesting development since Barry still harbors feelings for Iris back on Earth-1. It was really tragic to see Joe die in front of Barry and Iris. Seeing Barry acknowledge that Iris and Joe are still his family no matter what world it is was a really powerful moment.

Killer Frost and Deathstorm were a really entertaining duo of supervillains that we got to see in this installment. Danielle Panabaker has done a great job portraying a character that is the exact opposite of the original Caitlin. Her outfit really fit in with this over-the-top retro style scenery that we see on Earth-2. Even though her and Deathstorm’s chemistry was a bit silly, they were still great at portraying their evil counterparts.

The biggest twist yet was when Earth-2 Cisco came onto the scene, becoming an evil leader who wants to take over Central City. Going by the name Reverb, Carlos did exceptionally well playing Cisco as an evil villain who is just as entertaining as his original self. It was funny how Cisco reacted to seeing a mirror version of himself as this leather-clad villain who is very much in control of his powers. Carlos managed to pull off two different performances with ease, showing Cisco’s struggle with this new knowledge of what he is capable of. It would’ve been nice to have Reverb stick around if Zoom hadn’t killed him to see more on this development.

The episode didn’t just focus on Earth-2, as the action also shifted to what was going on back home with Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) trying to fill in Barry’s role as The Flash for a while. We got to learn more about Jay a bit and see him in a more vigorous role. Viewers were given more details on Jay’s rise and downfall in Earth-2 and why he’s avoiding to take any more Velocity-7. We finally understood the reason after the Golden Age Flash tried to use it himself on this week’s villain of the week Geomancer (Adam Stafford).

‘Welcome to Earth-2’ delivered what has to be the strongest episode to date. This week’s installment made full use of Earth-2 and exploring the vast differences from the Central City we are familiar with. The episode balanced humor with drama as Barry got to reconnect with his mother and learning of his fate with Iris. The actors who played their doppelgangers pulled it off well. It was also fun to see all those easter eggs dropped during the hour and exploring the concept of the multiverse. The Flash has really stepped it up for the second half of this season, and we can’t wait to see what comes next.

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