The Flash S02E13 Review: Infinite Earths

The Flash, Season 2, Episode 13: Welcome to Earth-2

Holy spitballs, Batman! There are just so many Easter Eggs and DC Comic references in this episode I'm just going to dedicate a short list at the bottom of the article for them. 

With that out of the way, how awesome was this episode? Holy shit, it's just so much fun to watch, and it's not because of the whole Easter Eggs thing. But this episode, wow, it just has so much going on about it. We get plot development, we get character development, the plot twist with Reverb was well done, Jay actually fucking super-speeds in this episode which I think blew my mind more than anything that actually happened...

Earth-2 was definitely fun, though. It draws upon the show's awesome lore, showing how life is different for all the characters of the show. Cisco, Caitlin and Ronnie are supervillains, Joe is a musician and has a rocky relationship with Barry, Barry is a fanboy reporter (I laughed so hard when Barry tasers his Earth-2 counterpart for fanboying) and is married to police chief Iris, Nora Allen is alive and vacationing to Atlantis, Captain Singh is a criminal and motherfucking DEADSHOT of all people is a policeman and Iris's partner.

Okay, let's drop everything and can I say how unexpected motherfucking Deadshot showing up again is? I was totally pissed when Arrow aborted his story arc and killed him off (in an admittedly awesome death scene) thanks to the stupid Suicide Squad embargo, but I never, ever expected to see Deadshot show up in Earth-2 instead of, oh, one of the Arrow main cast or maybe even Good Captain Cold (he's mayor here though) or something. I mean, yeah, we get Tokamak being a respectable and humble civilian, but Tokamak showing up is expected. Motherfucking Deadshot showing up in a later scene made me go whaaaa

And Deadshot is awesome, too, by the way. I mean, he's a lousy shot and couldn't even kill Darth Cisco at nearly point-blank range, but his bumblingness yet insistence to come and help really made me like him... so of course he probably died thanks to that blast by Reverb. 

Anyway, this episode, much to Harrison Wells' chagrin, Barry insists on masquerading as his Earth-2 counterpart to gather intel, and ends up getting dragged home by his alter-ego's wife. He, uh, is forced to play along, and I think I cried a little when he got to call his Earth-2 Mom again. He's fun as we get to experience the differences of Earth-2 and Earth-1 from Barry's eyes and it's hilarious. We get some hilarious awkwardness between Barry and Earth-2 Joe. Er, Joseph. And then the villains show up. I am absolutely so happy to see Ronnie Raymond back again, even if it's as the villainous Deathstorm. But Killer Frost is definitely the one to steal the show, being the one with an actual personality and lines while Deathstorm just stands in the background being all flame-on and looking menacing and shit. 

I think one of the weaker parts of the episode is Earth-2 Joe's death. I mean, yes, it's good to have these doppelgangers who can be disposed off with minimal impact to the audience, but I thought that it was slightly unnecessary and ended up feeling overdramatic. It is a punch in the gut to Barry, though, who definitely dropped the ball on this. Harry did tell him not to mess around and focus on Zoom and Jesse... I mean, there's no rule saying you can't muck around with your alt-universe doppelganger. This isn't Legends of Tomorrow time travel, altering things is perfectly fine. Oh well, it's emotional enough for Barry, at least. 

And then there's that bit with the big revelation that Earth-2 Cisco Ramon is... a supervillain, Reverb. And unlike our Cisco, Reverb has harnessed his full potential, which includes the power that comic-book fans know Vibe for -- creating weaponized vibration waves. Reverb is clearly calling the shots here, scaring Killer Frost to submission and again, it's a plot twist that I didn't see coming. Reverb talks a big game, and the actor is clearly enjoying hamming it up. Reverb promises our Cisco that they can rule together and he can show Cisco how to unlock the full potential of his powers. He even kills poor Deadshot! You might be forgiven in thinking that Reverb would be the arc villain of a couple of episodes, be Zoom's treacherous second-in-command or something...

And then, well, Zoom comes in, kills Deathstorm, and then kills Reverb in the exact same way that Reverse-Flash killed Cisco in that one splinter timeline in season one.

And the Zoom just zooms away with Barry, placing him in a cage nearby Jesse Wells and this weird-ass dude with an iron mask who I can't think of who it might be yet. It's definitely a shocking cliffhanger, it helps make Zoom feel like a credible threat, and more importantly, it's pretty freaking awesome seeing all these supervillains fight each other. I'm just bummed that Darth Cisco got taken out by Zoom so quickly. It's a waste of such a potentially interesting villain.

More importantly, we see a good chunk of Earth-2 characters and their roles, so the theory about Zoom being Earth-2 Barry Allen is kind of out of the window. Henry Allen, on the other hand... or maybe even Eddie Thawne... we'll see. 

We get some filler for Joe, Jay and Caitlin on Earth-1. We get the big revelation that Jay Garrick didn't lose his speed from Zoom's theft, but rather by abusing Velocity-6... which is a really weird-ass thing to keep hidden from the thing. Wouldn't him going all 'this drug is bad because it literally kills you' be a far more compelling reason for them not to use it instead of 'durr hurr Harrison Wells evil'? We actually see Jay Garrick actually be the Flash, actually super-speeding around and doing that cool thing with the super-speed-punch on his helmet and creating a blast of soundwave. 

Of course he pratfalls like a second later and gets manhandled by the Geomancer, but hey, Jay Garrick has superspeed again! Who knew that would happen? Come on, show, let Jay actually be the Flash for once, jeez. Why do you hate him so much?

Geomancer's a decent filler villain with earthquake powers. Mostly because I remember him as being a filler villain no one takes seriously in the comics. But it's still fun, giving the mostly-normal team on Earth-1 someone to deal with. It's definitely stronger than the past Jay/Caitlin plots we've had, but it's definitely the weak subplot in this otherwise really strong episode.

Killer Frost talk, yeah, before we get to the trivia. As much as I enjoy ham-fisted Killer Frost here I'm kinda disappointed that they chickened out and just went with Evil Earth-2 Caitlin Snow. All throughout season one I've been wondering how they are going to go about with turning likable ol' Caitlin Snow into a villain. I speculated something involving Firestorm, something involving a fallout between her and the STAR team... but it appears they're just going to cop out from making Caitlin evil and just do the requisite Killer Frost villain scene with a doppelganger. Oh well.

Man, I really hoped Earth-2 Deadshot didn't die in this episode. I really liked him.

If it isn't obvious already, I loved this episode. It's what Flash needs to be, and it's something that really brings it back to the awesome quality it had in season one when it kinda faltered in recent episodes to mediocre or slightly-above-average level. Man, I love this episode. So much.

The DC Easter Egg Column

So one of the biggest sources of Easter Eggs is actually the trip between the two Earths, just like how the Speed Force in Season one's climax had a lot of Easter Eggs. 

• The design of the tunnel, especially near the end with so many Earths surrounding it, would be reminiscent to how the DC Multiverse is traditionally depicted. Y'know, Infinite Earths and all that.
• We see a dude in a Green Arrow suit, most likely referencing Connor Hawke, who's about to make his appearance in Legends of Tomorrow. Or is there an old live-action Green Arrow show I don't know about? Eh.
• We see a glimpse of a different Flash. This clip is from the old Flash TV series starring John Wesley Shipp, a.k.a. Henry Allen in this show.
• We see Supergirl from Supergirl in her full glory! What in the actual hell? Apparently the two shows are going to have a crossover. Possibly involving multiple earths. Yay!
• We also see Jonah Hex the cowboy, also slated to make his appearance in Legends of Tomorrow.
• We see Grodd again!
• We see someone holding up a badge (flight ring, maybe?) of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a group of superheroes in the 30th Century in the books. This was so out of the left field, man.

And then other Easter Eggs itself...

• We get a thinly-disguised "Free and Just Society" mural prominently featuring Jay Garrick's Flash, which is of course a reference to the Justice Society, of which Jay Garrick is a prominent member.
• Earth-2 Barry Allen wearing a bow tie is a direct nod to Barry Allen's traditional civilian attire in the comics.
• Barry Allen and Iris West, are, of course, the canonical love interest pairing that are married in the comics. 
• Earth-2 Barry Allen's phone has speed dials for Diana, Hal and Bruce... of course a reference to Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Batman's secret identities.
• Of course, as has been mentioned by Jay in a previous episode, Atlantis, hometown of Aquaman, is present in Earth-2 and is so integrated to society that it is an actual vacation spot.
• The idea of alternate earths where the superheroes are instead supervillains is taken from DC comics' Earth-3.
• I talked about Velocity-9 before, and this obviously features an earlier iteration of the serum, but Velocity-9 is a speed-boosting serum used by Inertia and several other characters in the comics.
• Jay Garrick needing a boost in speed is actually something of a problem in the comics as well. While Jay is by no means slow and never depowered like his TV counterpart, he is noted to be slower than Barry Allen and Wally West because he wasn't as attuned to the Speed Force.
• A bit of an internal-continuity thing instead of something from the comics, but one of the rifts that Barry closed at the opening is the one they sent Grodd through.

Oh, the hell with it. Let's go with some origin stories. 

• Caitlin Snow is, in the comics, the identity of the third Killer Frost, who is traditionally a supervillain. Her status as the lover of Firestorm is taken from the first Killer Frost (Crystal Frost), though.
• Deathstorm is the name adapted by Ronnie Raymond when he died and became a zombie Firestorm.
• Geomancer is a bit of a loser villain that showed up in the JSA comics, and definitely not one I thought would ever, ever show up in a live-action adaptation. He's significantly more dangerous here.
• Reverb is taken from the name of the alter-ego of comic-book Vibe's brother, Armando Ramone, who succeeded Vibe as a superhero.
• I have no clue who that dude with the iron mask is, honestly.