The Flash, Season 2, Episode 13: Escape From Earth-2
I think I like "Escape From Earth-2" less than its predecessor simply because of how cookie-cutter it ended up being. There really was no surprise to the big twist in the end that Zoom would drag Jay Garrick back, especially with him standing so conspicuously apart from the rest of the group right next to the portal. Granted the hand-through-the-chest was brutal as fuck, but I thought that could've been a lot less obviously telegraphed. Likewise was the rather boring 'you can do it' speech that Barrytwo (as Cisco nicknamed him) gave to Barry, which ends up being exactly what I expected to happen. Likewise everything regarding Killer Frost ending u betraying the good guys to Zoom before the whole Ronnie speech gets to her and she stays behind to tank Zoom on. Other weak things include the entire plot thread in Earth-1. The scenes with Iris's random Jonas J. Jameson copy felt shoehorned in and makes no sense whatsoever to the overall plot. Geomancer still looks like a douche, though he got taken out like the idiot that he is, it's still quite annoying that it ended up being somewhat of an anticlimax. So yeah, unlike the previous episode with its bombshell after bombshell and me just not knowing what will happen, this episode is extremely... it's not bland. It's just extremely serviceable. Like eating plain bread. It doesn't taste like shit, but you'd rather be eating bread with butter or jam or nutella.
What is good for this episode, though, is how utterly fucking horrifying Zoom is. I mean, yes, for all his awesome speed he gets fooled with a hologram wall, he gets frozen in place by Killer Frost, and he got totally blindsided by Harrison, and he doesn't get to kill anyone, but the sheer horrifying aura and voice, the savage beatdown of Barry, and just that opening scene where he drops random leaflets and carves 'BRING ME WELLS' in fire on the side of a building...
(You have to wonder... did Zoom xerox those posters? I have a mental image of Zoom standing next to a photocopy machine just scowling and lurking)
So yeah. Even when Zoom is on the back foot, he still is imposing, and while he still isn't as 'OMG OMG OMG' as Reverse-Flash was in the first season, he's starting to really embody that dreaded feeling hat he's supposed to exude after being in the backburner for the past few episodes. And, well, that scene of Zoom roaring as he breaks out of Killer Frost's ice is just insanely cool.
Jesse is fun in her short scenes of prominence, though I really believed she won't die until she at least becomes Jesse Quick, so, um... totally feared for Harrison exchanging his life for Jesse, but alas that didn't happen. Cisco and Iristwo were decent if unmemorable compared to last episode. I did love how Iristwo and Barrytwo just say 'yeah we'll hide out in Atlantis' like they're talking about the next town over or something.
The big point for me, though, is for Jay Garrick to use Velocity-9 (we skipped 8 and went straight to comic-book serum name), which naturally gives him near-full super speed, and he just Flash-saves every single person in a crumbly building, and poses gallantly. Fuck yea Jay Garrick! This show isn't really fair to him and doesn't give him as much appearances as he deserves (Jay's one of my favourite DC characters) but this episode is one that he truly embraced the fact that he is the Flash. I mean, it would be extra-awesome for him to run that extra mile and whack Geomancer in the face, but Caitlin randomly shooting the fucker with a lightning-choker gun is hilarious so that's okay.
Geomancer showing up randomly in STAR Labs with zero regard of the fact that only main villains are supposed to enter the Hero Base is hilarious and actually quite scary, even if I didn't believe for a moment that Iris or Caitlin would die to a tool like Geomancer.
The man in the iron mask is spelling out Jay with his tap-tapping, and honestly I thought it took really long for Barry and Jesse to argue about what specific code that Mr. Ironmask was tapping in. He spells out 'J-A-Y', but we don't get any reveals on that front. Not even a crazy pre-credits stinger scene. Oh, showrunners, you giant cockteases, you. But Zoom is definitely connected to Jay, so, uh, y'know. Hunter Zolomon. Which probably is a bit of a letdown considering how obvious it is (for comic book fans, at least) but hey, it's something.
I think one of the biggest weakness ends up giving way too much of focus on Killer Frost and Barrytwo. Barrytwo is just really boring and jittery and borderline irritating on screen, while Killer Frost... nothing wrong with her, really. She's your average supporting character with a personality, but again she's so blah-ly-written that her big supposedly emotional moments end up being just expected. I get that they're going with a nonchalant attitude on her instead of a more traditional hammy ice witch, but the result ends up not being quite as annoying.
The general pacing of the episode also felt rather disjointed and odd, with moments like the escape from Zoom's lair to STAR labs being absolutely glossed over and we're randomly just in 'happy post-fight talky' mode, and then we cut to Earth-1 where Jay and Joe fix the portal (in a ridiculously overlong scene) and when we cut back to Earth-2 somehow Flash, Zoom and Wells are already in a fight of their own. I thought showing some action scenes of Zoom arriving and clashing as opposed to retaining the entire 'let's fill up the action quota' run-around-the-portal scene would work so much better. Other scenes that ran too long include the whole Barry-and-Jesse-trying-to-figure-out-the-code scene, Iris's scenes with the random editor dude, and the scenes to establish that Jay repaired the portal off-screen only for it to get broken again after Geomancer's attack. We don't even see a courtesy scene of Killer Scene beaten and possibly dead (tm) on the ground.
Overall, it's still decent and watchable... it just doesn't have the same amount of surprises and tension as the previous episode did.
Oh well, next episode is titled 'King Shark', so that's going to be fun.
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