When we left the last episode of THE FLASH, Barry had been captured by Zoom on Earth-2 while Geomancer was literally tearing up the landscape on Earth-1. Time is running out for Barry to get away and for the “away” team of Barry, Cisco and Harry to return to Earth-1…but the bigger question is whether they will survive long enough to worry about that. That brings us to “Escape from Earth-2”, Episode 2.14 of THE FLASH!

SOME SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP

Zoom has Jesse and Barry…and a mysterious “man in the iron mask”. But, he wants to capture Wells, who is the key to his being able to steal Barry’s speed. Zoom begins an all-out search, eventually tracking Wells, Cisco and the Barry Allen of Earth-2 to STAR Labs. The only thing that saves them is Harry Well’s time vault (yes, there is a time vault at the Earth-2 STAR Labs as well). After this close call, Harry and Cisco free the Earth-2 Barry Allen and make plans to take the fight back to Zoom.

After getting out of STAR Labs, Barry Allen of Earth-2 talks to his wife Iris and convinces her of his situation. She joins the search for Killer Frost, in an attempt to bring to justice the people who killed her father, the Earth-2 Joe West.

Let’s stop here for just a moment to talk Earth-2 Barry…

Grant Gustin has created a completely different Barry Allen for Earth-2, reportedly taking a different direction than the producers first intended. I’m glad he did. There are some nods to the classic comics Barry (the bow tie was perfect). But, this Barry was as different as you can get from Earth-1 Barry while using the same actor. There was a different posture, a different body language, a different pattern of speaking.  We saw a Barry Allen who had never dealt with tragedy, who had never faced life’s toughest lessons. And, we saw the result…a much more timid Barry who is facing the need to step up for possibly the first time in his life. This Barry started out as a bit of a caricature, but by episode’s end was showing some backbone in his own way. It was a lot of fun to see the different approaches to “Barry Allen” that Gustin took.

Eventually, with the help of Earth-2 Barry, the team tracked down the likely location of Killer Frost. Cisco believed that the loss of Ronnie Raymond/Deathstorm would cause this world’s Caitlin to help them…and at first it appears he was right.

Let’s stop for a moment to talk Killer Frost…

Danielle Panabaker has created a believable villain in Killer Frost. It isn’t just the costume and make-up, but like Gustin’s alt Barry we see a truly different character here. There is just enough of “Caitlin” there to make the multiversal aspect of the character work…but there is a difference in body language and in speech that allows us to see a truly distinct character, one that our team simply should not trust.

And, sure enough their trust is betrayed…for a moment. But, let’s come back to that…

Jay and Caitlin are working on new versions of Velocity (eventually going to a fairly successful Velocity-9) to stop Geomancer. After that they must re-stabilize the breach in time for the Earth-2 team to return. Of course, that team has their hands full…

..as Killer Frost has led the team to Zoom’s lair, and to Zoom himself! She has turned on the team, and it looks as bad as it can get for the team. That is, until Zoom prepares to kill Jesse Wells. Killer Frost has one more change of heart, and she attacks Zoom! This allows everyone except the man in the mask to get away. Barry promises to return for him, then leaves while Frost holds off Zoom.

That leads us to a return to Earth-1, this time with Jesse in tow. Everyone returns, but there is a shocker at the end…won’t spoil this here, but it was something I didn’t expect at all.

That leads us to the previews for next week…with King Shark! Can’t wait to see King Shark! He’s a SHARK! (insert your favorite King Shark jokes here, but let’s be real, I truly can’t wait for next episode).

NOTES: The Earth-2 episodes have given a lot of the cast a chance to shine, and they have come through with flying colors. Whether it is lounge-singer Joe West, Detective Iris West, bad-guy Cisco, Killer Frost, Deathstorm or the Earth-2 Barry Allen, we got to see once again that these actors are far more than one-note players (something we knew already, but it’s always good to be reminded). Some of the pseudo-science behind fixing the breach was a little over-the-top. But, we are talking about a world of metahumans, so some over-the-top pseudo-science can be forgiven. I was glad to see us finally get to Velocity-9, and to see that in the TV world Velocity-9 appears to be actually a good thing. The episode was amazing overall, with some hints at even greater mysteries ahead (just who is that man in the mask…and why did he get so upset when Barry talked about Jay?).  This was a great visit to Earth-2…and hopefully we will see this world again before long.

What did YOU think? Leave your comments below!

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