The Flash Review: “Welcome to Earth-2”

Heroes and villains doppelgäng up on each other.

Title: “Welcome to Earth-2”

Director: Millicent Shelton
Writers: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Katherine Walczak

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon / Vibe / Reverb
Candice Patton as Iris West / Detective Iris West-Allen
Matt Letscher as Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost
Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells
Jesse L. Martin as Joe West / Joseph West
Teddy Sears as Jay Garrick/The Flash
Robbie Amell as Ronnie Raymond / Deathstorm
Demore Barnes as Henry Hewitt
Michael Rowe as Floyd Lawton
Patrick Sabongui as Captain David Singh
Adam Stafford as Adam Fells / Geomancer
Violett Beane as Jesse Wells/ Jesse Quick
Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West
Tony Todd as the Voice of Zoom
Michelle Harrison as Nora Allen
Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers / Supergirl

Premise

Barry, Cisco, and Harrison travel to Earth-2 in order to stop Zoom and save Jesse, but Barry instead decides to interact with assorted doppelgängers of his friends and family, needlessly complicating everything.

Back on Earth-1, Jay Garrick must become the Flash again to stop a supervillain.

High Points

The idea of a 1940sesque retrofuturistic earth isn’t new to genre, but they do such a great job of creating Earth Two that I almost want to live there. The only thing (apart from reality, I mean) that prevents me is the plague of evil metahumans—in particular, the genuinely nasty incarnation of Dr. Zoom, who will be the real show this season.

Low Points

Could the writers please take note of the supposed intelligence of the group, and not have them rush full-speed-force into stupid, ill-conceived, off-the-cuff plans when facing real threats?

The Scores:

Originality: 1/6 Our heroes cross over to an alternate earth where, despite significant changes to history, culture, technology, and individuals’ lives and temperaments, they find duplicates of themselves. The interaction includes a half-arsed plan where one character, with no preparation, impersonates his dopplegänger, and another one meets his evil twin.

Nope. Didn’t see any of that coming. Did you?

Effects: 5/6 Earth-2 looks great.

Acting: 5/6 It’s no Orphan Black, but the core cast play variants of themselves competently.

Story: 4/6

Emotional Response: 5/6

Production: 6/6

Overall: 4/6

In total, “Welcome to Earth-2” receives 30/42

Note

The brief appearance of Supergirl as our heroes transition between worlds suggests that Barry will encounter her on another alt-Earth later this March, rather than as a characters who share a world.

5 replies on “The Flash Review: “Welcome to Earth-2””

  1. Despite the rampant stupidity of their actions, I still loved the episode. It was pretty predictable, sure, but a fun ride. E2 looks great, and next week should be even more interesting.

  2. Cisco’s Utility Vest included a whole thing of twizzlers. That was pretty much a high point for me.

    This episode probably wins some sort of Easter Eggs per Second contest, too.

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