What I’m Watching: The Flash

The Flash: Season 2, Episode 13 “Welcome to Earth-2” (B+)

I’ve always said that the only thing I love more than time travel is alternate universes, and this episode was an excellent instance of that. It also showed what Earth-1 looks like without the Flash, and luckily it was just one lousy criminal who tried to wreak havoc and show the world that the Flash had abandoned them. It’s cool to see that Earth-2 looks different and feels much more dated, with a bow-tie wearing Barry and a much classier Central City. Barry realizing that he was married to Iris, also known as the trigger-happy Detective West, was fun, and it was at first amusing and then sad to learn that Joe, or Joseph, hated him as a trade-off for his happiness with Iris. I enjoyed seeing the evil version of Caitlin, called Killer Frost, and the return of Ronnie, who here was Deathstorm, Killer Frost’s heat-wielding companion. But the biggest surprise of all was Cisco’s doppelganger, who was using his powers like the Cisco we know has never been able to, though Doppel-Cisco and Deathstorm weren’t long for that world as Zoom arrived to kill them both for trying to hurt the Flash. I wonder whether Iris and Cisco will try to track down Killer Frost to assist them in hunting for a very imprisoned and screwed Barry. Back on Earth-1, it was great to see the Caitlin we know and don’t fear help Jay get his speed back enough to be the Flash for a moment, especially after he confessed that he lost his speed on his own due to his greed.