We’re going to Earth-2 baby!

The Flash S2:E13 Welcome to Earth-2 Recap starts now!

Harrison Wells is in his lab, making a new note to the log in his watch. He’s talking to Jesse and tells her of his plans to come back to Earth-2 and rescue her from Zoom. And he’s not coming alone this time. Barry is closing the remaining breaches around Central City, leaving just the one at STAR Labs.

Barry, Joe and Iris have a family dinner before Barry is due to leave. Iris asks if he has told his father Henry, and he says that he hasn’t because he can’t let himself be talked out of this. She asks whether he is doing it to get away from the situation with Patty, and that he thinks there is nothing left for him on this Earth anymore. He says that’s not the case and tells her all the things he loves about his life. His friends, his job, being the Flash. “I love you and Joe, I’m not trying to escape, I promise” he says. “Go and win, and then come back home” Iris replies.

At STAR Labs, Barry, Wells and Cisco are preparing to go through the breach to Earth-2. Jay tells them that things are going to look and feel the same, but they’re not. Up is down, black is white, and they can’t let themselves get sucked in emotionally. Barry gets Jay and Joe to agree to close the breach if they’re not back in 48 hours. Cisco gives Caitlin a letter to give his parents and brother if he doesn’t make it back. They say their goodbyes and turn to face the breach. “Is anyone else feeling panic right now?” says Cisco, “I got no spit”. Jay tells them to not get distracted by anything along the way. “What are we gonna see?” Cisco asks him. “Everything.” replies Jay. They turn the speed cannon on and Barry runs them through the breach. There are heaps of little Easter eggs in the tunnel, old Flash, Supergirl, Grodd, Jonah Hex.  Man this is getting exciting!

After they disappear, the speed cannon becomes unstable and begins to shake. A large piece comes off and nearly flattens Caitlin. Jay theorises that with all the other breaches now closed, this one might be receiving excess energy. If they don’t fix it, Barry and the others will be stuck on Earth-2.

On Earth-2, they arrive through the breach and into STAR labs. This earth is more technologically advanced than Earth-1 but also kind of Jetson’s looking. Everything has that shiny, cartoony Roger Rabbit feel and look to it. Wells takes them through STAR labs, showing them around and along the way they run in to Henry Hewitt, a failed Firestorm turned villain on Earth-1. Barry and Cisco are shocked, as Henry welcomes Wells back.  Seeing a super-villain’s doppelganger as a normal, nice guy has blown their tiny little minds.

They get to Well’s office and he turns on the news, a reporter informs them that Mayor Snart (hello) has enforced a curfew in order to try and keep citizens safe from Zoom. They decide to get to work, and Cisco gets his glasses and tries to Vibe on Zoom. Nothing. Tries again. No dice. He checks the glasses and finds that they are not picking up the right frequency. Wells realises that the Earths operate on different frequencies and they will need to reprogram them. On the news report, we see Barry’s doppelganger, still a CSI but extra dorky, giving a report on behalf of the CCPD. This gives Barry an idea of how to find Zoom. He flashes off, and returns with Barry-2, who is shocked to say the least. He spots Wells and turns into a puddle of geeky drool at his feet. Barry-1 pulls out a taser to knock him out, and shut him up. The plan is a wee bit of doppelganger identity theft.

Barry arrives at CCPD, and spots more doubles. Captain Singh from Earth-1 is now a criminal being brought in, and then Barry spots someone across the way. Deadshot! On this Earth, Floyd Lawton is a Detective, and the worst shot on the force. “That’s not funny, Allen. I hate that nickname. I know I’m not the best shot in the department but -” he gets cut of by Iris, “Not the best? Lawton you are the worst! Now go and book Singh and I’ll be in soon” she says. “Whatever you say, partner”, he replies. “Detective West” stutters Barry. “The one and only!” she replies. She asks him to accompany her so she can have a word with him. They go out into the corridor and Iris has him up against the wall in a flash. He asks what the heck she is doing, and she says he’s her husband, she can kiss him if she likes. Barry-2 is living the dream, ya’ll. Her meta-human alert watch start going off, and she figures it must be on the fritz. She tells him it’s time to go home.

In a warehouse a couple of thieves are trying to make a getaway with some cash, when they are stopped by two meta-humans who tell them Zoom will not be happy they are stealing from him. It’s Caitlin Snow’s double, now Killer Frost. She skewers one with an icicle and freezes the other one solid with a kiss. Ronnie Raymond enters (Earth-1 Ronnie died saving the city), and he is Deathstorm, not Firestorm. He takes care of the last thief, and they kiss. Ronnie tells her that they have detected some breachers, and they need to track them down and take care of them. “You know my favourite thing is to kill people from other Earths” she says. “Today’s your lucky day” Ronnie replies.

Barry and Iris arrive home, the same house as Earth-1, and Iris begins to undress once inside. Barry freaks and she asks if he’s okay. “I’m not really myself today” he replies, looking at their wedding photos. Iris tells him that his mother has called for him while they were at work. His mother. Sheesh. He goes over to the phone and presses the button marked Mom and Dad. Nora Allen answers, and Barry has not heard her voice since he was a child, when she was murdered by Eobard Thawne. She thanks him for a gift, and Barry cries silent tears while telling her he loves her, and loves to hear her happy. (My tears were not so silent, waaaah). They say goodbye, and I’m not sure Barry can take any more of this.

Back at STAR labs on Earth-2, Wells is starting to worry as they haven’t heard from Barry in hours. Wells asks Cisco to track him, but he has been too busy trying to find his own double to look for Barry. “I always figured I would be a rich, Elon Musk type, but with less RBF.” (Resting Bitch Face). Wells tells him to get on with finding Barry and Zoom.

At Jitterbugs (Earth-2 Jitters), Barry and Iris arrive in time to hear Joe singing some jazz. Turns out he’s a popular singer on this Earth, and also has no love lost for Barry. Joe blames Barry for insisting on doing his PhD, forcing Iris to leave her internship at the newspaper and become a police officer to support them. Iris tells him she is strong, and is proud to be following in her grandfather’s footsteps.

Back on Earth-1, Caitlin and Jay are working on repairing the speed cannon. Joe arrives and tells them that Central City has a meta-human wreaking havoc, and they need the Flash back. Joe suggests that Jay uses Velocity 6, like he did when he removed a bullet from Wells. Jay is not keen, and Joe reminds him that Barry is not here, and Central City needs a Flash right now. He leaves to try and capture him the old fashioned way. Jay admits to Caitlin that he has used Velocity 6 before, back on Earth-2 as a way of gaining more speed. Unfortunately, the side effects were not good, resulting in the loss of his speed. “Zoom never stole your speed” realises Caitlin, “And it’s also what is making you sick now”. Caitlin tells him he has her on his side now, and she’ll do everything she can to help him.

At Jitterbugs, everyone’s meta-human alarms start going off all at once, Killer Frost and Deathstorm enter, much to Barry’s surprise. Frost starts questioning the crowd, looking for the breacher. Iris goes to draw her gun, and Barry tells her no. This attracts Frost’s attention to Barry. “Hey handsome, you got something you want to tell me? No?” she says. She complains to Ronnie that no one wants to talk to her, and Iris takes the opportunity to draw her gun. She gets everyone to clear the cafe and Barry says “Caitlin”. This stops Frost in her tracks “I haven’t heard that name in a long time” she replies. “That is your name isn’t it? Your real name? I know you” says Barry. Iris and Joe give him strange looks, “If you knew me at all, you would know that I hate the name Caitlin” says Frost, “I’m Killer Frost”. She fires icicles at Barry and Iris, but Barry flips a table in time to protect them. Iris and Joe try to run, and Deathstorm fires at Iris. Joe pushes her out of the way, and takes the fireball to the chest.

Barry speeds Killer Frost and Deathstorm out into a deserted part of the city to ensure no one else gets hurt. “Well hello breacher” says Frost. They fire on Barry and he uses his speed to dodge their attacks. He comes across a statue of Jay as the Flash, and wrenches the helmet off. He uses the helmet to deflect a Deathstorm fire ball back on to Frost. She goes down, and they take their opportunity to escape.

Barry returns to STAR labs, where Wells gets into him about leaving Iris and Joe to sort out their own problems and concentrate on Zoom. “These people are mere reflections of the people you know” says Wells. “Now that they know you are here, Zoom will know soon, and my daughter is dead.” Barry refuses, telling him that they are still his family “I would think by now you would know how important family is.”

Back on Earth-1, the meta-human, known as Geomancer, sets off an earthquake that shakes the CCPD. Joe rushes out to fight him, and he launches a tremor towards him. Jay appears as the Flash having taken a new serum of Velocity 7. He and Geomancer start to fight, but the serum wears off quickly and he finds himself in trouble. The Geomancer threatens to put a tremor through his head, but Joe shoots at him and scares him off.

On Earth-2, Barry and Iris sit at Joe’s beside waiting for him to wake. He does briefly, and tells Barry to look after Iris. He tells Iris that every song he has sang has been for her. “Every time before I sing, I say to myself, this one is for Iris. My baby girl, every song is for you.” He starts getting chest pains and dies before help can arrive.

Later at CCPD, Iris has had a tipoff about the location of Frost and Deathstorm. Barry arrives with Cisco, who has a device that may help against Frost. Lawton also insists on coming, while dropping bullets all over the floor while trying to load his gun. They arrive at the location and her meta-human alarm starts to go off. Frost and Deathstorm are waiting for them, and make them drop their weapons. Cisco manages to pocket his. “Is Martin Stein in there?” Cisco asks Ronnie. “I haven’t let him out in years. Doesn’t talk much anymore” he replies. “I can’t believe you two work for Zoom” says Cisco. “No, they work for me” says a voice from the shadows, “I work for Zoom.”

A figure wearing blue glasses strangely similar to Cisco’s begin to emerge from the darkness. “Who the hell are you?” asks Cisco. “Well that’s funny, I was just gonna ask you the same thing” says Cisco-2. Oh snap! Iris and Floyd are totally confused, having no idea Cisco-1 is from Earth-1. “I knew you were coming before you even entered the breach, we are all connected, Francisco” says Cisco-2.  “It’s Vibe” says Cisco-1. “Reverb”, replies Cisco-2. (okay, switching to code names now). “what if Zoom wasn’t running the show anymore, you don’t know how powerful you are. You could be a God” Reverb tells Vibe. “So, you want to run Central City?” “I want – Flash save us!” yells Vibe. Barry streaks in knocks Reverb aside and tells Iris and Floyd to go. Iris refuses to leave without Frost and Deathstorm and begin firing on them, hitting Frost in the arm. Deathstorm attacks, and Barry whisks Iris and Floyd to cover.

Vibe tells Reverb he’s not joining the dark side, and Floyd comes running up firing his gun over and over at Reverb. He misses totally. “You’re a rotten shot” says Reverb and blasts Floyd across the room. “Are you telling me I can do that?” asks Vibe. Barry dodges Deathstorm’s fireballs, but is blasted in the back by Reverb. “No!” screams Vibe, and Reverb turns and punches him out. Deathstorm and Reverb blast Barry over and over again, until Frost tells them that Zoom wants him alive.

Zoom appears behind Deathstorm and kills him. He turns to Reverb and puts his vibrating hand through his chest, cutting his heart to pieces. He takes Frost by the neck and tells her he’s happy she knows her place, he lets her live and drops her to the ground. Zoom snatches up Barry, just as Cisco wakes “Barry!” Frost mourns briefly over Ronnie’s body and then runs off.

Barry wakes in a glass cell, to another prisoner wearing a mask tapping on the glass. Barry sees Jesse and yells to her that he and Wells are trying to save her. Zoom appears “Look around, this is the last place you will ever see”. Barry stares him down and – we’re out? Oh man, way to leave us hanging until next episode. Far out, that was great!