The Flash S2:E14 Escape From Earth-2 Recap starts now!

Spoilers ahead, Dopplegängers!

Zoom is not happy. He has Barry in a cell in his lair, and now just needs Harrison Wells to take Barry’s speed for him. He knows Wells is back in Earth-2, and leaves the same message all over town, Bring Me Wells.

Wells is at STAR Labs, and has just seen a news report about the messages, and realises how much danger everyone is in. Henry Hewitt comes in asking him if he has seen the news, and Wells tells him it’s time for everyone to evacuate, they need to lock down STAR Labs. Cisco gets back from the ill-fated meeting with Killer Frost and Deathstorm, and tells Wells that Zoom has Barry. Cisco has brought back Reverb’s glasses, and tries to tell Wells that they might be able to fix them for him to use and track Zoom. Wells tell him it’s too late, they don’t have time. Zoom knows they are here in Earth-2 and will be tracking them down at this very minute.

A tiny little voice comes out of nowhere, “Hello? Is anyone there?”. It’s Barry-2, locked in a room and seemingly forgotten until now. “Oh boy! We’re gonna have words! This is not okay!”. They un-cuff him and let him out, and Barry-2 lets Wells know how disappointed in him he is, and is shocked to learn he has been there for a day. “One day! My wife is going to be worried sick”. “Heavy”, says Cisco. “It certainly is, and I demand to know WHAT THE HECK is going on here”. Wells tells him they don’t have time to explain, and he goes to leave. An alarm starts to sound, it’s a metahuman alert. “He’s here”.

In the hallways of STAR Labs, Henry is evacuating people and locking down sections, when Zoom appears. A security team come in behind him, telling him “Do not move!”. Zoom side-eyes them, and then goes for Henry, leaving them flipping through the air in his wake. He gets Henry by the neck against the wall. “Where are Wells and his friends?”.

Wells, Cisco and Barry-2 make a run for it and head down the corridor out of the lab. “What the heck is going on!” squeaks Barry-2. “Zoom is after us”, replies Wells. “Zoom?! Why would Zoom be after you?”. Cisco says it’s a long story, and Wells opens his Time Vault in the wall. “Get in!” Wells yells. Zoom skids around the corner, and stops next to the Time Vault. Inside, Barry-2 is having an increasingly high pitched meltdown, and Wells tells Cisco to shut him up. Zoom phases through the wall and inspects the room, but Wells has created a fake wall and they remain undetected. They decide to leave and find another place to hide, but Barry-2 is still freaking out and insists they tell him what is going on. This instant!

At Zoom’s lair, Barry and Jesse are taking about ways of escape, while the masked prisoner continually knocks on the glass. Jesse doesn’t know who he is, he was already imprisoned when she got there. Jesse begs him to stop knocking, but Barry thinks he might be trying to tell them something. They start to discuss Wells and how he won’t stop until he has saved her, “Every decision he has made, every action he’s taken since we’ve met, it’s been to save you”, Barry tells her. Zoom bursts in and tells Jesse “Believe what you want but the only reason you’re still alive is so I can kill you in front of your father. And the only reason your father’s still alive is to get me your speed, Flash. Once he does that, he will die too”.

Back on Earth-1, the Geomancer is still on the loose causing earthquakes around Central City. The news reports are becoming more disparaging towards the Flash, asking where is he? Caitlin and Jay talk about how the new Velocity 8 is coming along, Caitlin tells him that the Velocity 7 has caused further damage to his cells and she needs to do more research before giving him any more, she doesn’t want to hurt him. “If it will help me beat Geomancer, you might have to. Until Barry gets back, I might be the only chance this city has”.

At the newspaper office, Iris meets her new editor. Unhappy with the material she has produced since the Flash has been gone, he instructs her to write a scathing article about the Flash and how he is letting Central City down. Iris suggests an interview with the other Flash that fought the Geomancer previously, and he tells her if she knows him as well, to go ahead and try.

At Earth-2 CCPD, Barry-2 arrives to apologise to Iris-2 for being AWOL since the day before. Iris-2 is very upset, and says “Where were you last night? My father died yesterday, and you never even came home”. “I know, I heard. I’m sorry”, Barry-2 replies. “You heard? You were there, Barry”, Iris-2 says. “I actually was not there”, Barry-2 replies.

He takes her up to his lab to explain, and Iris-2 starts to wrap her head around it. “So that’s why you weren’t wearing your wedding ring yesterday”, she says, “And that kiss was so . . .”. “I’m sorry, he got frisky with you?” exclaims Barry-2, “I’m gonna have to find this guy and give him a piece of my mind!”. Wells and Cisco are also there, and ask Iris-2 if she can help them track Zoom. They decide to try and find Killer Frost, in the hope that she can lead them to Zoom’s lair. She tells them Barry-2 is the one who can help. He shows them a program that collects data on metahumans, their vitals, previous crimes and the likelihood of their whereabouts. They view Killer Frost’s information, and the program suggests that she is in a wooded area. Barry-2 insists on accompanying Iris-2, against Wells’s better judgement.

In their cells, Jesse and Barry decide to try and work out what the man in the iron mask is trying to tell them.  They listen to his knocks, and try and decipher what the number of knocks mean. Barry has an idea, there is an old P.O.W. code that is based around five knocks, deciphered using a 5 x 5 grid of letters. Every letter of the alphabet, except K as C and K sound the same.

On Earth-1, Caitlin has managed to produce a new serum, called Velocity-9. She found a flaw with 8, and changed the formula to come up with 9. Iris arrives and asks Jay if he would consider giving her an interview for the newspaper. Jay is not convinced, as he didn’t get to finish Geomancer off last time before the serum wore off. A news report comes on the television, it’s the Geomancer calling Jay out, he creates an earthquake and a building in Central City begins to sway. Jay takes the serum from Caitlin and injects it into his arm. He takes off and flashes his way downtown, pulls everyone out of the building and returns exhausted. Iris tells him she won’t need that interview now, she has all she needs, and Jay heads down to the Cortex for a nap.

In the cells, the masked man taps out the letters J, A and Y, as deciphered by the grid. “Jay? As in Jay Garrick? He’s alive, but he’s on my Earth” says Barry. The man starts to get agitated, and Barry asks him to please stop. “Jay didn’t come with us, please”. And here’s Zoom, telling the man to not talk to them again. Zoom phases into Barry’s cell and beats the absolute bejesus out of him and leaves. “Barry, are you okay?”, asks Jesse, “I’m okay, Zoom just showed me how to get out of this thing”, Barry replies.

Wells, Cisco and Earth-2 Barry and Iris make their way to the wooded area, and the air turns frigid. “This is definitely the place”, says Wells. Killer Frost emerges from behind a tree and asks them what they want. Wells asks her where Zoom keep his prisoners, and Frost says to Cisco, “You really don’t know how to use your powers, do you breacher?”. “It’s a work in progress, Elsa”, he replies. Instead of helping them, she decides to take them on in the hopes of getting on Zoom’s good side.

She fires on them, and they scrabble for shelter. Wells tells them he’ll provide cover, and let them get to safety. Wells does his best grandpa run and draws fire, while Barry-2 does his best dork run and gets to cover. Iris-2 gets a gun to her Frost’s head, but she turns it around on her. Cisco arrives with his gun and says “Stop, or you’ll never make another icicle again”.

At Earth-1 STAR Labs, Caitlin has had a breakthrough that could help save Jay’s life. Iris is also there working on her article, and they are interrupted by the Geomancer. “What do you want?”, asks Iris. “I like the watch heroes fall, and never get back up”, he replies advancing towards them. He starts setting off quakes, and they run to try and find a safe place. He pursues therm, setting of more quakes, and Caitlin is knocked out by a falling shelf. He catches up with Iris and threatens to level STAR Labs with a Richter 7 quake. Caitlin appears behind him and shoots an electrified cuff around his neck, “Nice shot”, says Iris. “I was aiming for his leg”, replies Caitlin.

Back in the woods, Cisco manages to convince Frost to help them, by telling her about Earth-1 Caitlin. He tells her about her love for Ronnie Firestorm, and that she was also devastated by his loss, just as Frost is about Ronnie Deathstorm. Zoom took him away from her, just as he is threatening to take Wells’s daughter, Cisco’s friend and many others. “Fine, I’ll show you where it is. But that’s it”, she says. “Uh, where are we going?” asks Barry, “Ascension Cliffs”, replies Frost.

Barry is trying to phase out of his cell, but cannot seem to get fast enough to get through the glass. “Maybe you’re resonating at a different frequency?”, suggests Jesse. “Your Earth vibrates at a different frequency than mine, same reason Cisco can’t Vibe”. Barry needs to go faster, and starts to psych himself up for more glass to the face.

Frost leads the Earth-2 team to the cliffs, and the entrance to Zoom’s lair is at the very top. “Place only a speedster could get to”, says Wells. “SO how do we get up there?”, asks Cisco. “I can make you something to climb on, darling”, replies Frost her hands already icy cold. Barry-2 is not convinced, he’s wearing wingtips for crying out loud, they don’t have much tread. Iris-2 tries to talk him into staying behind, telling him it’s okay if he doesn’t want to do this. “You are my wife”, he tells her, “I’m not leaving your side”. Frost shoots ice out of her hands, and sculpts a slope they can climb. Where’s the real Elsa and her staircase when you need her?

At Earth-1 STAR Labs, Jay comes in apologising for not being around when Geomancer was attacking them. Hmmmm, just where were you Jay? Heavy sleeper, uh huh. Caitlin shows him that his cells are repairing themselves after taking the Velocity-9. She tells him she doesn’t have a permanent solution right now, but they’re on the right track. They kiss, and the speed cannon alarm starts to go off. Either that or Jay has an electrode somewhere awkward. The cannon has been damaged by the tremors caused by Geomancer. Once again, there is a chance the others won’t be able to get back through the breach, and there’s only an hour to go. Joe and Iris arrive, and Jay tells them he’s not sure they can fix it in time.

The Earth-2 crew make it up to Zoom’s lair, and find Barry, Jesse and Mask. Wells frees Jesse and they embrace, “I’m here”, he tells her. Frost grudgingly agrees to help with her chain, and freezes the links until they snap. She moves onto Barry’s glass, but she is unable to get her freeze to work on it. Wells comes over to look at the glass and tells them that it’s some kind of carbine and cold won’t work on it. Barry tells them he can’t phase out either, “Just go, before Zoom comes back”. Cisco refuses, but it seems there is nothing more they can do.

Then Barry-2 steps up, and talks to Barry about how he’s done things today that he never thought he could do, to prove to his wife and himself that he could. “If I can do the impossible today, then so can you. I’m just Barry Allen. But you’re the Flash”. He continues “If you tell yourself you can phase out of there, you’ll do it”. Barry puts his all into it, and phases through! They all go to leave, but Barry pulls up short. He’s not leaving without Mask.

“He not going anywhere”, says Zoom from behind them, “And neither are any of you”. Zoom thanks Frost for bringing them all too him, and it turns out Frost is just as cold hearted as they first thought. “Just so you know, “you” would be very disappointed in “you” right now”, Cisco tells her. Zoom tells them that although he still can’t kill Barry and Wells, he can kill the others and snatches Jesse out of Wells’s grasp. Frost makes a choice, and blasts Zoom away from Jesse, freezing him as much as she can. They all run, except Barry who is still refusing to leave Mask. Wells tells him there is no time, and Barry promises Mask that he will come back for him. Mask nods, and Barry runs.

Jay comes up with a plan to fix the cannon, the only way is to reboot each stabilizer ring. And the only way to get close enough to do that without getting sucked into the breach is to create a vortex. Jay still has enough Velocity-9 in his system to create the vortex, and Joe offers to help reboot the stabilizer rings. Jay starts running to create the vortex, while Joe works his way around the outside flipping the switches. The last one is a battle against the force of the vortex, and Jay’s speed is on the verge of running out. Joe finally reaches the switch and Caitlin restarts the speed cannon. It boots back up and is working perfectly again. Joe tells them that they will not be closing the breach as agreed, they’ll keep it open until everyone is back.

The Earth-2 crew are all zoomed back to STAR Labs by Barry, and he tells Earth-2 Barry and Iris to get as far away from Central City as possible. They tell them they have family in Atlantis and will leave straight away. “You may not have been struck by lighting over here, like I was, but today you risking your life to save someone you didn’t even know. That’s a hero, Barry”. Iris-2 asks Barry if her father is still alive on Earth-1, “Yeah, he is”, Barry tells her. “Give him a hug for me, will you?” asks Iris-2, and Barry tells her he will. Wells tells Jesse they have no choice but to leave Earth-2, there’s no future for them here with Zoom after them. She is reluctant, but the metahuman alarm starts to wail, and they head for the breach.

On Earth-1, the crew wait for someone, anyone (except Zoom), to come through. Barry runs Cisco and Jesse through , “Get ready to close the breach for good, Zoom is coming!”, Cisco yells. When Barry returns for Wells, Zoom has him. “Close the breach”, Wells says to Barry, and shows Barry the syringe in his hand. Whilst Zoom is distracted by Barry, Wells stabs him with the syringe, giving Barry the chance to grab him and run through the breach. They arrive through, and tell Jay to throw the grenade and close the breach. He does, and it seems everyone is safe. Jay steps closer to the almost closed breach, and turns happily to Caitlin. As he goes to her, Zoom’s arm shoots through the breach, through Jay’s chest, and drags him back into the breach which then closes for good.

Argh! More questions than answers! Who is Zoom? Who is Mask?? And what the hell does Jay have to do with all this? He is conveniently absent a lot of the time when Zoom things are going down, is he Zoom or involved in Zoom’s plans? Is the Mask another version of Jay, or the real Jay? But then there’s the Earth-2 Eddie Thawne rumours too! The only thing made obvious in this episode was that Mask was a blonde, and so are Jay and Eddie. So that narrows it down, NOT AT ALL!

Let’s just leave it with Jay is shady AF, alright? Alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsHfTjn80Bs