Geekscape Recaps: The Flash – ‘Flash of Two Worlds’

Barry Allen is back again, and this time, with friends! We all knew Garrick was coming, and we finally got to see him in action. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

At the start of this second episode, viewers were schooled on the relationship between Earth 1 and Earth 2. Avid comic readers will have extensive knowledge on the differences and similarities that exist between the two Earths, and more, but I felt we got a pretty good introduction to the multiverse for non-comic readers. Along with the mutiverse, we also got introductions to Patty Spivot, a young officer who eventually convinces Joe West to be on the meta-human task force, and Iris’ mother. It’s strange Iris’ mother would come around now after all these years, but we’ll probably get a dose of family drama for at least a few weeks. Furthermore, we also got some more clarity around Zoom and what his intentions are. According to Garrick, Zoom is an evil speedster who won’t stop until he’s the only speedster existing in the multiverse.

In Garrick’s flashback, Zoom had Garrick beat and was about to kill him when the singularity opened up and pulled Jay in. Zoom, however, made no attempt to cross into the singularity which tells us either he has his own way to travel inter-dimensionally, or he eventually found his own way after the singularity event. In this episode, we also found out there are a total of 52 “breaches” around Central City. I suspect one or more of these episodes will deal with these breaches. However, we must remember the largest breach in Central City happens to be at STAR Labs. After that reveal, Professor Stein collapsed, which is what episode 3 will probably open on. Overall, this episode treated the fans while building on new reveals. Now, let’s hit on a few things you may have missed.

Swamp Thing

Yes, that Swamp Thing. In the greenhouse Sand Demon was using as a hideout, Cisco was able to use his vibe-powers to peer inside. While there, he got a look at a name that would eventually lead him to pinpoint Sand Demon’s location. The name? Woodrue, as in Jason Woodrue.

While Woodrue isn’t necessarily the Swamp Thing, he has played both savior and adversary of Alec Holland, aka the Swamp Thing. Woodrue’s known aliases are Plant Master, Seeder, Floro, and Floronic Man. He uses his plant powers for good and evil and has also been in the Secret Society of Super-Villains. It’s also worthy to note that during his time as Plant Master, he often played villain against the Atom, who already exists in this universe.

Vibe

Over the last two episodes, we’ve seen Vibe get more of a hold on his powers. According to Cisco, the “vibes” went away after the singularity event, but resurfaced six months later when Flash battled Atom Smasher. In this episode, Cisco was able to go back to his lab and use his power intentionally by touching some of Sand Demon’s evidence.

It would seem he’s on a path to control and would be a great asset to the Flash team. For right now, Stein is the only present person that knows of Cisco’s powers. This is due to Cisco’s belief that his powers were gifted to him with evil intentions by Wells before the end of season one. I’m not sure how I feel about a costume for Cisco, but some Vibe glasses would be pretty cool every now and then.

Blackgate Penitentiary

Blackgate was mentioned in last night’s episode sort of offhandedly when Detective West was interrogating Sand Demon’s doppelgänger. Blackgate isn’t in Central City, or even Star City. Blackgate is located on a small island in Gotham Bay, Gotham. This marks the second reference to Gotham in The Flash, with the first reference being tucked away in the newspaper from the year 2024.

Zoom and Jay Garrick

Last night, we got our first good look at Zoom, both in action and as still as he could have been. Before seeing him, all we knew was that Zoom was to be voiced by Tony Todd. Last week, we were told Zoom was behind Atom Smasher’s attempt at Barry’s life. This week, we actually saw Zoom give Sand Demon the same assignment. It would appear as if Zoom offered Sand Demon the same reward for killing Flash, which was a ticket home back to Earth 2. Whether or not Zoom is prepared to make good on that promise is undetermined. It is strange that Zoom doesn’t just come after the Flash himself. Could it be he’s suffering from a bit of power drainage too? Garrick completely lost his while other meta-humans are able to retain their powers.

The loss of speed, and connection to the speedforce, has happened quite a few times in comics. However, Garrick’s situation brought up one particular arc that began in Flash Vol. 2 #165 in which Wally West, who was Flash at the time, loses his connection to the speedforce entirely when he crossed over into a parallel dimension. We’ll just have to wait and see if Garrick can re-establish his connection to the speedforce somewhere down the line.

Earth 2

In both Jay Garrick’s flashback and the stinger at the end of the episode, we were able to get a good look at what Earth 2 looks like. The art style, clothes, and architecture are noticeably different. It would also seem that their technology is a bit behind ours, even though we’re both in the year 2015.

The tour guide inside STAR Labs stated that the company was created in 1991 by the “savior” of Central City, Harrison Wells. It’s hard to trust Wells’ smirk at the end of the episode and almost seems to suggest that this is the same Wells that left last season. As to how he saved Central City is a mystery. It’s possible that Wells is the one who closed the singularity on Earth 2’s end while Firestorm and Flash were responsible for closing it on Earth 1.

Who knows, maybe this Wells isn’t all bad. In fact, it would be awesome to see Wells and Barry working together again. In any case, we’ll have to wait and see.

Did I miss anything? Confused about something? Don’t be afraid to comment! See you next week and thanks for reading!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9CE18UvvsU