The Flash Season 2, Episode 14 Recap And Review: Escape From Earth-2

If ever there was a “Well, that didn’t go too well” moment on The Flash Season 2, we saw it last week. Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon accompanied Harry Wells to Earth-2 in an effort to retrieve Wells’ daughter Jesse from the clutches of Zoom, but they ended up disregarding most of the advice Harry and Jay Garrick gave them ahead of time.

As a result, the Earth-2 Joe West is dead, Cisco has been shaken by revelations from his own doppelganger, and Barry is now a prisoner himself. Oh, and back on Earth-1, Caitlin Snow is desperately trying to get Jay his powers back before Geomancer shakes all of Central City into rubble.

Fun times for us, not so much for our heroes. Now it’s up to Cisco, Harry, the Earth-2 Detective West (that’s Iris, not Joe) and even Killer Frost to attempt a last ditch rescue. Can they pull it off? Fire up your Speed Cannon for The Flash Season 2, episode 14 and let’s find out!

Not-So-Fast Recap: Zoom has taken to carpet bombing Earth-2 Central City with brochures and leaving flaming messages saying the same thing: Bring me Wells! Harry orders an evacuation of S.T.A.R. Labs but is surprised by the returning Cisco. He explains what happened to the Flash and also thinks he can modify Reverb’s goggles to find the villain. They have another problem too: Earth-2 Barry is awake.

And they’ll have to table all discussion, because Zoom has arrived. They hide in Harry’s own version of the Time Vault, managing to fool Zoom with a holographic fake wall. He won’t fall for that twice.

In Zoom’s Dungeon of Doom, Jesse tells Barry there’s no way out. He wants to know who the man in the metal mask is, but she doesn’t know and wants him to stop tapping on the wall of his cell. Jesse, haven’t you ever seen any movie ever? It’s obviously Morse code. Sigh … She also doubts her dad is going to find them since he only cares about himself. Barry gives Harry a testimonial, but Zoom spoils the moment when he zips in and says the Flash is going to die as soon as he’s surrendered his speed.

Jay Garrick announces to Caitlin Snow that the breach has been stabilized, and that their friends have 20 hours to return. The problem is that Geomancer is still out there, and the Velocity-8 isn’t ready yet. Maybe she should just skip to Velocity-9. Just saying. Caitlin also says that the drug is killling Jay, but he has faith her next attempt will go better, and besides, they don’t have any choice.

Our Iris West meets her new editor, who is not a fan of her work. Specifically, he wants to know if the Flash is such a big hero, where is he now? She tries bargaining by promising an exclusive with the “new Flash,” but he threatens to go J. Jonah Jameson on Flash if she doesn’t deliver the goods.

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The Earth-2 Barry reunites with his very confused Iris. He explains his double and introduces her to Harry and Cisco. As they debate how to find Zoom, Cisco thinks maybe Killer Frost would give up his lair if her love for the Earth-2 Ronnie is as strong as the love between them on Earth-1. Iris says her husband can locate Killer Frost, and once he does, he also talks his way into coming along even though he’s clearly not the man of action our Barry is. And that’s probably putting it mildly.

I owe Jesse an apology, because Barry says the masked man isn’t doing Morse code. There is a pattern though, and he thinks if they work together, they can crack it. She’s convinced to help by Barry’s comment that Harry said the only person smarter than him was his daughter, and they quickly form a theory.

On Earth-1, Caitlin puts the finishing touches on her latest batch, which she calls Velocity-9. I’ve got a good feeling about this one. Iris arrives and asks Jay if he’ll agree to the newspaper story, but they don’t have time for an interview now because Geomancer is on TV calling Jay out, threatening to bring down a building. “Give me the Velocity-9,” says Jay. Lightning flashes in his eyes after taking it. Oh yeah!

The Flash, Earth-2 version, manages to get all the people out of the building. He slumps down at S.T.A.R. Labs but assures Caitlin and Iris he’s just rusty and tired. Iris says she has everything she needs for her story, and Jay goes to take a nap.

The masked man spells out the name “Jay,” meaning Jay Garrick. Barry reports that Jay is alive but not with them, and the guy turns frantic for a moment. Zoom arrives and tells Barry not to talk to the masked man again. Mentioning that he needs Barry alive to get his speed but not unharmed, he vibrates into Barry’s cell and proceeds to rough him up pretty good. Jesse is concerned, but Barry smirks as he notes that the villain just showed him a way out.

Our ragtag band of heroes happens upon Killer Frost’s wooded hideaway. They ask her to reveal Zoom’s location, but she’d rather kill them and try to regain her old boss’ favor. A brief fight ensues, but Cisco eventually has Killer Frost at gunpoint.

Caitlin thinks she’s figured out a way to save Jay’s life, and she calls for him to come back up to the cortex. Alas, Geomancer walks in first.

(Aside: Didn’t they say at the beginning of Season 2 that they had beefed up the security at S.T.A.R. Labs?)

The villain closes in on the two ladies, but Caitlin shoots him with a huge sci-fi-looking gun. Ah, it’s the Boot from the season premiere. Gotcha!

Cisco makes his appeal to Killer Frost, hoping that there’s a bit of the Caitlin he knows in her. She reluctantly agrees to show them Zoom’s lair, but that’s it.

Whe can’t Barry vibrate through the glass of his cell? He should be vibrating fast enough, but it’s still not working. Jesse suggests that maybe he’s not vibrating at the right frequency, and he recalls what Harry and Cisco said about the Earths vibrating differently. He might be able to make up the difference, but he’ll have to move faster.

Zoom’s hideout is high up a scary-looking cliff. Killer Frost can make them an ice structure to reach the opening, and again, there’s no real alternative. Barry tells Iris once again that he’s going with her.

Back to Earth-1 we go, as Joe West takes Geomancer away and Caitlin shows Jay the good news: Velocity-9 is allowing his cells to regenerate again. Can she make it permanent? They kiss, but are interrupted by an alarm from the breach room. Geomancer’s seismic powers may have damaged the equipment, and now they need to stabilize the breach. Again. And uh, sorry Joe, but I don’t know if you’re going to be much help with the science stuff.

Cisco is happy to see Barry, but Harry is overjoyed to see his daughter. Will Killer Frost help free her from her chains? Yep, though she can’t shatter Barry’s glass cell. Harry says it’s made of a material she can’t freeze. Barry tells them to go before Zoom comes back, but no one seems crazy about that idea. Earth-2 Barry recounts how much they went through just to get there, and it turns into a heroic pep talk. “I’m just Barry Allen, but you’re the Flash.” Goosebumps.

And … it works! Now get the heck out of there. Oops, Killer Frost double-crossed them after all, as Zoom shows up determined to kill everyone but Harry and Barry. He’s going to start wih Jesse, but Killer Frost acts first, dropping Zoom with a cold blast and keeping him down with more ice. Revenge for your true love is stronger than self-preservation, I guess. Barry vows to come back for the masked man.

There’s still the matter of fixing the breach generator, which involves lots of fancy talk and some risky stunt by Jay and Joe. Jay races around the breach at super-speed while Joe flips some switches, but Caitlin notes that the Velocity-9 is running out. Both men are thrown clear of the breach, but they pulled it off, and Jay notes that they now know how long the Velocity-9 lasts.

The Flash tells Barry and Iris to go somewhere they can be safe, and Iris notes that they have family in Atlantis. Where will Harry and Jesse go? Back to Earth-1, apparently. She doesn’t seem crazy about that, but the meta alarm goes off. Cisco and Jesse are through, but Zoom has Harry. Flash won’t leave without him, of course, and Harry manages to jab Zoom with a vial of the slowing chemical they used before. That allows Flash to grab Harry and zip into the breach.

With everyone through, Jay throws one of Wells’ devices through the final breach to close it. We look like we’re getting the happy ending, but there’s something about the way Jay is too close to the breach and … CRAP, ZOOM’S HAND REACHES THROUGH JAY’S CHEST AND PULLS HIM THROUGH THE BREACH BEFORE IT CLOSES! Sorry, I was so distraught that all caps seemed appropriate there. Damn.

OMG Moment of the Week: You mean besides that last scene? We’re only voting for runners-up this week, but Jay regaining his speed and Earth-2 Barry’s pep talk were both great too.

Movie Reference of the Week: Cisco saying, “This is heavy.” It’s not the first Back to the Future reference on this show, and I’d bet it won’t be the last. He also earns honorable mention for calling Killer Frost Elsa.

#SnowJay Alert Level: Condition Red! A passionate kiss and plenty of together time. Remember when people didn’t think this pairing was really going to happen? That ending though … It’s almost like the writers just want to keep Caitlin experiencing one heartbreak after another.

Next: The Flash 213 Recap: Welcome to Earth-2

Final Thought: I’m a little upset about Jay, as we’ve got to assume both he and Killer Frost are dead. There are also nine more episodes in Season 2, so we can’t just assume Zoom is gone for good. Aside from all that, a really good episode, one full of action, drama and emotion. Those are all the ingredients for an excellent outing of The Flash.