Recap / The Flash 2014 S 2 E 2 Flash Of Two Worlds

"Flash, help me!" "I'm coming!"

Season 2, Episode 2:

Flash of Two Worlds

Team Flash encounters Jay Garrick, the Flash from an alternate Earth dubbed "Earth-2", who assists them against metahuman threats from his world.

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Tropes:

• Accidental Misnaming: Joe has trouble remembering Patty's name at first.
• Alliterative Name: Lampshaded.
  Jay Garrick: (on Scarlet Speedster and Crimson Comet) What is it with alliteration and nicknames?
• Alternate History: Jay mentions his father fought in the "War of the Americas", and the alternate Earth seen in The Stinger has an Art Deco design aesthetic combined with high technology.
• Birds of a Feather: Patty and Barry's interactions hint at this: two nice, determined members of the police department who have a hard time getting Joe to say "yes" when he's already said "no".
• Brought Down to Normal: Jay Garrick has lost his speed, for reasons he does not yet know.
• Call-Back: We finally see what Jay was doing when his helmet flew through the wormhole to Earth-1's STAR Labs: he was in the middle of a battle with Zoom. Technically, the wormhole saved Jay's life, since the evil speedster had him on the ropes.
• Color Character: Discussed Trope about "Green Arrow".
  Caitlin: Catchy.
  Cisco: I hate it when they put a color in their name.
• Continuity Nod: The STAR Labs crew is shown reacting to a public broadcast made by the Arrow Green Arrow. Cisco comments that he thinks the new Color Character name is stupid.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Barry mentions that if Jay told Team Flash that winged helmet was his, he would've believed his story a lot sooner.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Patty recounts her story to Joe West of losing her father at the hands of Mark Mardon before they got their powers.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Caitlin gets to do so once again as part of her work testing Jay, but only Iris admits to doing it.
• Elemental Punch: Under Jay's brief tutelage, Barry learns to weaponize his lightning streaks. Against Sand Demon, it looks like he's actually throwing a punch.
• Face–Heel Turn: Alluded to by Cisco. Since Thawne mentioned that he gave Cisco his powers, and was evil, Cisco is concerned that Thawne had an evil plan for him. He doesn't want the rest of Team Flash to know of his powers, in case they treat him as a threat.
• Hypocrite: A distrustful Barry telling Jay that if he were so good, he would have caught the Sand Demon already. This coming from the man who accidentally let several Rogues escape from last season, with Captain Cold, Heatwave, and Golden Glider still at large.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Despite finding everything about metahumans cool, Cisco is terrified by his own powers, as he's having visions of things he does not want to see.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: His experience with Thawne made Barry very wary of new people.
• Literally Shattered Lives: Sand Demon's fate after getting struck by Barry's new attack.
• Long-Lost Relative: Joe's ex-wife and Iris' mother finally shows up.
• The Multiverse: Professor Stein drops the term when explaining the parallel universes, and names the different Earths "Earth-1", "Earth-2", etc.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The episode title is taken from the comics story which reintroduced Jay and introduced the concept of the DC Multiverse. The shot of Barry and Jay coming over to help Patty is a replica/homage to its cover.◊
  • Sand Demon's "Earth-1" counterpart was in Blackgate Prison during the Accelerator explosion.
  • There are possibly infinite Earths out there, but also only 52 dimensional breaches in Central City. This reflects the different approaches to the DC Multiverse over time, and it's gone back and forth.
  • Cisco name drops his own meta!identity: "I just get this...vibe".
  • A flower pot in the greenhouse where Sand Demon keeps Patty is marked Woodrue, as in Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man.
  • In the stinger the scene introducing Earth 2's Central City has a golden tint, a subtle nod perhaps to how Earth 2 in the comics has traditionally represented DC's 'Golden Age' era).
  • Patty Spivot's reference to her science education, being a fan of Barry's reports, and her own crime scene investigation skills references her comic namesake who started out as Barry's lab assistant and eventually became the department's blood spatter expert.
  • When Jay recounts the Freak Lab Accident that gave him his powers, it seems to be a copy-and-paste of his comics origin, but, like Barry's own accident, lightning got involved.
  • The metahuman task force only has one member before Patty joined (probably because of the Task Force's casualty record). Its comic book equivalent also consists of only two members.
  • Prof. Stein says that Joe's Earth-2 counterpart could be a Nobel Prize-winning physicist; this is a nod to Ira West, the adoptive father of Iris in the comics, who is a Nobel prize-winning physicist.
• Never Be Hurt Again: After being betrayed by Thawne, Barry is understandably reluctant to put such trust in a complete stranger like Jay again.
• Nice Guy: Jay genuinely just wants to help. He does get frustrated with Barry's lack of trust, but otherwise he's perfectly kind.
• The Nicknamer: Cisco is upset that Sand Demon already has a code name, but admits that it's cool.
• No Endor Holocaust: Averted. We don't get a number like we did when Merlyn leveled half the Glades, but Barry says that "a whole lotta people died" because of Wells.
• Noodle Incident: Joe actually had another partner before Chyre, with little information alluding to him aside from the fact that he transferred out of the city.
• Not Me This Time: Earth-1 Eddie Slick is an arsonist, but he did not cause the fire of Sand Demon.
• Not What It Looks Like: Jay shows up in STAR Labs and tries to warn them about Zoom. Since Team Flash doesn't know him, he's forced to explain how he came to know them. Turns out he followed them around, leading him to almost quote this trope word for word.
• Older and Wiser: After earning Barry's trust, Jay is starting to settle into this role for the team. He even teaches Barry a new application for his powers along the way.
• Plucky Girl: Patty will be on that Metahuman Task Force, and she is not going to take "no" for an answer.
• The Power of Trust: Saves the day, once Barry finally realizes that Jay isn't a threat.
• Protagonist Title: The other Flash in title refers to Barry.
• Raygun Gothic: The alternate Earth in The Stinger features Art Deco monorails and retro fashion.
• Secondary Character Title: The other Flash in title refers to Jay.
• Second Episode Introduction: Patty Spivot, Iris' mother and Harrison Wells from Earth-2 make their debut.
• Secret-Keeper: Cisco pleads for Professor Stein to keep the rest of Team Flash in the dark regarding Cisco's powers.
• Ship Tease: Caitlin and Jay, Barry and Patty, and arguably Joe and his ex-wife.
• Shirtless Scene: Jay shows off his muscular torso when Caitlin tests him.
• Shock and Awe: Thanks to Jay's coaching, Barry learns to use lightning attacks.
• The Stinger: We get a glimpse of an alternate Earth where STAR Labs has been around since the 90's and founder Harrison Wells is still alive and well.
• Tailor-Made Prison: Joe reveals that Iron Heights has now been modified to accommodate metahuman inmates.
• Title Drop: After Barry and Jay both suit up to fight Sand Demon, he says "I get to kill the Flash of two worlds!"
• Wham Shot:
  • Joe's wife showing up, whom many viewers assumed to be dead. Followed by Joe showing no surprise at all, indicating he'd been lying to Barry and Iris about this for years.
  • Harrison Wells showing up as the founder of STAR Labs on an alternate Earth.
  • Professor Stein suddenly collapsing during the middle of his elaboration about wormholes for reasons unexplained.
• You Killed My Father: Why Patty was so vehement in joining Joe's anti-metahuman task force (Mark Mardon's the culprit, by the way).