Producer: The CW
Writers: Aaron Helbing & Todd Helbing
Director: Jesse Warn
Featuring: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanaugh, Jesse L. Martin, Teddy Sears
Release date: USA: OUT NOW/UK Sky 1 20th October 2015
The CW
Nerds of infinite Earths had a collective fangasm when TV’s Barry Allen the Flash (Grant Gustin) met Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears). The episode takes from the comic book Flash No. 23 (1961) not only its title “Flash of Two Worlds” but the Earth-1, Earth-2 concept. The storyline launched the DC infinite-verse. It was the nut from all which DC crises storylines grew.
Back on Earth-2 Flash Garrick fought the creepy villain Zoom. But when Barry created a singularity above Central City he opened a trans-world breach, sucking hunky Garrick into Earth-1, his speed power gone. Once Zoom, animated and eerily voiced by Tony Todd, crosses over Zoom sends meta-human monsters to kill Barry.
Garrick speaks like a soulless Golden Age character, talking about “the face of death” like he was narrating an afternoon children’s special. But the graphics of Garrick running in full costume including Frisbee hat leave us wanting more. For fans of techno-babble there’s plenty; i.e., exotic matter, of which dark matter is one type, used to explain how the two worlds are exchanging energy.
The Flash Season 2 Episode 2, Flash of Two Worlds was actually one of the best-written ones; the dialog generally entertaining. Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) had plenty of one-liners and there were no obvious plot holes. Garrick will be around for a while, so hopefully not only will Teddy Sears grow into his role, but the following episodes keep up the quality, or get better.
Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker