The Flash S:02 E:05

Episode Title: The Darkness and the Light
Original Airdate: 11-3-15

So five episodes in and we finally get the full return of Tom Cavanagh as Earth 2’s Harrison Wells, and while it’s likely that he’s not evil he is apparently a huge jerk, to put it in polite terms. The Flash is always a fun show, but this was one of the funniest episodes in recent memory. It went a little dark a couple times and brought in the drama, but it also had some great gags with Barry’s literal blind date as well as everybody having to come to terms with the new Wells.

The best thing to come out of this episode is the new Harrison Wells. This Wells does appear to be the actual Wells and not yet another body snatcher so all things considered, his personality would obviously be very different. Cavanagh plays the difference very well, this Wells is very direct, arrogant, slightly rude, and the reactions everyone has with him are absolutely hilarious. It’s just a lot of fun to see him have to come to terms with the fact that every single person has lost someone close to them at the hands of the previous owner of his likeness. We also get to see a little bit of his personality within Earth 2 which is a little farther off center than just people with different personalities. Technology is a bit different over there, it has a bit of a retro style to it while still being at or near our own level of technology. But there Wells has a daughter, and we find out at the ending teaser that Zoom has her captive. The most likely explanation is that Wells is playing along with Zoom in order to get his daughter back, but there is also a strong possibility that he does have some type of plan to ultimately defeat Zoom. At this point, it could go either way very easily. I would love to see Cavanagh back for good, but aside from a few nice jokes, I don’t see this Wells fitting in with the group very easily.

We also get to meet and defeat Earth 2’s Dr. Light who is not the creator of Mega Man, but Linda Park’s alter ego. I just knew something was going on with her character since she had disappeared for many episodes once she broke up with Barry only to reappear recently for moments completely irrelevant to the plot of those episodes. I’m curious if she will crop back up again or if she will once again fade off into oblivion until she’s needed in some Earth 2 scheme. And if Barry’s love life wasn’t difficult enough, we get the other great comedic moment of his first date with Patty Spivot where she figures out that he is blind (from his fight with Dr. Light) and he plays it off as having his eyes dilated. It’s an overall sweet moment that ends with their first kiss. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The other mini-relationship is the one developing between Caitlin and Jay Garrick where they almost have their own first kiss during a stake out, but are interrupted. We also get to see some cracks in Garrick’s armor as he gets into fisticuffs with Wells 2, or Harry as Cisco likes to call him. He gets called out for being a coward who has been running from Zoom during his entire hero career rather than trying to fight him. Unlike Barry, Garrick seems to not have any sort of support system in place and so he hasn’t had the opportunity to challenge himself and push himself the way that Barry has. I actually appreciate this dynamic between them, it’s not often where we get a hero character that admits when he’s out of his depth, though they also don’t usually give up this easily.

And finally, Cisco owns up to his own superhero name that they have been skirting around for quite a while now. It wasn’t exactly of his own accord since he gets outed by Harry, but we finally get to see him call himself Vibe. Not only that, but we’re also much more formally introduced to Ciara Renee’s soon-to-be Hawkgirl, or possibly the Earth 1 doppleganger of Hawkgirl. It’s a little too early to tell, especially since I don’t really have any background with Hawkgirl as a character so if they dropped any hints in her dialogue, I didn’t pick them up. All in all, a really great episode, and the highest ratings so far this season. Here’s hoping the show hits an all time high this year.