Welcome to Earth-2

The second season of The Flash began to explore the concept of the multiverse, by introducing Earth-2, which features doppelgängers of the inhabitants in Earth-1.[1] In January 2016, it was announced that an upcoming episode in the season would be titled "Welcome to Earth-2", and would focus on Barry Allen travelling to that Earth.[2] The episode, which was the season's thirteenth, was directed by Millicent Shelton and written by Katherine Walczak, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg.[3]

Kreisberg described "Welcome to Earth-2" as the first part of a two-part story arc that continues with "Escape from Earth-2".[4] The episode also introduces the Earth-2 doppelgängers of various Earth-1 characters. Kreisberg said some of them "are beyond different. What's so interesting is that you've got [Harry] Wells, who is probably the most similar to himself – the one that we saw last year and this one. They seem different until you start seeing the crazy differences between all of our other cast members. Then he's the one who doesn't seem quite so different and crazy anymore."[5] Examples include the fact that Barry Allen is not a metahuman; Iris West is a police detective married to him;[6] Caitlin Snow, Ronnie Raymond and Cisco Ramon are the metahuman criminals Killer Frost, Deathstorm and Reverb respectively;[7] Joe West is a lounge singer who goes by Joseph and dislikes his son-in-law;[8] Nora Allen is alive;[9] David Singh is a criminal; Henry Hewitt is not a metahuman; and Floyd Lawton is a police officer with poor marksmanship skills.[7]

Candice Patton, who plays Iris, called the Earth-2 version hard, tough, and "less emotionally penetrable" than the Earth-1 version.[10] Season two co-showrunner Todd Helbing called the Earth-2 version of Barry "quite a bit different" from the Earth-1 version, describing him as "very entertaining" and "hilarious", as well as "pretty selfish" from Joseph's perspective.[11] The Earth-2 Barry's speed dial features many contacts whose names are references to the civilian names of DC Comics characters such as "Bruce" (Batman), "Diana" (Wonder Woman) and "Hal" (Green Lantern), in addition to "Eddie" (a reference to Eddie Thawne). Season two co-showrunner Aaron Helbing said these were purely "just Easter eggs for fun",[7] with Todd saying those names were chosen from a "giant board of probably 50 ideas".[11]

Main cast members Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Keiynan Lonsdale, Tom Cavanagh, and Jesse L. Martin appear in the episode as Barry Allen / Flash, Iris West, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon / Vibe, Wally West, Harry Wells and Joe West, respectively.[12][13] Gustin, Patton, Panabaker, Valdes and Martin also portray the Earth-2 versions of their characters.[7]

The additional guest cast includes Teddy Sears as Jay Garrick / Flash, Violett Beane as Jesse Wells,[12] and Adam Stafford as Adam Fells / Geomancer.[14] Additionally, Robbie Amell, Demore Barnes, Michelle Harrison, Michael Rowe, and Patrick Sabongui reprise their roles as Earth-2 versions of Deathstorm, Henry Hewitt, Nora Allen, Floyd Lawton, and David Singh, respectively.[7][9][15] Tony Todd provides the uncredited voice of Zoom.[8]

In the episode, as Barry, Cisco and Harry travel to Earth-2, glimpses of the multiverse are seen, including an image of Supergirl star Melissa Benoist as Supergirl and an image of John Wesley Shipp as the Flash from the 1990 television series. Thus, it implied that the two characters and their respective television series exist on alternate Earths to Earth-1.[16][17]

In the United States, the episode received a 1.6/5 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.6 percent of all households, and 5 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 3.96 million viewers.[18] The episode was the most viewed and highest rated of season two.[24] It had the show's largest audience since February 2015, highest 18–49 rating since the crossover "Flash vs. Arrow" in December 2014, and highest rating in the 18–34 demographic (1.5/6) since its series premiere in October 2014.[25] Within a week of its release the episode was watched by 5.98 million U.S. viewers with a 2.5 rating in the 18–49 demo.[26] The Canadian broadcast gained 1.78 million viewers, the third highest for that night and the ninth highest for the week.[19] The United Kingdom premiere had 1.13 million viewers,[20] and in Australia, the premiere had 147,000 viewers, including 67,000 timeshifted viewers.[21]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating for the episode, based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 9.21/10. The website's critical consensus read at the time, "Invigorated by a jolt of out-of-this-world fun, 'Welcome to Earth-2' successfully ups the pace and action, while providing plenty of delightful Easter egg moments throughout."[27]

Many critics called "Welcome to Earth-2" the best episode in the series to that point. Jesse Schedeen of IGN rated it 9.7 out of 10, praising the concept of Earth-2, Barry's dramatic moments, the depiction of Deathstorm, Killer Frost and Reverb, but criticized the need to kill off Reverb so soon. He concluded, "The Flash delivered one of its best episodes yet as Barry and friends took a hilarious but emotional trip to Earth-2."[28] Angelica Jade Bastién of Vulture praised the direction, action sequences, and the cast's performances, particularly of Gustin and Patton. She called it "undoubtedly the best episode of the season, and just may be the best episode of The Flash yet."[29] Collider's Dave Trumbore rated the episode four stars out of five, saying, "This was an absolutely insane episode of The Flash, and that's saying something since this show is normally fast-paced and full of Easter eggs even on a relatively slow week."[8]

Entertainment Weekly's Jonathon Dornbush praised the scene where Barry talks to his Earth-2 doppelgänger's mother over phone, saying Gustin "has proved mightily adept at tackling Barry's grief, hope, and the many other emotions swirling around in regard to his mother and her death."[30] Scott Von Doviak of The A.V. Club said, the episode "jump-starts both the [Zoom] storyline and the season as a whole" and concluded, "this is just about as good as The Flash gets."[31] Ed Gross of Empire rated the episode four stars out of five, saying, "The Flash may hit an occasional speed bump (sorry) along the way, but it pretty consistently delivers the goods. Welcome To Earth-2 is a perfect example."[12] Charlie Hall of Polygon gave the episode a mixed review and despite complimenting the premise, said, "it eventually devolved into the same storyline we keep seeing over and over again. It's another instance of Allen's impulsiveness getting the better of him."[32]