They say in every person has a light and dark side (and according to Star Trek, that darkness has a moustache and goatee). Nobody is born to be good or evil, but it’s the influences in our lives and the choices we make that determines which side will come to dominate us (like a more gothic Inside Out). The idea of the “other road chosen” alternative character has long been a great story element in the world of science fiction and fantasy when done correctly; like showing Faith as the darker path of a Slayer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With the Multiverse now established on The Flash ,the show has the potential to introduce all manner of flip sides on its known characters via Earth 2 counterparts. This week’s episode makes a point to show both transitions as meet a good version of a bad character and a bad version of a good one.
The Darkness and the Light – After saving Barry’s life, Team Flash meets the Earth 2 version of Harrison Wells but struggles to see past the face that hurt them so much less than a year ago. Meanwhile Zoom’s latest imported metahuman opponent arrives as the star powered Doctor Light who turns out to be more familiar than expected.
So after a few episodes of teasing, we finally see Tom Cavanaugh return as a main character, and he wastes little time showing us how much he’s been missed. Last season, he blew us all away with the power of his split performances but here, in this episode, he still manages to give us something new. Cisco says it best, “You know our Dr. Wells may have been evil but you’re just a dick”. We’re pledged this Earth 2 Wells as being a good character yet he’s arrogant, largely uncaring, and harbouring all manner of secrets. This adds fantastic new dynamics to the established team relationships, like a wind that’s blown everyone off course. We learn a few things about his Earth 2 history. He created Zoom from an experiment gone wrong 11 hours before his particle accelerator disaster, and even more curiously, in his world his responsibility for that mass metahuman creation event is not publically known. Presumably, there was no external damage to Star Labs like on this Earth 1(Wells remarks that, “I see he made almost the same mistake I did with the particle accelerator”) and as such, he’s become a beloved public figure in his tech attempts to help with the metahuman problem. There’s a bitter distrust between Wells and Jay Garrick’s Flash (who obviously doesn’t work with STAR Labs back home) over Wells admitting his responsibility. This is continued well throughout the episode with the pair exchange more than words. However, the writers do well to make their dispute less one sided as Wells accuses Jay of being a coward and deliberately avoiding facing Zoom rather than trying to defeat him, which Jay ultimately admits his true (like Rocky 3 without the “I’m afraid!” shouting session). The last note on this new Wells is the introduction of Jessie Quick (Violett Beane). Like Patty Pivot, she’s a speedster in the comics but here she’s the daughter of Earth 2 Harrison Wells (no word on whether his wife is still alive) that looks to play a key role in the coming events.
In mirror of the Wells reveal, we also discover that our Metahuman/villain of the week is in fact the Earth 2 version Barry’s ex and Iris’s co-worker, Linda Park. This is utilised for good impact as it throws Barry in a fight and by giving our Linda the mind-melting situation of meeting (and trying to be killed by) herself. She’s portrayed as the Kimiyo Hoshi version of the Doctor Light character, and her powers produce some great action moments and blinding visuals. It’s also nice after last week’s outright evil outing from Tokamak to see a more conflicted villain on the show. She’s likened to more of a thief and even notes that she’s never actually killed anyone before. This idea of showing better qualities in her villain persona ties in well to seeing the less likely parts of new Harrison Wells as a good character. Doctor Light isn’t the only Metahuman in action this week as Cisco gets a rather reluctant outing courtesy of Wells and his pimped up Apple Watch. This delivers some good moments of Cisco trying to force a vision despite still not understanding how and of course, realizing that he gets to name himself his comic alias of Vibe. It’s also worth noting that Wells’ watch scans Catlin Snow as a human confirming that she does him any similar hidden metahuman abilities. This means that the inevitable arrival of her Killer Frost persona will either require a new creation incident/accident or it will be her Earth 2 doppelganger. This definitely on the horizon as Catlin drops one of the shows biggest ever lines of foreshadowing, “I don’t think any of us would become evil if we suddenly got powers”.
One of the things that made The Flash so lovable last year was the way it incorporated brilliant humour sections into its stories. This episode delivers of the best examples ever through the non-stop laugh fest that is Barry’s literal blind date (courtesy of his earlier Doctor Light encounter). This whole setup is a great play on the sitcom classic feature of the nervous guy on date receiving earpiece instructions but with a Scent of a Woman twist. It’s a non-stop laugh fest as Cisco becomes a 3rd wheel spectator and commentator in their intimate evening. It draws great fun form such date staples as telling the girl she looks beautiful (which she does, Shantel VanSanten is stunning) or ordering from a menu without being able to see them. Although the most enjoyable part is way Patty eventually rumbles the act, “Come on, I would not be a good detective if I couldn’t have figured this one out”, the writers could very easily have kept her in the dark for the sake of sheer comedy but instead find even greater joys from keeping her as a smart and resourceful woman. The pair immediately switches into adorable mode once they start laughing about it all together. We’re left wondering about just how Barry managed to eat dinner, but this was probably best avoided for time constraints. The episode finds success elsewhere in developing other relationships. Catlin and Jay’s stake out date becomes a nice moment of Jay opening up about his fears of Zoom. He also drops a kick ass Earth 2 Aquaman Easter Egg as he remarks that his world has an above ground Atlantis and, “One of my best friends is from there”. Cisco also gets sees his romantic life get some screen time as his attempts to get a date serve as the first real introduction of Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renée) AKA the soon to be reincarnation of Hawk Girl. Like the Barry/Patty affair, this delivers some great awkward laughs while ticking the next box on the Legends of Tomorrow setup checklist. It looks like we’ll learn more about her next week when the pair goes out.
The Darkness and the Light does everything we want from a Flash episode. It answers some questions while asking even better ones. It advances the story while giving us plenty to laugh about and be thrilled by. The episode is actually pledged as a two part story concluding with next week’s Enter Zoom (I wonder who that’s about?) and if it’s anything close to this we’ll be in for a treat.