THE FLASH Season 2 Episode 5: The Darkness and the [Doctor] Light



This episode picks up right where last week left off, giving us a proper introduction to Earth-2’s Harrison Wells. While this Wells shares his counterpart’s staggering intelligence and fondness for particle accelerators, “Harry” (as Cisco dubs him) has a drier wit and shorter fuse then we saw before. Credit must be given to Tom Cavanagh, who’s able to make Harry his own distinct character, while still giving him a hint of that trademark Wells ambiguity that made him so interesting in the first season.

It’s unclear what Harry’s ultimate goals are at the moment but they seem to be tied to his daughter, who is being held captive by Zoom. Interestingly, this daughter is none other than female speedster Jesse Quick—albeit seemingly without her powers at the moment. But given Zoom’s obsession with finding other speedsters, I doubt it will be long before it comes into play somehow. Wells has already made one speedster, what’s to stop him from creating another?

Meanwhile there’s another Earth-2 doppelgänger running around Central City causing havoc—Doctor Light, a.k.a. Linda Park. This is quite a departure from the comic books, where Doctor Light is Japanese scientist named Kimiyo Hoshi and a trusted member of the Justice League. On the one hand, it’s fun to have Linda be more involved in the main storyline. She’s a pretty central member of Team Flash in the comics and has a lot of unexplored potential as a character.

Seeing Iris and Linda be so supportive of one another is a nice touch as well; turning them into petty rivals over Barry was one of the biggest sins committed last season. On the other hand, it’s pretty disappointing to see the show skip the chance to introduce one of the few female Asian superheroes DC has in favor making Doctor Light the villain of the week. (Of course, there’s always the possibility they could always choose to bring in Kimiyo Hoshi later down the road as the Earth-1 version of Doctor Light; I’ll certainly be crossing my fingers!) Regardless, the twist works well within the episode, and it gives Barry an understandable reason for needing extra help from Harry to defeat her, despite the fact that Light’s powers are relatively straightforward. 

Wells assumes that Zoom sent Earth-2 Linda because he knew seeing her would make Barry hesitant to fight her, but it seems worth noting that Linda is a character who’s usually more associated with Wally West’s version of the Flash. And in the comics, Zoom is a villain obsessed with taking down Wally, not Barry. Could it be Zoom thinks the Flash of Earth-1 is actually Wally? Yet another reason to eagerly wait for Wally’s introduction. 

In the midst of all this drama, Barry still manages to find time to manage his love life, as he attempts to go on a date with Patty despite being temporarily blinded after his encounter with Light. All in all, Barry and Patty’s date could have been a scene lifted from a bad rom-com. Was there really any reason Barry couldn’t have come up for a normal reason that he had temporarily lost his vision? Pretending not to be blind for a whole evening really seemed like the simplest solution? It felt forced and needlessly gimmicky, much like Barry and Patty’s entire relationship. 

Cisco, however, fares much better in the romance department. He manages to awkwardly woo bemused batista Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renée). We don’t see any hints of her future superheroics yet, but the show is currently balancing an awfully large number of subplots at the moment. Keeping things gradual and introducing her simply as a possible girlfriend for Cisco seems like the right move at the moment. 

Of course, successfully asking out Hawkgirl aside, Cisco’s finest moment this episode had to be taking on identity of Vibe after being outed as a meta-human by Wells. Given his lingering reservations about being a meta-human, it’s natural for Cisco to be content to use his powers in a supporting role, but it’ll be interesting to see whether the show plans to see him go full-on costumed superhero as he does in the comics. Like with Kendra, it might be a good idea to play the long game with this one. Either way, this was a moment fans had been waiting for since Day 1, and it felt very satisfying to finally see the show take that leap.

Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer