Flash vs Arrow/The Brave and the Bold review

It's time for the long awaited Flash/Arrow crossover

The Flash Episode 8 – Flash vs Arrow

And so we come to the Flash and Arrow crossover part 1.

So, this is where Barry as the Flash starts to make mistakes that have real lasting consequences. I hope Eddie’s anti-Flash task-force doesn't go away any time soon. Mostly because it gives Eddie something to do, but there are other reasons which I’ll get into later

So, synopsis: Whilst Eddie tries to push for an anti-meta-human task-force team Arrow come to Starling hunting a guy with a boomerang. Meanwhile a meta-human who has the power to turn people in raving psychotic lunatics temporarily has begun his raid on Central City, getting the attention of the Flash, resulting in him undergoing the hypnosis. The Arrow must hold off the Flash so he can have his rage reduced.

For what it's worth, Captain Boomerang (yeah, I'm just gonna call him by his comic name) doesn't really factor into the story at all. His presence is merely to get team Arrow into Central City. But the metahuman whose name changes over the day anyway is the primary threat.

We see Oliver offering whatever advice he can in his field, being tactical by preparing a training course. Barry really does need to watch his surroundings, and some relationship advice surrounding Iris.

Speaking of Iris, her views on the Flash begin to change as he constantly visits her in costume (something which I profoundly hate, and I’m glad they're putting that to an end with this episode) seeing what the Flash did to Eddie under the influence of the meta-human's colour based hypnosis thing changes her views against him.

Detective West and Harrison Wells both have their reasons to not trust the Arrow. With Wells it simply comes from not knowing who he is, but he solves that pretty quickly by finding it out off screen

Yeah, if I do have a complaint about this episode, it two major events happen entirely off screen. The first being Harrison finding out the Arrow's identity, the second being the Flash and the Arrow actually capturing the meta-human. These are two events that could've had a bit of time dedicated toward them.

With the end approaching, we get a reveal about Ollie's lover from some time ago, the person we saw in the flashbacks in Seeing Red (which I'll cover in more detail if and when this pays off and/or in my eventual review of the episode) and by reveal we know she's in Central City.

We also get the reveal, potentially of Ronnie's Firestorm alter-ego, bring on next week.

Rating 8/10

Arrow Episode 8 – The Brave and the Bold

So, we see what's going on with Digger Harkness AKA Captain Boomerang in this episode, and the Flash team show up with the analysis of the boomerang from the last week, and we get a few very nice moments in it.

First off: Arrow cave. That is actually a thing from the comics.

But that aside, we see the Arrow make the Flash better yesterday by drumming in some home truths and potentially some advice in monitoring surroundings in the field. Today we see the Flash try to make the Arrow better, by drumming in what little hope he has had for the character, and trying to steer him away from using as a method of interrogation.

Ironically, this is where the Island China flashbacks start to mirror the narrative. We see Oliver tasked to torture a man for locations of bombs, but when he’s hesitant the bombs go off. Waller gives Oliver a second chance with someone with information about China White. That's really about it for the flashbacks, but there's a lot of ground to cover in the main narrative.

Because of the particularly large cast of the episode, many of the supporting cast are ignored. Thea gets only a bit-role, same with Laurel and Quintin. Ray Palmer and Ted Grant don't get any part at all.

So, amazingly, I haven't started summarising the main plot: Digger Harkness killed an ARGUS agent and is after Lyla, who detonated the bomb in his head when a mission went south. His supplier in the Bratva provides false information to trace him way into the Arrow-cave (until they come up with a better name, I am totally using it) and attempts to Lyla, who had been taken there. Team Arrow and Team Flash must work together, to stop Diggle, especially after he reveals 5 bombs planted in the city (and the be honest, the city on fire has happened enough of late)

The ending is sort of a classic for this sort of style. We get a set up for a fight with some tough talk from both of them; they begin their fight and then roll credits. Let's be honest, they were never gonna show this fight. It sort of reminds of the Flash's appearance in the Superman: The Animated Series episode.

Overall, another great episode, roll on the mid-season finale week.

Rating 8.5/10

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Images used in this review are from Arrow and the Flash and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.