‘The Flash’ Episode 1.8 “Flash vs. Arrow” (10 out of 10) Starring Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Rick Cosnett, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Kavanaugh, and Jesse L. Martin. Guest starring Stephen Amell, Emily Bett Rickards, David Ramsey, Patrick Sabongui. Story by Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, Screenplay by Ben Sokolowski and Brooke Eikmeier. First broadcast December 2, 2014.
This is it. Or the first part of it. The crossover event we’ve been waiting for since “The Flash” was announced. Having two different superhero television series on the same network, you’d think it’s a no-brainer. And yet, knowing WB and DC Comics…they’ve committed no-brainers before. So finally seeing Flash and Arrow in a full-on crossover event is something of a fanboy dream come true. While Marvel is pretty much getting everything right with their superhero franchises, DC Comics characters have suffered through sputtering starts. So with the #flarrow hashtag set and ready to go, we sat down to watch “Flash vs. Arrow.”
It’s been billed as a crossover event, which had me thinking it would be a two-parter, with part one airing on “The Flash,” and part two on “Arrow.” Instead it appears to be two independent stories taking place contiguously, but able to be enjoyed as separate stories in their respective series. The plot of this first episode is essentially this: a new metahuman is in Central City, using his mutated eyes to wreak havoc. He makes eye contact with someone, his red eyes flash towards their eyes, they’re infected with a rage that turns against other people. Then the bad guy takes money, gets away from cops…whatever he wants to do, leaving the bystanders to beat the crap out of each other. It’s a tweak on a classic Flash character “Rainbow Raider”…I think he’s going by Chroma these days. In either case, his name is the ridiculous-and-awesome Roy G. Bivolo. Like a mashup of ROYGBIV and “gigolo,” which is a great mnemonic to remember the order of the colors of the spectrum. And a gigolo.
Like a mashup of “Roygbiv” and “gigolo”
Barry Allen is in the process of getting his red ass handed to him by Bivolo when he’s saved by an arrow–Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak and John Diggle are in town from Starling City, following up on a lead from a boomerang murder there. Barry’s at first delighted to see his old buddy Arrow, excited to team up–but Arrow has other plans. He tells Barry he’s reckless, he needs more training, he should be using his superpowers more wisely to protect himself. Barry’s skeptical and a little hurt–and then a little more hurt when he gets two arrows in the back as part of his “training.”
In the non-superhero part of Barry’s world, he sees his would-be girlfriend Iris growing closer to the Flash on one level, and further from Barry on the other. She’s put in the uncomfortable position of defending Flash against her boyfriend, who wants to start up an anti-Flash task force with the Central City PD. She stalwartly defends Flash, jeopardizing her relationship with Eddie and antagonizing her dad.
Eventually this does turn the corner from a friendly teamup into a “versus” situation, and we get the nerd debates over which superhero would win in a fight. While I’ve been a part of that debate before with various superheroes, it’s never been with Flash and Green Arrow, so it was cool to see it here. We saw both heroes pulling out all the stops with speed powers and trick arrows…I’m still not sure who would win, but there was a lot of asses getting handed to their respective heroes. While elements of this episode were dark, revealing some of the deep-seated issues that Barry Allen has toward several of his allies, there’s also more warmth and humor in it than you get from many DC Comics productions. I appreciate that. Some of those punchlines are given away in trailers and commercials, but this feels like true friendship and mentorship between Arrow and Flash, and I like that.
The interplay between the different families of characters is good, with Cisco serving as the funny, awkward icebreaker between them all. I’m liking Cisco more and more as part of the S.T.A.R. Labs team; often those kind of one-note punchline characters become more annoying over time, but he’s getting better. I used to be biding my time until he turned into Vibe (an earthquake-causing superhero) and Caitlyn into Killer Frost (a supervillain with ice powers)…but now part of me is hoping that never happens. They’re great as Barry’s S.T.A.R. Labs sidekicks, and I want them to stick around a while.
Often crossover episodes are mere placeholders, taking the characters outside of their normal setting and not progressing their overall stories. Happily, this episode advances most of the major characters–not only Barry Allen’s story, but also Iris, Eddie, Oliver Queen and even Dr. Wells. Captain Singh, the head of the Central City PD also gets more screen time here, and with a throwaway line about his boyfriend, we find out he’s gay, and it’s not a big deal. His character in the comic books is, and I’m glad they worked that into the character in the series. Really that scene focused a lot more on Big Belly Burger (a DC Comics staple) than on Singh’s sexuality, and that’s as it should be.
This episode advances the stories of most of the major characters
There’s not a direct cliffhanger bridging “The Flash” last night and “Arrow” tomorrow night, but the characters cross over enough that it’s clearly one event. The lack of a true two-part story makes it easier to syndicate later, put out on blu-ray or streaming…it makes sense. Even if it prevents it from being a two-hour television movie, it’s probably the best way to do it.
Nerd sites are saying “The Flash” and “Arrow” might do these crossover events once per season–I’d love that. I like the references that the two shows can casually work into dialogue and plot points, and it makes sense to have them share this little corner of the DC universe for as long as they can. And hey, if Supergirl and the Teen Titans find their way to Central City and Starling City as those series get up and running? I’m all for it.
Next week’s episode is “The Man in the Yellow Suit,” and will be the last new episode until 2015. From the title, I’m guessing it’s either about Curious George’s owner or Flash’s archenemy and the possible murderer of Barry’s mom. But first, we’ve got more action on “Arrow” tonight. Tune in.