Some Spoilers Ahead
We are back this week with a review of the much anticipated crossover event featuring The Arrow and The Flash. This has been an episode that I have been looking forward to. However, it didn't quite live up to the expectations.
The episode was branded as Flash vs Arrow, and that was very much a key point in the episode. I felt they did a really good job at handling the differences between Oliver and Barry, along with The Arrow and The Flash. If you haven't picked up on it, these two men are very different people in the way they go about things. I loved all the scenes Barry and Oliver shared, but I was also a bit disappointed at how dark they painted Oliver when compared to Barry. This was very evident in the training sequences, although I felt that was partly because Ollie felt Barry wasn't taking things seriously and partly because he had no interest in training Barry. I was did like the contrast in how Oliver sees this as his life and therefore takes it much more seriously, while Barry sees it as a gift and finds the fun in his job. The whole contrasting characters thing was a very interesting route to take.
The actual story wasn't very strong. It didn't really progress either story in either series. It was instead Team Arrow coming to Central City to try and work on finding Captain Boomerang, who we were introduced to at the end of Arrow last week. This story didn't pan out much. Meanwhile Barry was tracking down Prism, and that story wasn't followed much. He did turn Barry into a rage monster, which spurred on a lot of events in the story, but neither villain really made their presence felt. They both got the shorthand, and Prism's story was handled fairly quickly. It was a bit disappointing that neither villain was given much of a shot.
Angry Barry was an interesting thing to see. He was much more aggressive and stand-offish. More than we have ever seen him. It is a bit scary, too, when you see how much power he holds. I was really intrigued by him going after Eddie. It didn't make much sense to me. I guess his distaste for Eddie was amplified by the anger and he decided to take him on. Angry Barry spitballed into a fight with the Arrow.
The fight with The Flash vs The Arrow was pretty awesome. Again it was a great contrast between the characters. Whereas Oliver had to use his brain and gadgets, Barry just used brute force. The FX in these scenes were particularly great. I was wondering the whole time if Oliver would wind up putting an arrow through Barry. It really did seem like the best way to go at one point. The fight did not disappoint at all.
The secondary characters didn't have much to do. Diggle was pretty darn funny in this episode. I really enjoyed watching him try to wrap his head around Barry's powers. Cisco also had some funny bits. I was more intrigued by Barry dealing with Caitlin and Felicity, considering there could be romantic intentions between any of them. They threw nods both ways. Nothing bit came of them, though. Harrison Wells knew Oliver Queen is the Arrow and mentioned that, but nothing serious came of that either. It was nice to see Oliver earn the respect of Harrison Wells and Joe, though.
I was just disappointed by this episode. It could've been so epic. In the end it just wound up to be an episode of The Flash with an appearance by Team Arrow. It didn't hold any real consequences to the stories of either show. Instead it just brought them together to fight against each other. I felt if it brought them together to fight a big villain and actually had real consequences this episode would have been just amazing.
The episode was pretty good. I just wished it was so much more. Still I am impressed that they found a story to tell that didn't seem to forced. Hopefully the producers will use this episode as a learning experience and craft something truly special next time they try something like this. And maybe it could start a certain team we have been hearing about. Tune in to Arrow tomorrow for the finale of this two-part event.
We are back this week with a review of the much anticipated crossover event featuring The Arrow and The Flash. This has been an episode that I have been looking forward to. However, it didn't quite live up to the expectations.
The episode was branded as Flash vs Arrow, and that was very much a key point in the episode. I felt they did a really good job at handling the differences between Oliver and Barry, along with The Arrow and The Flash. If you haven't picked up on it, these two men are very different people in the way they go about things. I loved all the scenes Barry and Oliver shared, but I was also a bit disappointed at how dark they painted Oliver when compared to Barry. This was very evident in the training sequences, although I felt that was partly because Ollie felt Barry wasn't taking things seriously and partly because he had no interest in training Barry. I was did like the contrast in how Oliver sees this as his life and therefore takes it much more seriously, while Barry sees it as a gift and finds the fun in his job. The whole contrasting characters thing was a very interesting route to take.
The actual story wasn't very strong. It didn't really progress either story in either series. It was instead Team Arrow coming to Central City to try and work on finding Captain Boomerang, who we were introduced to at the end of Arrow last week. This story didn't pan out much. Meanwhile Barry was tracking down Prism, and that story wasn't followed much. He did turn Barry into a rage monster, which spurred on a lot of events in the story, but neither villain really made their presence felt. They both got the shorthand, and Prism's story was handled fairly quickly. It was a bit disappointing that neither villain was given much of a shot.
Angry Barry was an interesting thing to see. He was much more aggressive and stand-offish. More than we have ever seen him. It is a bit scary, too, when you see how much power he holds. I was really intrigued by him going after Eddie. It didn't make much sense to me. I guess his distaste for Eddie was amplified by the anger and he decided to take him on. Angry Barry spitballed into a fight with the Arrow.
The fight with The Flash vs The Arrow was pretty awesome. Again it was a great contrast between the characters. Whereas Oliver had to use his brain and gadgets, Barry just used brute force. The FX in these scenes were particularly great. I was wondering the whole time if Oliver would wind up putting an arrow through Barry. It really did seem like the best way to go at one point. The fight did not disappoint at all.
The secondary characters didn't have much to do. Diggle was pretty darn funny in this episode. I really enjoyed watching him try to wrap his head around Barry's powers. Cisco also had some funny bits. I was more intrigued by Barry dealing with Caitlin and Felicity, considering there could be romantic intentions between any of them. They threw nods both ways. Nothing bit came of them, though. Harrison Wells knew Oliver Queen is the Arrow and mentioned that, but nothing serious came of that either. It was nice to see Oliver earn the respect of Harrison Wells and Joe, though.
I was just disappointed by this episode. It could've been so epic. In the end it just wound up to be an episode of The Flash with an appearance by Team Arrow. It didn't hold any real consequences to the stories of either show. Instead it just brought them together to fight against each other. I felt if it brought them together to fight a big villain and actually had real consequences this episode would have been just amazing.
The episode was pretty good. I just wished it was so much more. Still I am impressed that they found a story to tell that didn't seem to forced. Hopefully the producers will use this episode as a learning experience and craft something truly special next time they try something like this. And maybe it could start a certain team we have been hearing about. Tune in to Arrow tomorrow for the finale of this two-part event.
Highlights:
| The Score: 7 out of 10 Stars |