In the second half of this season’s crossover, Arrow spends a good deal of time ruminating on torture, and letting the audience know “Hey, this isn’t The Flash!” As always, spoilers abound, so beware!
1. World’s Finest
One of the major criticism of Arrow early on was that the CW and co. were making a Batman show without calling it Batman. And, when you look at the characters on the surface, there are certainly a lot of similarities – both are billionaire playboys, both rely on training and tech, not training, and both are obsessed with the saving of their hometowns. This episode had Ollie deal with a very real part of the Bat-mythos, which is Bruce’s fear/realization that Bruce Wayne is the mask that Batman wears, not the other way around. It also had people calling his HQ the Arrowcave, much to his chagrin, so at least the show recognizes that it is treading on Bat-ground.
And so, for that reason, this episode really should have been called “World’s Finest,” the longtime name for Batman/Superman team ups. Here, Barry is absolutely the Superman figure – he is the one who inspires, he is the one who doesn’t rely on doing it all on his own, he has the strong moral compass. Essentially, with a little script tweaking, this could be the second act of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
That isn’t a bad thing, either. Barry’s optimism is such an incredible asset to this universe, and Ollie calling him out for being a pollyanna is just as important. Even the climactic conclusion was something absolutely out of a Superman/Batman team up: Batman figures out the problem, but he can’t solve it, and leaves it to Superman to do the actual heavy lifting. And then Barry did what Clark would have done: he empowered regular people to help save themselves. By Barry getting the whole gang involved, he not only stopped the bombs, but he continued to inspire.
I take back what I said earlier – there is no way that Dawn of Justice will get Batman and Superman this correct.
2. Very clearly not The Flash
At least one quarter of the screen time tonight was spent telling the audience, “Hey! Thanks for tuning in, but be aware that this is not The Flash. I know that you see the cast members you know and love, but that was last night. See you next week for the mid-season finale!”
I understand why this is necessary – Arrow is a much, much darker show, and one where the stakes feel very different. I am not one to keep up with the ratings, but this seems like the move of a show that realizes that it may get an influx of new viewers for the first time, and therefore must soften the blow of just how dark each hour of television can be.
That said, by the time that Felicity, Roy, Cisco, and Caitlin were getting their brown liquids on at Verdant, we got the point. It felt a little over the top, but I understand why it was done.
3. Cisco steals the show
Cisco Ramon, the future Vibe, has been a ton of fun on The Flash, and he steals the show here tonight. An audience stand-in if there ever was one, he is the living embodiment of The Flash, even more than Barry is. He is all excitement and possibility, intellect and goofiness – if he had an unbelievably good looking love interest, he would be the walking, talking 8pm Tuesday night on the CW. Can we throw the dude a hot girlfriend?
4. Another lackluster treatment of a villain
Last week, Digger Harkness showed up in the stinger at the end of the episode, promising big things. However, everything we needed to know about him came from Laila and Diggle talking about him – the character development was non-existent. I know that with these crossovers, the fun is having the two worlds collide, but much like last night, everything about the villain felt rushed.
Continued belowI do think it was wise to have Captain Boomerang, traditionally a Flash villain with ties to Suicide Squad, appear on Arrow, and by placing him in Ollie’s supermax prison, it ensures another crossover in the future.
5. The last scene
For those of you who had a DVR malfunction, or lost power, or had to leave your house at 8:55 and missed the final scene, here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Ding, ding.
