We have never been so excited for a crossover before this week’s 4-night, 4-episode event between Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Unfortunately, it really turned into a 3-night crossover since last night on Supergirl the 30-second clip of “crossover” material was also included in tonight’s show. While we are still bummed about our 4-night turning into a 3-night event, this episode of The Flash was still pretty amazing.
WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD
The show started with a flash forward to all the heroes from Supergirl, Arrow and Legends fighting against The Flash and The Green Arrow. It quickly flashbacked to 10 hours earlier with Wally working on his speed (in the speed lab) testing his powers. In this scene, we see the first glimpse of Cisco’s animosity towards Barry when Iris suggests not telling Wally how well he is doing to protect him from trying to be a hero too soon. Cisco says “Sure, just another lie between friends” referencing Barry not telling him about Flashpoint resulting in his brother’s death. BEFORE we move on, one point that must be made is that the whole team agreed that Barry should NOT tell them about the differences in their Flashpoint lives, yet Cisco is clearly hanging onto this as we see throughout the episode.
Shortly after, an alarm goes off interrupting a painfully awkward presentation by H.R. and his master plan to open S.T.A.R. Labs for tours. The alarm indicates something entering their airspace which turns out to be an alien space ship carrying a butt load of aliens! Let’s take a moment to geek out over how awesome the ship was, including the force field that knocked Barry back and the life-like Dominators! The Dominators (aliens) came pouring out of the spaceship looking super intimidating: grey, tall, skeletal-looking beings. The CGI was so well done in this scene you would think you were watching a movie (which is essentially what we are getting this week by combining all the episodes in this epic crossover event).
Anyway, we digress. After Barry and Cisco gather the Arrow team to help, they then head to Earth-38 to grab Supergirl. When they get back, Felicity had hailed the Legends, kicking off what Felicity dubbed “the best team-up ever!” Once they were all together, they have a discussion about who should be the leader. Right away, Cisco nominates Oliver, snubbing Barry with the comment that “he has my trust.” But, Oliver says that since Barry got them all together, it should be him. They all agree and while they are all practice fighting with Supergirl, Professor Stein and Jackson approach Barry about the message they found in the Waverider from 40 years in the future from Barry. After Barry, Oliver, Professor Stein and Jackson listen to the recording, they agree to wait until after everything is over to share with the team so as not to distract them. Unfortunately, out of all the people to stumble upon it, it turns out Cisco finds it and busts him out to the rest of the team. This scene is very similar to the one that played out two weeks ago when he busted out Caitlyn, but yet this week it comes off petty and mean given how he feels about him. This just underscores the theme that runs through all comic books: the line between good and bad is thin and all a matter of perspective. We are sure this will play a huge factor as Cisco’s character continues to grapple with the knowledge that Flashpoint killed his brother. Whether this will be what turns him into Vibe, as we predicted at the beginning of the season, will remain to be seen.
Right away, the Dominators kidnap the President amidst the team arguing about Flashpoint and everyone but Barry and Arrow decide to go since most of the team is mad at Barry. This decision turns out to be their saving grace since the President’s kidnapping was a trap to catch the heroes. After incinerating the President, the Dominators mind control the rest of the team and they turn on Barry and Arrow. While Arrow in his badassery carries an unconscious Wally on his back and fights three of them, Flash draws Supergirl away and tricks her into destroying the mind control machine, snapping them all out of it. The fight scenes between all of these heroes were choreographed to perfection. Using not only great special effects, but lighting and various shooting angles, they created some epic fight scenes.
After the fighting is over, Wally walks back in and both Iris and Joe give him a hard time about running out to help untrained. While we loved Iris’ punch to the arm and “sorry, not sorry” line, it is super frustrating that they are not training him. We acknowledge that they are being invaded and busy, but not training another speedster during and invasion seems like a missed opportunity for some major help. It is interesting that H.R. is the one who steps up and volunteers to train him. Now stick with us for minute…because this may be confusing and will definitely blow your mind. When H.R. agrees to help Wally, he has a very typical Harrison Wells look on his face. What do we mean? Not a dopey, joking around H.R., but a serious and intimidating Harrison Wells look. It seems a little coincidental that the ONE person who is offering to train him is the same “person” in another timeline who is the Reverse Flash. Why is this coincidental? Because in other adaptations, Wally is the Reverse Flash. While we were excited to hear Wally call himself the Kid Flash in this episode, this does not rule out the possibility that he could turn into Reverse Flash. This will be interesting to watch, regardless of which direction the writers take.
The episode left us on a cliffhanger, as expected with a multi-night crossover event. But the way it ended was not expected with multiple heroes, including Arrow, being beamed up to the alien’s ship. It was super annoying that Flash was not fast enough to stop them from taking Arrow, when in the comics he has proven multiple times to be faster than teleportation devices. We can’t wait for tomorrow night to continue this story and see all of our loved heroes fighting together.
Final Two Words: Crossover Badassery
Next Episode: ‘The Present‘ (3×09)
(Mid-Season Finale)
Episode airs December 6th, 2016
Synopsis:
– BARRY SEEKS HELP FROM JAY GARRICK —
About The Flash– After a particle accelerator causes a freak storm, CSI Investigator Barry Allen is struck by lightning and falls into a coma. Months later he awakens with the power of super speed, granting him the ability to move through Central City like an unseen guardian angel. Though initially excited by his newfound powers, Barry is shocked to discover he is not the only “meta-human” who was created in the wake of the accelerator explosion – and not everyone is using their new powers for good.
Barry partners with S.T.A.R. Labs and dedicates his life to protect the innocent. For now, only a few close friends and associates know that Barry is literally the fastest man alive, but it won’t be long before the world learns what Barry Allen has become…The Flash.
