Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Flash - Flash vs. Arrow


The first-half of the two-part crossover brings Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) to Central City for Star Labs help in identifying an unusual weapon used in a recent killing in Starling City. Although we'll have to wait a day for the story behind the boomerang and the official introduction of Captain Boomerang on Arrow, the latest episode of The Flash does offer a different challenge to the heroes who struggle to work together to take down a metahuman with the ability to put his victims into an uncontrollable rage.

Through the reaction of Barry's (Grant Gustin) support system, who were far more welcoming to Felicity than the archer, the latest episode of The Flash demonstrates how different the two heroes are both in their approach to fighting crime and how the outside world views them. When Barry is exposed to Chroma's power it forces a showdown between the two heroes and also puts the Flash on the wrong side of the law when his hate-filled attack on Eddie (Rick Cosnett) looses the hero's support inside the department and that of his biggest fan (while also continuing to pave the way to Eddie seeing the hero as an enemy).

I'm more intrigued by Boomerang than Chroma, but the later's power set is put to good use here as it takes everything Ollie and both teams have to save Barry from the villain's influence. Diggle's (David Ramsey) reaction to seeing Barry in action is humorous as are the unintentional consequences of Barry taking Felicity for a quick run around the city. Despite the pair's differences, and the immense power at Barry's control, the episode does reinforce the idea of how new the hero and how much he still has yet to learn. Now bring on Captain Boomerang!

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