‘Arrow’ Episode 3.8 “The Brave and the Bold” (9 out of 10) Starring Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Colon Haynes. Guest Starring Grant Gustin, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Audrey Marie Anderson, Cynthia Addai Robinson, Nick E. Tarabay. Written by Marc Guggenheim and Grainne Godfree. First aired December 3, 2014.
When you’ve got two superhero tv shows running on the same network at the same time, one of the great things that can happen is crossovers. It happens in comic books all time–that’s the whole idea of a shared DC Comics universe. Too often conflicting rights have kept characters from each other. In the Marvel comic books, both Wolverine and Spider-Man are frequent Avengers team members, but with some movie rights going to Fox, and others to Sony, they haven’t been able to be in the Avengers flicks. Yet. So when the crossovers between “Arrow” and “The Flash” were announced, I was excited. With the same showrunners/producers behind both series, the tone would be good, and with the chemistry between the casts, well, all good.
The first night of crossovers had Team Arrow visiting Central City in Flash vs Arrow. I expected that to be a cliffhanger that wasn’t resolved until the second night on “Arrow.” Happily, it was a self-contained story, which makes more sense for later binge-watching on Netflix or holocrystal or whatever I’m watching ten years from now. So this episode has us back in Starling City, where a killer has been on the loose for a few weeks. The killer uses…boomerangs to take people out. Which sounds weird, until you realize the city’s big defender uses a bow and arrow. So…bonus points for weird projectiles, Starling City!
bonus points for weird projectiles!
The new villain is Digger Harkness, known in the comics as Captain Boomerang, known here as the Boomerang for now. He’s traditionally one of Flash’s Rogues alongside Captain Cold, Heatwave, Weather Wizard and others…but for the moment he’s in Starling City, and he’s going after Diggle’s baby mama Lyla. Boomerang has done some work with Lyla, A.R.G.U.S. and the Suicide Squad in the past, and he’s itching for revenge. So he attacks the A.R.G.U.S. HQ. Oliver, Diggle, Lyla and Roy are all saved from a boomerangy death just in the nick of time by…the Flash. Barry ran over from Central City, and his comrades Dr. Snow and Cisco are both along for the ride. The much slower train ride, they didn’t like, piggyback. Which would be silly. And awesome.
Convening in the “Arrowcave,” as Cisco dubs it, the combined teams figure out who Boomerang is and how to stop him. These are my favorite scenes in the episode. It’s all a bit lighter than we get on “Arrow,” and there some great character moments and quick asides that I really loved. Cisco trying to sneak pics of the two heroes to put up on Instagram, Team Arrow trying to get used to a superhero with actual superpowers, Cisco trying out Oliver’s salmon ladder…there are some great moments. While the Flash and Arrow are out following up on leads, Boomerang discovers the Arrowcave (I’ll be calling it that from now on) and attacks, wounding Lyla. She and Diggle are both pretty much out of commission for the rest of the episode.
The climax of the episode has the heroes trying to take down Boomerang in a train station, while simultaneously needing to defuse five bombs placed across Starling City. It required every member of both teams working in concert to stop the baddie and eliminate the bombs…a great way to use the inflated cast of the episode. Loved it. The end of the episode made Digger Harkness the second inmate in Arrow’s prison at Lian Yu, alongside Deathstroke. I don’t know who he has guarding the place…or feeding the inmates…I’m guessing it won’t matter much. Jails like that can’t hold supervillains long.
If “Arrow” has any consistent problem in my opinion, it’s that it tends to get too dark. That makes for a show that’s not just a downer, but that undermines the idea of being a hero. The show is able to overcome that darkness with some warmth among the teammates, and some bright moments that usually come with Felicity’s humor. Seeing Team Flash in Starling City brightened the show up, making the whole superheroing thing more fun than it usually is. I know it won’t last. Looking at the season arc hunting for Sara’s killer, and considering the other death/s on the horizon, it seems like it will get darker before we see the light.
If you’re not watching yet, catch up.
The showrunners have said they’d like to see crossover episodes like this each season, with possible other single character-crossovers here and there. I love the shared universe they’re building. Just today they implied in an interview that they’re hoping for similar crossovers with the Supergirl series they’re helming. That should start next season, and even though it will be on a different network, they basically made it one of their conditions. I know as a good fanboy I should be looking at DC’s cinematic universe for my happy moments, but this shared TV universe has a lot going for it. If you’re not watching yet, catch up. This is good television.