The Flash: Season 1, Episode 8, Flash vs. Arrow

By Chris Murray

Warning this article contains Spoilers for this episode.

The Flash - Series 01.Episode 08 "Flash vs. Arrow" ..Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash and Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen...©2014 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and all related programs are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

Crossover events are the best huh! This week The Flash crossed paths with Arrow (literally) in a special two part event that spanned across both shows. Both episodes had a magnitude of good stuff! Barry fighting Oliver, both supporting teams meeting, ANOTHER! Crazy ending scene that sets up yet ANOTHER! Major character (there seems to be a trend happening here huh), and an awesome fight with Digger Harkness. The boomerang throwing psycho we were introduced to at the end of last week’s episode of Arrow. Amazingly, there was also a nod to another major player in the DC universe. The one and only Batman!

As this event spans across both shows, Instead of the usual weekly write up you’re so used to seeing from me, I thought we’d do something a little different and write about both episodes in one article.

First things first! Arrow vs Flash, who'd win in a fight? My money was on Arrow, wait maybe Flash. Ah I don't know. As it turns it out, it was pretty close. But I think depending on how you look at it, I’d say Mr. Queen won…. right?

Both episodes start in their usual way. The first few mins of this week’s Flash episode see’s Barry rushing around town being um, The Flash with the usual monologue, and the Arrow episode has Queen and co tracking down Harkness on the end of last week’s episode. However the Flash episode, this week’s villain is the main reason why the episode is titled Flash Vs. Arrow. Subsequently, the Arrow episode continues the theme of what happens in Flash VS. Arrow somewhat but in its own way by developing the most recent happenings in the show. This is also the reason the Arrow team are actually in Central City too.

Annoyingly though unless you watch Arrow and are up to date with it, the episode relies quite heavily on what happens in the first part of the crossover event as well as the previous weeks Arrow episode. So unless you can watch all two and a half seasons of Arrow in a day or two then I wouldn't advise watching it as it has major major spoiler stuff. More from Arrow’s point of view anyway.

It’s clear at this point that Barry still has a lot to learn about being the Flash. One of the main things Oliver notices about Barry is how he always rushes into situations. Take Girder’s layer for example, the incident with Captain Cold and the train. You get the idea. The same thing happens to Barry in this episode and he pays the price for it.

The Meta-Human we meet this week is Prism. His power allows people to turn against one another by the influence of rage. (or something, they explain this during the episode) This happens almost instantly to regular people. We see this at the start of the episode when the villain is first introduced. Barry comes into contact with Prism early on in the episode with a scene that introduces Queen and co for the rest of the episode. Barry however is a little slower to react due to his powers. This in turn builds up throughout the episode until Barry finally explodes. Really! He goes crazy and starts turning on everyone. He even throws Eddie Thwane about the street like a rag doll.

This ultimately this is where Arrow comes into the mix. There are some good scenes before the main event happens however. The scene where Diggle meets Barry for the first time is particularly great! Not to mention when both teams meet and Oliver shoots Barry with some arrows. There’s reason for that though. Queen isn't that cold. Jeez!

The “main event” is pretty spectacular. The episode does a good job of showing how badass each character is with their unique talents. Both of them have their cool moments during the fight. Which in turn makes you unsure who is going to win. In the end though it’s Oliver that comes out on top. Partly due to a nifty disco light contraption that cures Barry’s rage incident.

Both shows are very different in tone. Arrow is a lot darker and more violent than The Flash. It is very noticeable when the two are put together in an event like this. Although that’s not a bad thing. I actually prefer the darker nature of Arrow as it allows the show to be more graphic. There’s a good scene in the latter half of the crossover event that explains how different the two cities are. It’s quite clever.

Most of the second part of the crossover event revolves around the newly formed team of Flash and Arrow taking down Harkness. There are some great scenes throughout this episode. The first time the new team takes him on is particularly great. Not to mention when Harkness invades Oliver’s layer and the scene just before the end of the episode.

Overall both episodes were all you could want them to be. Hopefully we’ll see more of these crossover events in the future. For now though we will just have to make do with the mid-season finale’s we have coming next week for both shows. Something tells me we are in for a treat! Two early Christmas presents. I like the sound of that!

All Images © Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

The Flash: Season 1, Episode 8, Flash vs. Arrow

Warning this article contains Spoilers for this episode.

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The Flash: Season 1

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