After the brawl between its two heroes, The Flash and Arrow are back for another team up. This time, however, they’ll be working together.
Following on from Flash Vs Arrow, The Brave And The Bold has the two joining forces in Starling City to catch Boomerang. It’s pretty much a role reversal of that episode in so much that this time we’re on Oliver’s territory. Also, we find out how Oliver learned to torture people in flashbacks.
Obviously having beat the snot out of each other previously, there’s no physical fighting between our two heroes this week. Having said that, in a role-reversal of last time, Barry gets on Oliver’s nerves. It’s a little strange that the Flash’s brand of crime-fighting seems more effective in Arrow’s city and vice-versa. With the different structures of both shows, such as Arrow’s flashbacks, this episode feels a little more cluttered. Thea, Lance and Laurel are all relegated to brief cameos (Thea’s is literally one shot).
Whereas last episode had Oliver trying to instil some wisdom and training on Barry, this time it’s more about the two learning to work together. Caitlin and Cisco both drop in to help out, though Dr Wells is nowhere to be seen. Roy has a brief scene or two where he gets in on the action, but understandably the focus is on the two title characters. Having said that, the plot involving Boomerang trying to kill Layla is a little thin. Also, apparently anyone who isn’t a main character doesn’t know how to duck.
Once again we get a bit more insight into the relationship between Oliver and Amanda Waller. Her attempts at teaching him seem a little ill-timed, as she decides to make him learn to interrogate someone with a bomb counting down that needs to be found. What makes it strange is when he fails to get the information in time, she indicates that the fault lies on him for not finding out what they needed sooner. Amanda Waller is obviously ruthless to a fault, but here she just comes across as silly.
There’s humorous beats to this episode too. With Cisco finally getting to see the Arrow cave, just the look on Oliver’s face while he nerds out is chuckle inducing. Also, Cisco later gives Oliver a more advanced/functioning version of his costume. It has been a few seasons and Oliver has never made any changes to the outfit, so it should be fun to see what the new suit can do.
We get our action beats too, including a rather cool (albeit brief, I’m saying brief a lot lately) fight between Arrow/Roy/Boomerang. The main point of drama comes with Oliver excepting that he’s barely functioning emotionally. There’s always been a sense that this was the case, but now Barry himself brings it up after seeing how Oliver gets his information. On the sliding scale of optimism versus cynicism, it’s easy to see where both parties are coming from. They’re rather good foils for each other in that way.
By the end of the episode, everything is wrapped up in a neat little package (technically in the UK the mid-season finale was broadcast straight after but I’m keeping that pun in anyway). Flash and co make ready to return to Central City, and asks Oliver if they’ll work together again. Considering that Barry could get too and from Starling City with relative ease, it’s a wonder he isn’t dropping by every episode to help out. Naturally we know why that can’t happen, but it’s good to know that even when Arrow’s five seasons are up he could figuratively appear on The Flash.
Are you satisfied with the team up episodes? Do you think we’ll see them work together again this season? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
