Annndddd onto the Flash portion of the crossover! The whole gang's here, finally!
What seems to be a typical satellite falling to Earth is actually the spaceship of the Dominators! Barry and Team Flash receive information about their intents from Lyla, a surprising source, and as Iris says, he can't fight them alone. So...who better to call than Team Arrow, Team Legends, and Supergirl? Actually, they should've called Alex, who literally specializes in hunting/battling aliens. I would've loved to see Alex and Felicity - OH, AND ALEX AND SARA!!! MY LGBT WOMEN!!!
Barry finds Oliver and Diggle in the middle of a shootout with Vigilante, and rushes them away from their impending doom. It turns out that Team Arrow does do missions in the middle of the f*cking day, despite Oliver being the mayor. Does Felicity have a job yet? Her brilliant mind is going to waste, smh. Also, it bothered me a little that Barry of all people have to save their asses from bullets. Oliver and John can protect themselves just fine, thanks. Anyways, poor Dig isn't quite used to the superspeed yet, and throws up on the balcony of Olicity's old loft - I can only just imagine what the people in the streets and nearby thought. Oliver isn't quite nearly as affected by superspeed, but Stephen's nauseous expressions were golden. Thea comes in as Barry is explaining the situation, and despite being retired, wants to fight because, "Aliens!" I've missed my girl suiting up; I wish she would do it more, to be honest.
Next, it's time to gather the Legends, from wherever they're time travelling, and Supergirl, from whatever Earth she lives in (38, confirmed by the producers and later in the episode.) Now that I'm thinking about it, I hate Barry for creating Flashpoint, but how can the Legends admonish him for that when the whole premise of LOT is time travel (or at least I think it is)? Whaaat?
Lastly, Cisco and Barry vibe Kara back to Earth 1, and despite her outward human-like appearance, she is definitely an alien. "I'm convinced," Diggle remarks as Kara demonstrates her heat vision in front of the whole group. Me too, Dig, me too. Kara meeting Iris and Felicity was the highlight of my life. Felicity and Iris in particular were standing unusually close together, talking to each other animatedly, and to top it off, they wore matching colored dresses/skirts! PSA: I HAVE JUST DECIDED THEY ARE POLYAMOROUS GIRLFRIENDS. THIS IS LAW. (Not really, but I'm suffering in my drought of femslash ships, especially after I found out Sanvers isn't interracial.)
With the roster completed, it's time to choose a leader. Cisco, still being (rightfully) petty and angry at Barry, immediately suggests Oliver. Oliver graciously offers the leader position to Barry, pointing out that he brought everyone together. It turns out that Oliver is infinitely more capable of leading, and he ends up unofficially telling the crew what to do anyway through whispered instructions to Barry. "Are we supposed to pretend like we don't hear [Oliver telling you what to do]?" Sara snarks - in which Sara Lance is actually me. Barry respecting and looking up to Oliver as a role model is very important to me. Oliver Queen started it all, and deserves to be recognized for the qualified leader he is. The plan is to train against aliens by fighting an alien, and honestly, who better to test against than Supergirl? She somehow hands all of them their asses, and Sara is turned on. Let's be real, all the girls were turned on, but Sara admitted it out loud because she's the only canonically LGBT person there. I do wish I could've seen more of Kara defeating villains in the blink of an eye like that on her own show, though.
This is where the episode starts to get messy. Stein and Jax reveal to Oliver and Barry that future Barry told the Legends not to trust him. Barry wants to tell everyone, knowing the consequences of keeping lying/keeping secrets all too well, but Oliver doesn't want to distract everyone from the mission, and Barry reluctantly agrees to keep quiet, at least for now. As we all know, however, things don't stay secret for long, and Cisco finds the recording and demands Barry tell everyone how much of their lives he's ruined. Everyone is rightfully angry, especially Diggle - I cried seeing him reacting to his daughter's complete erasure. Barry can't even admit his shame out loud - it's Oliver who whispers it to John. Also, thinking about this pisses me off all over again. Why was it necessary to get rid of Sara Diggle, one of the DCTV's few black girls?!
The team forces Barry to stay behind as a punishment for his actions, and Oliver defiantly stays with him. They go to Star Labs, where Barry sees that the author of the 2024 article of the Flash's disappearance introduced way back when in Flash season 1 changes from Iris West-Allen to Julie something. Barry frets that he ruined everything, and Oliver insists that he would've done the same thing, and that everyone makes mistakes. Honestly, the writers really did the most with Olicity becoming the Barry Allen Defense Squad this episode, and I am incredibly annoyed. Oliver proved he wouldn't have done the same thing in Arrow 100 anyway, so I see no reason why the scene was even written in the first place. Oliver and Felicity not recognizing that Barry negatively impacted the lives of many, especially their own friends (Cisco and John) who had every right to be mad, seemed awfully out of character. In the DCTV universe, as Cisco eloquently gripes in irritation, "..apparently it's illegal to be mad at Barry." Let the selfish white man face the consequences of his actions for once in his life, please - God knows Oliver has had to pay extensively for his less harmful f*ck-ups.
It turns out that staying behind was actually a good thing, because the Dominators' technology mind-controls Sara, John, Thea, and worst of all, Kara. It's a throwback to Barry being mind-controlled and turning against Oliver in the first Flarrow crossover. (Ah, the good ol' days, when Arrow didn't have to prop up a million shows and didn't have senseless drama.) Having an indestructible alien on your bad side never bodes well. Oliver and Barry are forced to fight against their loved ones, which is sad, but the sequences ended up being badass AF. Still, it's two against many, and the two are nearly defeated when Wally rushes in, saving the day - only to be injured by a possessed Supergirl. Iris and Joe, who have been trying to hold Wally back as a sidestory throughout the episode, are pissed as hell, but at least Wally learns his lesson. For some reason, Wally thinks asking HR to train him behind Team Flash's back is a good idea. Um....does he know this isn't the same genius Wells from Earth-2? How would that even work?
Anyways, Barry figures out a way to use Kara's mind control against the Dominators, and lets her destroy the tech for him. All seems well when the team are released from the Dominators' manipulation....until the aliens kidnap Oliver, Thea, Ray, Sara and Diggle. Since I already published my Arrow review, you all know what happens then.
This crossover is way more fun and put together than last year's, but too many subplots at once overwhelm the story. For example, future Barry is ultimately forgiven and disregarded, but once you put that out on the table, you can't take it back. What's going to happen??? And seriously, everyone needs to stop forgiving Barry so fast, especially when they wouldn't do the same to characters of color, women, or Oliver. I did enjoy Felicity's interactions with the others, though, particularly with Cisco and Iris. Team Tech is so cute and pure, and I still want Felicity and Iris to be
Last thing - I do want to say I'm getting really annoyed at all these people online telling Cisco to stop being bitter and just forgive Barry already. White people really don't give a sh*t about brown people's feelings. It's demeaning, and insulting, and if I could have it my way, EVERYONE would be giving Barry the cold shoulder.
Rating: 8.2
Extras that didn't make it in: Barry calling Oliver "Ollie" is really gross. Only Thea and Sara can do that, thanks. Diggle saying he never did drugs because he was afraid to see weird things like the Waverider was A++++. Iris telling Barry Oliver got so much hotter after she finds out he's the Green Arrow to get a rise out of him was everything. Mick Rory is an annoying misogynist - why is he still alive?
*My next review will obviously be the LOT final chapter. I actually really liked the crossover this year, if not an excuse to see the DCTV ladies positively interact with each other, and will be sad to see it go. Bye, DC week!
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