Join us each week as we review the latest episode of ARROW. Warning: the following review contains major spoilers for the newest episode of the show.
Episode 8: "The Brave and the Bold"
Synopsis: Oliver, Arsenal and Diggle track down the location of a boomerang-wielding killer named Digger Harkness but are surprised when they come face to face with an A.R.G.U.S. team. The Arrow joins the fight and gets help from an old friend – The Flash.
In Starling City: Last night's THE FLASH brought Team Arrow to Central City on the pretense of analyzing the trademark weapon left behind by Captain Boomerang. Yeah, it was a flimsy rationale, but tonight Barry Allen and the S.T.A.R. Labs team return the favor and crash in Starling City. Felicity also asked for help in analyzing samples from Sara's murder, so hopefully tonight bodes well for both plot elements but something tells me the focus is going to be on some Flash/Arrow shenanigans.
After surviving an explosion at Boomerang's house, Oliver and Roy are confronted by ARGUS agents who reveal the murder victim was one of their own and warn Arrow to let it go. Caitlin and Cisco arrive and ask to see the "Arrow Cave" which bothers Oliver having civilians touching his toys. This is a fun little moment that offers the flip to the same moment on THE FLASH. At the same time, Diggle asks Layla for info about Boomerang at the same time the villain inflitrates ARGUS HQ. You would think a bad guy comprised of a cliche Australian weapon as his trademark would be lame but ARROW found a way to make him intimidating and not at all cheezy. These boomerangs are deadly!
Arrow and Arsenal kick into gear on their motorcycles while The Flash streaks into town, running right past Thea who gets a fun throwaway line. At ARGUS, Arrow and Arsenal go hand to hand with Boomerang and just before they are beaten, Barry saves the day. Boomerang manages to escape and Oliver looks anything but pleased at his colleague's arrival. Layla reveals that Digger Harkness was a member of the Suicide Squad who was targeted for elimination and is now back for revenge.
Barry visiting Starling now that he has powers gives him a chance to try out Oliver's salmon ladder, much to Felicity's chagrin as he blows her papers around. Barry suggests he can help Oliver find Harkness but Oliver is, once again, reluctant to team up. Oliver proclaims that Starling City is meaner than Central City but Barry is persuasive. They reassemble Harkness' boomerangs and Cisco recognizes the handiwork as belonging to Klaus Marcos. This leads Barry and Oliver to check with Captain Lance who interrogated Marcos recently.. THis brings them to Oliver's old Russian mob connections, a bridge he burned the year before. While checking the perimeter, Barry takes the initiative to take down the Russian heavies and they find Marcos inside.
Barry sees Oliver use violence and force to coerce details out of Marcos which bothers him. Barry is shocked at the torture aspects of Oliver's approach and the two discuss the difference in how they go about their hero work. Barry says he will not use his personal tragedies to take his anger out on criminals but Oliver says they will do things his way or Barry can leave Starling City. Oliver and Layla connect over the more brutal needs the world may have, showcasing a similar outlook between Barry and Diggle, one that references that bravery is not always enough and sometimes bold action is necessary. Nice DC throwback right there.
Felicity decrypts the phone Marcos gave them which directs them to a warehouse that Harkness may be headed to. The teams race there which also affords Roy, Diggle, and Cisco to have a chat as to the merits of superpowers and meta-humans in dealing with the craziness that already existed in our world. When they arrive at the warehouse, they find it was a setup by Harkness who knew they were on to him. Harkness shows up at the Arrow Cave for Layla and a firefight ensues. Well, can you call it a firefight with boomerangs? Harkness catches Layla in the breat with a boomerang. Felicity throws an arrow to knock out Harkness and she and Caitlin tend to the now not breathing Layla. Barry grabs her and rushes her to the hospital.
With Layla in surgery, Cisco, Caitlin, Felicity, and Roy make a stop at Verdant where they discuss the events. Caitlin and Cisco say that dealing with meta-human crimes in Central City somehow makes their actions feel less real, which can be said about the tone of these two series overall. In the Arrow Cave below, Oliver blames himself for what happened, but Barry tells him it is not his fault. Barry tells Oliver he truly is a hero because even through the darkness of his life, there is still a light and that is what makes him who he is.
Barry and Oliver then track Harkness to the train station where he reveals he has planted five bombs through Starling but they can either stop him or stop the bombs, but they cannot do both. With a 90 second timer, Barry goes off to try and defuse them. Teams Arrow and Flash work together to help Barry while Oliver goes toe to toe with Harkness. The team discovers the bombs are linked and must be defused simultaneously, so Barry grabs each team member and drops them at a bomb to work together. Harkness questions why Oliver is hesitating to torture him. Oliver says it is because he has some humanity left before launching an arrow into Harkness' hand before he can attack.
With the bombs successfully defused, Diggle visits Layla in the hospital and asks her to marry him again. She says yes and all is well. Caitlin and Cisco take the arrow from Sara's murder as they prepare to head back to Central City. Barry and Oliver arrive and declare Harkness is now a cell-mate to Slade Wilson back on Lian Yu. Barry notices a new uniform case in the Arrow Cave which Oliver proclaims is for Barry the next time he comes to town. In return, Cisco gives Oliver an updated uniform. The episode closes with the two heroes showing down to finally see who would win in a fight. The answer will remain unknown…for now.
Flashbacks: In Hong Kong, Waller recruits Oliver to interrogate a man who could have intel on a bomb planted somewhere in the city. Waller provides Oliver with a bow and arrows, suggesting he torture the man. Oliver holds the man at arrow point but he questions whether Oliver is even capable of torture since he has a conscience. As Oliver demands an answer, a bomb detonates in the city outside the window. Surverying the post-bomb damage, Waller tells Oliver the victim was a girl attending college who had the bomb in her backpack. Oliver swears he just needed more time to get the intel from the captive but Waller says he was lacking conviction. Waller brings another man who works for China White to give Oliver a second chance to prove he is an adept torturer. He obliges.
Episode Grade: 9/10
As much fun as THE FLASH episode last night was, it paled for me compared to this episode of ARROW. In the end, both serve as standalone stories that do not further the season arc for either show, but they developed the hero personas for both Oliver and Barry in their own way. This episode of ARROW felt darker, as the show itself has always felt, but it was also possible because THE FLASH got the pesky character setup for the crossover out of the way. This was a lean, dark episode that only had one shortcoming: the flashbacks. This entire season has had pointless flashbacks, something that informed every episode of the first two years of the show. I hope we get more ARROW/FLASH crossovers in the future as this is some of the most fun superhero fiction put to screen, big or small.
Next on ARROW: "The Climb" (Airs December 10th) – Nyssa returns to Starling City and tells Oliver that her father, Ra's al Ghul has given Oliver 48 hours to find Sara’s killer or the The League of Assassins will start killing the citizens of Starling City.