In the second of a two-part crossover, the Flash streaks his way to Starling City.
Title: “The Brave and the Bold”
Directed by Jesse Warn
Written by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, Grainne Godfree
Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Arrow
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
David Ramsay as John “Dig” Diggle
Colton Haynes as Roy Harper / Arsenal
Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels
Nick Tarabay as Digger Harkness / Captain Boomerang
Willa Holland as Thea Queen
Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance
Katie Cassidy as Dinah “Laurel” Lance
Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Amanda Waller / White Queen
Vincent Tong as Katsu Cheng
Adam Lolocher as Klaus Markos
Full cast and crew information may be found at the imdb
Premise
The Flash and his support team arrive in Starling City to help the Arrow and his associates capture Captain Boomerang.
High Point
I hope this episode’s sense of fun, balanced with other elements, carries into the forthcoming DC films. It’s particularly relevant here, given how much this episode tries to be a kind of Superman v Batman, Jr. in its handling of Barry and Ollie’s respective cities, approaches, and abilities.
Low Point
I’ll just repeat a running Low Point that this week’s Flash emphasized; there is no way everyone wouldn’t figure out the heroes’ secret identities. I’m not talking about their idiotic, comic-book disguises, which I’ll handwave as inherited convention. But these people are actively sloppy about protecting their identities.
The Scores:
Originality: 3/6
Effects: 6/6
Acting: 5/6 The combined casts interact effectively, and appear to be enjoying the experience. Cisco Ramon’s nerd/fanboy act was particularly entertaining this week, though it could easily become too much of a fun thing.
Roy’s character has developed noticeably.
Story: 5/6 The Arrow episode this week was stronger than the Flash’s, and less hampered by excessive handwaving.
Emotional Response: 5/6 See “High Points.” It’s good to see Arrow balance the Dark and the Dorky.
Production: 5/6
Overall: 5/6 The episode explores Ollie’s damaged psyche, and continues the dialogue surrounding his methods.
In total, “The Brave and the Bold” receives 34/42
Easter Eggs and DC Allusions
I lost count this week. Fortunately, this site did the work for me.
The credit for Laurel above is off, should be Katie Cassidy as Dinah “Laurel” Lance.
While highly enjoyable, this episode felt a bit off in places. Mostly in that they seemed to explain or bring things up only because they expected new people in the audience from the crossover crowd that were not already familiar with the universe.
The casualness with the identity protection is getting noticeably bad. Especially on Barry’s part. I also kept waiting on Oliver to yell “Barry” at him when they were both suited up since it felt like he might have.
Anyone else get the feeling that A.R.G.U.S. is going to be the “big bad” at some point?
Wow, that was a weird credit error. Corrected, and thanks.
I also suspect you’re right about A.R.G.U.S. I think they’re going to do a loose variation of the Marvel cross-media S.H.I.E.L.D. plot.
The Arrow and Roy always have their faces obscured and Felicity stays out of public site.
Diggle is the only one who’s really being casual with their identity.
Of course, the moment you’ve identified Diggle and Felicity then it’s pretty obvious that Oliver is the Arrow.