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

[Frodo]

So, Barry can paint a shelter in a couple of seconds, but can't handcuff a dangerous freak or knock Oliver out equally fast? Again making Barry dumb because the plot demands it, is just bad writing.

The fight was lame, instead of wasting time spinning around Ollie because it looks cool (he already did that against the weather freak in the Pilot), Barry could've take him out with a supersonic punch, seems he forgot already. The choreography and the slow motion were poorly executed, Barry hitting all those punches and Oliver's reaction to them looked cartoonish.

Imagine if they do something like this in BvS, I don't think most fans would be pleased. Despite being a tv show with a limited budget, they could've done it better. The freak of the week was, once again, a very weak character, just a plot device to force the Flash vs Arrow fight.

A fight because two characters have a real disagreement is always more interesting than fighting because one of them is just "whammied", which is just lazy writing in the comics and here.

Overall, despite its flaws, a decent episode thanks to the Barry and Oliver interactions.

That's pretty much how I felt too, which is why I wasn't as blown away by the episode as alot of fans have been. I would hope that Terrio comes up with something more cleaver in BvS. That said it was a solid episode despite my misgivings about certain plot points .

 

[Frodo]

I do think there may...MAY...be something to the idea that the whammy wouldn't turn Barry into a no-holding-back killer, but rather just intensifying the things he's angry about.
So in other words, this wasn't Evil Barry. It was just angry Barry Allen. The effect would normally disable the part of the brain that makes you responsible, but since he heals, it's weaker maybe.
The point being, Barry was still Barry and wasn't going to murder Oliver no matter what, unless for some really some reason his body stopped healing.

Now, that all could be a load of crap I made up because he still dropped Oliver off the side of a building.
I'm just extrapolating from Barry's healing effecting the rage.

I may not know what I'm talking about.

I think your explanation makes sense . If Barry had turned truly evil, ala the Reverse Flash, Ollie would be dead, and they're likely wouldn't even be a fight to speak off.

 

[BLACKVULCAN]

MAN! i am still jonesing about FIRESTORM!! I am a freaking big time Stormy Groupie and that ^&* was hella cool!! I almost jumped out my seat when he showed up!! FEAKIN DUG THAT!

oh and Cisco saying maybe if we had a" Cold Gun" when joe asked how they could stop Barry was some funny Stuff!

 

[Boy Scout]

The Good:

- I thought the Flash/Arrow fight was handled well. Oliver should have been more injured than he actually was (Barry landed several punches on him at super speed), but I can let it slide.

- I thought Gustin did a good job of portraying a very angry Barry.

- I really liked the way they "cured" Barry of Prism's effects. Very smart.

The Bad:

- Barry/Iris. I don't care about their relationship anymore and I don't like that Barry was using his other identity to hit on her.

- Danielle Panabaker is back to being the most obnoxious and OTT actor on the show.

- Iris' "List of Three". Did that line really make it into the final cut of the episode?

The Okay:

- I'm not sure if I buy Iris giving up on The Flash so easily.

- Everything else.

 

[Stephen K. Hone]

I liked the exchange with Iris where she asks for his real name and he says "You mean,like Ralph?" They ain't too proud to pull from the classics yet again.

Yeah that was great! Any reference to S:TM is good by me. I don't think GG said the line verbatim, the way CR originally delivered it, but it was close enough

 

[Herolee10]

Iris' s character is really walking on a fine line between being a likeable character and being Raimi's version of Mary Jane, whcih isn't a good thing.

Honestly, if they're not careful with how they treat her character, then she'll end up being as intolerable as Gotham's Barbara.

Plus, it doesn't help the fact that she has no romantic chemistry with the character that's supposed to be her future husband as of yet. If anything, I'm afraid that her eventual feelings for Barry may end up being based on the fact that he's the flash as opposed to the guy that she's known for most of her life.

 

[Lencho01]

Yeah, the Barry/Iris thing is weird. It's so one-sided it's not even funny. It just feels so pointless.

At least on a show like Smallville, you could see that there was something there between the two characters.

 

[BestGirl]

It was a good episode, not a great one. I've never seen Arrow and don't care a bit for any of the characters I have seen so none of this impressed me as much as it did others. The villain-of-the-week was handled really sloppily. Couldn't we at least have had a montage of them catching Prism? Instead we got pointless scenes of Barry helping people and some baby mama drama from Oliver.

I did enjoy Eddie starting the anti-Flash task force since it gives him some purpose in this story aside form being Iris's boyfriend. Grant Gustin was really convincing as angry Flash. I was strangely touched on Barry's behalf when Iris "dumped" Flash. The ending teaser was awesome. Those were this episode's positives.

 

[chamber-music]

I've been annoyed with the "dumming down," of Barry's powers for a while too.

But honestly, that's kind of an issue with the Flash as a character. They have to dumb him down because he's nearly invincible if written to potential.

The same thing happens with Superman, Green Lantern and a variety of other extremely powerful heroes.

If you wanted to be logical about it there wouldn't even be a fight when Flash, Superman or a number of powerful heroes take on villains because most of them could kick a villains ass before they had time to blink.

I guess the excuse on this show is that Barry is still learning and perhaps gets over excited/over confident when facing enemies.

 

[Infinity9999x]

Iris' s character is really walking on a fine line between being a likeable character and being Raimi's version of Mary Jane, whcih isn't a good thing.

Honestly, if they're not careful with how they treat her character, then she'll end up being as intolerable as Gotham's Barbara.

Plus, it doesn't help the fact that she has no romantic chemistry with the character that's supposed to be her future husband as of yet. If anything, I'm afraid that her eventual feelings for Barry may end up being based on the fact that he's the flash as opposed to the guy that she's known for most of her life.

I think she's much more likeable than that. And honestly, people are surprised she flipped on the Flash? She saw him rip her boyfriend out of a moving car window and attack him for no reason. That's more than enough to go..."ummm, no."

Way better reason than Laurel's reason for hating The Arrow in S2.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I think she's much more likeable than that. And honestly, people are surprised she flipped on the Flash? She saw him rip her boyfriend out of a moving car window and attack him for no reason. That's more than enough to go..."ummm, no."

Well said.
It's not like Iris suddenly turned on Flash and told Thawne where he could find him.

 

[Human Torch]

So, did anyone else catch the "Easter Egg" (so to speak) with the bad guy's name, Roy G. Bivola?

Spoiler

It's based on the mnemonic for the colors of the light spectrum
"Red-Orange-Yellow Green Blue-Indigo-Violet" + ola.

Yeah,I thought that was pretty funny.

I think your explanation makes sense . If Barry had turned truly evil, ala the Reverse Flash, Ollie would be dead, and they're likely wouldn't even be a fight to speak off.

Yup,Barry was just angry.His "moral center" was still intact,so it's not like he would kill.He just got out of control emotionally.

I'm not sure if they're seriously considering it, but I didn't like Felicity's reading of Caitlin and Barry's relationship. Surely they're not going with a Caitlin/Barry match are they?.

I think they're keeping all options open at present and waiting to see how viewer reaction tips the scale. They've wasted a heck of a lot of screen time on Iris,not to go through with her,though. I can't see them writing her out with her dad still a big part of the show.But then you have the problem of Arrow. "What do we do with Laurel?" Trying to keep "The Lead" in an interesting role,while the public favors one (or more) other members of the cast.

 

[Mikelus]

It was a good episode, not a great one. I've never seen Arrow and don't care a bit for any of the characters I have seen so none of this impressed me as much as it did others. The villain-of-the-week was handled really sloppily. Couldn't we at least have had a montage of them catching Prism? Instead we got pointless scenes of Barry helping people and some baby mama drama from Oliver.

I did enjoy Eddie starting the anti-Flash task force since it gives him some purpose in this story aside form being Iris's boyfriend. Grant Gustin was really convincing as angry Flash. I was strangely touched on Barry's behalf when Iris "dumped" Flash. The ending teaser was awesome. Those were this episode's positives.

Never seen Arrow? Why? I think most fans consider it better than Gotham and I agree, it is less cheesy, better written and has better villains like Merlyn, Deathstroke, Clock King... maybe you should give it a shot, keeping in mind the show really hits its stride in the second half of Season 1.

Yeah, the whole Barry playing Cupid was... stupid (Arrow fans will get the pun), he should not waste time on things that don't concern him at all, and not showing how they captured the Rainbow freak felt very cheap, like they ran out of money after the fight or whatever.

Iris right now is more annoying than Thea (before S3), she's just a love interest, and not very smart to say the least, she can't see Barry is in love with her despite it being so obvious. Will see how long she won't talk to the Flash again, hopefully it will last more than an episode unlike Barry and Iris' first "fall out".

 

[Human Torch]

It's annoying because Barry is so freaking obsessed with Iris.It's like Donatello in the new TMNT show.I don't see how he can ever "move on".It's looking like another Lana/Clark Smallville situation in the making.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Just going to come out and say it... Least favorite episode of this show by far.

 

[Herolee10]

Just going to come out and say it... Least favorite episode of this show by far.

Why, if I may ask?

 

[Frodo]

Iris' s character is really walking on a fine line between being a likeable character and being Raimi's version of Mary Jane, whcih isn't a good thing.

Honestly, if they're not careful with how they treat her character, then she'll end up being as intolerable as Gotham's Barbara.

Plus, it doesn't help the fact that she has no romantic chemistry with the character that's supposed to be her future husband as of yet. If anything, I'm afraid that her eventual feelings for Barry may end up being based on the fact that he's the flash as opposed to the guy that she's known for most of her life.

This. I was really disappointed by the way she was written this last episode. The writers have to give us more of a reason, other than she's hot and she's the lead , as to why Barry would be losing sleep over this girl.

 

[Herolee10]

This. I was really disappointed by the way she was written this last episode. The writers have to give us more of a reason, other than she's hot and she's the lead , as to why Barry would be losing sleep over this girl.

Agreed.

I honestly don't know why these producers make it so hard for some ppl to get behind these canon romances, especially the ones that are meant to end with marriage (Laurel, Barbara, Iris)

And to respond back to some of the posters above, I only said that Iris is close to becoming like Raimi's version of MJ. The biggest difference between her and MJ though is the fact that Iris isn't a self centered loose womant that needs a love interest all the time to define who she is.

But if the writers want ppl to think that these two will end up with each other, they better do something different soon.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Why, if I may ask?

I just feel almost everything could have been handled better, especially the fight, which had a couple of moments that I liked but other wise, from the character interactions to the usual soap opera crap... Yeah, I just wasn't feeling it. I will say, that I loved when Barry, granted under the influence as it were, basically pointed out that Proto-Bruce Wayne Ollie might be just a tad jealous that Barry has power he'll never have and that for a person like that with his background, and what he's tuned himself through hard work into, that may sting a bit. But otherwise I thought it was lackluster all around, and for a person that works in a forensics lab where precision is the name of the game, they are still writing Barry as an idiot in too many situations.

 

[Herolee10]

I just feel almost everything could have been handled better, especially the fight, which had a couple of moments that I liked but other wise, from the character interactions to the usual soap opera crap... Yeah, I just wasn't feeling it. I will say, that I loved when Barry, granted under the influence as it were, basically pointed out that Proto-Bruce Wayne Ollie might be just a tad jealous that Barry has power he'll never have and that for a person like that with his background, and what he's tuned himself through hard work into, that may sting a bit. But otherwise I thought it was lackluster all around, and for a person that works in a forensics lab where precision is the name of the game, they are still writing Barry as an idiot in too many situations.

Fair points for sure. Like others said, if someone with Barry's powers really wanted to hurt/kill Oliver, then Oliver would be done for realistically. If anything, Reverse Flash will hopefully show ppl on n ow dangerous someone can be with Barry's powers.

I do hope that tonight's crossover episode will make up for the Barry portions that last night's one missed on.

 

[Justin]

10 from me as I don't feel I can expect much more from a 1 hour TV show with a budget. Loved it.

As far as the fight goes, I think they pulled it off great. 8 year veteran Oliver Queen who's fought people with super strength and god knows what else, holds his own with prep time, research and a plan in a pre-rigged area against a Flash 6 months with his powers and impaired by anger.

They did a great job of building up Ollie's accomplishments and making you aware of the flaws Barry still has (i.e not casing crime scenes even though he has time). This made the whole thing believable to me.

Also I think I'm in love with Caitlyn .

 

[haephestus]

Iris' s character is really walking on a fine line between being a likeable character and being Raimi's version of Mary Jane, whcih isn't a good thing ... Plus, it doesn't help the fact that she has no romantic chemistry with the character that's supposed to be her future husband as of yet. If anything, I'm afraid that her eventual feelings for Barry may end up being based on the fact that he's the flash as opposed to the guy that she's known for most of her life.

I agree. It's bizarre that in shows where they're clearly trying to build relationship drama, they don't put more effort into casting (especially chemistry reads) and writing.

They need to stop thinking that just because two characters are together in the comic books, then their live action counterparts can be forced together, especially when they deliberately conceive major obstacles to their romance (e.g. Oliver sleeping with Laurel's sister, Laurel dating Oliver's best friend and Barry and Iris growing up as siblings, Iris having no interest in Barry, but oddly showing almost obsessive interest in The Flash while still dating Eddie).

And the shows don't even seem to be able to take advantage of the natural chemistry which occurs. Barry and Felicity have great chemistry. They really spark when they're on screen together. They could easily have them date (since a long distance relationship wouldn't be an issue for Barry), which would also open up both actors to mini-appearances in both shows.

It could make for some great little moments, like Diggle asking where Felicity is one evening and Oliver mentioning that Barry has taken her to New York for pizza. Or to Mexico for tequila shots. Or, in time (once Barry's powers have been developed), to Paris for a romantic dinner.

Also, as an aside, surely Eddie is the worst detective ever for not recognising Barry as The Flash during their confrontation. The Flash didn't bother vibrating his face and he barely adjusted his voice during their fight. Sure, it was a little dark, but come on Eddie! It's pretty darn obvious that The Flash has Barry's same build, same chin/mouth, same eyes and same voice!

 

[mkilban2]

So, Barry can paint a shelter in a couple of seconds, but can't handcuff a dangerous freak or knock Oliver out equally fast? Again making Barry dumb because the plot demands it, is just bad writing.

The fight was lame, instead of wasting time spinning around Ollie because it looks cool (he already did that against the weather freak in the Pilot), Barry could've take him out with a supersonic punch, seems he forgot already. The choreography and the slow motion were poorly executed, Barry hitting all those punches and Oliver's reaction to them looked cartoonish.

Imagine if they do something like this in BvS, I don't think most fans would be pleased. Despite being a tv show with a limited budget, they could've done it better. The freak of the week was, once again, a very weak character, just a plot device to force the Flash vs Arrow fight.

A fight because two characters have a real disagreement is always more interesting than fighting because one of them is just "whammied", which is just lazy writing in the comics and here.

Overall, despite its flaws, a decent episode thanks to the Barry and Oliver interactions.

Every week you make a post like this, why do you even watch the show if all you seemingly do is try and pick it apart for things you don't like while you're watching? I mean, I hate Star Wars movies, so I'm certainly not going to sit and watch the next one and just look for things I can bash about it later.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Good episode, really enjoyed it. Diggs reaction to the Flash was priceless. Though I think that Ollie was a little to serious during the entire thing.

One thing the writers on Flash/Arrow have proven that they are just not good at romances, they are just really awkward at it, but can't have everything I guess.

During the Arrow/Flash fight, I was thinking that when Flash was running circles around Arrow that he would be trying to at least take the wind out of Arrow instead of nothing happening at all, so that part could've used improvement. I know they want Arrow to be all Batman and kickass but it's cases like these where they should've had Arrow be the main one to take out Flash but he should've had assistance in doing so, and not just by holding him so he can look at jazzy disco lights.

 

[Mike Murdock]

Random thought. Why did they give Starlabs the DNA sample to isolate. Wouldn't it make far more sense to give it to the actual forensic technician (i.e., Barry Allen) to figure it out? Does he actually ever do his job?