And…here we are again with another crossover. Don’t get me wrong, I love it!
This time around, “All Star Team Up” featured Ray and Felicity coming to Central City to get some help on the Atom suit. All the while helping Barry and crew solve their latest mystery…killer bees!!!
On a purely fun level, this episode was great. These team-ups on the shows truly present how different they are tone wise, even Felicity off-handedly noted it. And it helps with certain characters. While I may not be a big fan of how Arrow and Flash handle relationships (more on that in a bit), I loved how they showed Ray and Felicity as an actual couple. We honestly haven’t gotten too many of these fun relationship moments in Arrow.
Also, Ray and Felicity really helped bump up the fun in terms of conversations cause they had like-minded people around them. Ray and Cisco are now truly best buds. And Felicity and Caitlin are pretty much sisters (on a side note, that line about Felicity dating being kind of like dating Barry in Oliver’s body? Classic.).
All that being said, the other parts of the episode didn’t work as well. Barry getting overly paranoid about whom he can “trust” is valid in some respects, but it’s like he doesn’t get what Joe is telling him in regards to keeping it cool. What he’s doing is tipping off Wells, we all know it! But Barry just can’t help himself. If anything, he should welcome the distraction with Ray and Felicity to help take his mind off of Wells, not to mention take suspicion off of himself in Wells’ eyes.
The villain-of-the-week was ok, the twist that she wasn’t talking to live bees, but her robotic drones was a nice touch. Not every villain needs to have powers as both Arrow and Flash have proven in the past. The bees themselves were really well done visually, and of course led to many a pun.
Sadly, aside from a fun team-up with Ray and a heroic moment from Cisco, that was all the fun we got out of it. Brie was decent as a villain, but she barely talked (or was seen) for 3/4 of the episode. Her tech battle with Felicity was fun (“I’ve never had a nemesis before, it’s kind of fun”) but aside from that? Eh…
Though I will admit I liked the return of Tina McGee, who not only helped the plotline, but also helped put more seeds of doubt into Barry’s mind about Wells.
Bringing Caitlin and Cisco into the fold is great, especially with Cisco having “visions” of the past timeline. Mainly him getting killed by Wells. Admittedly, this will need an explanation as to why he’s having them. The easy answer is that the way Wells killed him (vibrating arm to the chest) some triggered something that allowed Cisco to remember. Possibly a way to show how Cisco may get his powers. If not that though…I don’t know. I like the idea of the timelines trying to cross over with one another, it could lead to some fun stuff. But if it only affects Cisco, there needs to be a good reason as to why.
Then there’s Iris…wow, I thought I was beginning to like her, and now…nope! Look, I’m an old-fashioned guy, and I agree there needs to be honesty in a relationship, and truth in a relationship. But if she assumes the worst every time? And DEMANDS the truth every time? She’s not going to have many relationships! Eddie was really put in a rock and a hard place (still not sure as to why…), and with both Barry and Joe telling him to stay silent, it puts him into a bigger bind. I dig how Barry helped out, that was a good and true thing, but typical Iris let it wash over her. And now they’re probably going to break up…sending Eddie to the Dark Side…and it’ll all her fault. Yeah…
One final down note, one that actually the writers themselves noted. Continuity. Where does this take place in the storyline of both shows? Cause obviously this takes place before the last Arrow we say, cause Felicity didn’t mention Roy being in jail. This is the tricky part of team ups, if they don’t happen in the right way, they leave many a timing issue question.
In the end, “All Star Team Up” was a decent episode. It had many good points…but many bad ones too. With a renewed focus on Wells coming, hopefully it’ll return things to their right course.
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
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