TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 9 Episode 9: It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To

I’m going to jump right into this and say…they didn’t screw up Oliver Queen. Well, not in the ways that mattered. Tonight’s episode FINALLY got Barry back into action in a big way, and while much of it felt like “typical Flash Season 9 nonsense,” it was the return of old friends that made it worth watching. Stephen Amell is back, and we should be grateful for his presence. He singlehandedly saved this season.

So the crux of this episode was Ramsay Russo, aka Bloodwork, came back and decided to “expand his gift” across the Multiverse so that “no one would suffer.” But since Barry wasn’t going to fall for the same trap twice, he went after Wally West. Wally was back with many other characters to celebrate Barry’s birthday, and of course, it didn’t go right. Ramsay poisoned them all (mostly), and it ended up with Barry dying and…

…seeing Oliver again! Seriously, having Amell back was a treat. He and Grant Gustin have chemistry thanks to their years on screen via crossovers that made this episode worth watching many times over. You could skip everything but the scenes they were in together and it would still be good watching…which says a lot for the other parts of the episode…but I’ll get to that.

Even when the fight was over, having Oliver say goodbye to Diggle and Barry properly was great because he didn’t get that chance in Crisis on Infinite Earths for various reasons. So there was a lot of closure here. This is the “last Arrowverse crossover,” so it was nice to see things end on a highnote, especially that final scene at the bar with Oliver reciting some of his original lines to Barry after he got his powers.

So just for Oliver (and Diggle) alone…the episode is getting a positive score…which is a first for this season if I recall correctly. Which is sad, but whatever.

Sadly, the rest of the episode didn’t hold up. Despite the stakes being about the multiverse, things got wrapped up almost too neatly, and quickly. Wally getting taken over? It took one conversation to help him break out. Team Flash being “blood people”? Oh, Snow can freeze the water within them…and force the bad blood out of them…because…why not at this point? Seriously, they’re just making stuff up for Snow at this point, and it’s so annoying.

And that wasn’t the only thing that they threw out at random to “make things work.” Such as how Iris has a healing factor…because she’s pregnant with Nora…do we really need to talk about how that doesn’t make ANY sense? …like, at all, it doesn’t make sense.

Even Oliver had some of the “Flash nonsense” going on. Barry seeing Oliver at “the end” was fine…but…then apparently Oliver is still The Spectre, and he can “return when the Multiverse is in danger”…um…how? He DIED as The Specter in Crisis after rebirthing the universe. He and Felicity were seen in their afterlife (which wasn’t Lian Yu), and The Monitor told Felicity at the end of Arrow that it was a one-way trip. Yes, I was happy to see Oliver back…but they REALLY stretched what happened in Crisis…and then noted his “powers weren’t working” in the real world because of Ramsay…sure.

But don’t forget about Barry…who…wanted to stay dead a little because of the people he lost in the last few months? Really, Barry?

Oh, and the Chuck/Allegra stuff? Just stop, please.

In the end, there were some things to love about this episode…which is not something I’ve said a lot during this season. It’s almost sad that this wasn’t the series finale (or the final arc) as it would’ve ended on a positive note. Sadly, it wasn’t, but at least long-term Arrowverse fans got one last TRUE crossover to be happy about.

3.5/5