Arrow S07 EP09 spoiler review (crossover episode)

(I seriously thought I would be using the photo of Barry, Oliver, Kara, and 80s Flash standing against Monitor, but woah, I cannot get over Batwoman)

We are now officially two thirds of through the way of this year's crossover and things only got way more intense and awesome, with this episode in particular topping yesterday's episode at least for me. There were so many easter eggs and character introductions, along with a major tease at the end for what the third episode will be, and things are shaping up for an awesome end!
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Being an Arrow episode, there were a lot of Arrow related characters and storylines that showed up here that weren't in the Flash episode before this, as well as several Flash characters no longer being around like Ralph and Iris. I haven't watched Arrow but I've kept up with it a little bit, and I always enjoying seeing all the characters of this universe interacting with one another in fun ways so while not everything that happened was super pertinent to me, I still appreciated it.

The biggest thing that has to be talked about in this episode was the trip to none other than Gotham city. It was revealed at the end of last night's episode that the team would be heading there to track down the Monitor and Deegan, and the trip definitely did not disappoint at all! From the moment they got there there was talk about Batman who Oliver did not believe in, and who Barry was more than excited to potentially see. After no direct mention of him on any shows it was almost jarring for the character to be outright confirmed in an hour of television that seemed intent on hammering in the Batman mythos to the CW worlds, right down to a tarped over bat signal and several surprises in Arkham Asylum.

Not long after arriving in the city Barry, Kara, and Oliver find themselves being mugged in any alleyway and caught by police who intervened just as Barry took down the guards in a very Oliver-esque manner. The trio is caught, detained, and in the jail cell Supergirl questions why they did not just super speed away, to which Barry and Oliver remark that "hindsight is 20/20"; however, they did not remain trapped for long as a mysterious person bailed them out and had a limo bring them to the ruins of the Wayne industries building. Now standing in disrepair with spray paint and foliage shrouding the inside, the group meets Kate Kane, who tells them of Bruce Wayne being gone for the past three years just as Batman has with no one knowing why. It's a very ominous storyline, and one that will certainly be picked up in the Batwoman tv show that CW is evidently working on.

Kate Kane reveals herself as Bruce Wayne's cousin and is using his building as the outlet for her new career, with the desire to see the three heroes leave her city as soon as possible. To help with this, she ID's Deegan for them as a doctor in Arkham Asylum, quite a different position from the last time we saw him, and with the new information our heroes set out to break in.

The rest of this episode stands as one of the best parts of the whole crossover, as from the minute that we are brought into Arkham Asylum the cameras pans over the inmates' doors and gives us a few names like: Copplepot, Isley, Karlo, and Nigma, AKA, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Clayface, and Riddler! That isnt where things stopped though. Once Deegan was confronted he opened up all the cells in the building and ran to find the reality altering book, and in the commotion we were introduced to lower tiered villain, Psycho Pirate, and while we surprisingly did not see any other big name villains, we got some more easter eggs. With the breakout, Nora Fries' cryogenic unit was shut down and she was fervently searching for a way to shut it back on, and in the process of her search we see Bane's mask as well as Mister Freeze's cold gun. A short scuffle between her, Barry, and Oliver also ends up shattering several vials of Scarecrow's fear toxin leading to a very fun scene. Within each others' bodies, Barry and Oliver see each other's villains. Barry faces Merlin, and Oliver faces Eobard, while truly it is each other. A new figure brings their fight to an end, and outside, the final escapees are stopped in their tracks by the same red haired vigilante that is unnamed, is identified as "not Batman", but is the superheroine Batwoman; Kate Kane. It was awesome, we saw the bat grapple and batarangs in use, and her costume looked great! Barry and Oliver didn't recognize her, but thanks to Kara's x-ray vision she did, and there was clearly some chemistry going on for some down the line team ups and crossovers in the style of Flash-Arrow crossovers. Kara no longer has to play third wheel to them!

The final minutes of the crossover got even more crazy, with a strange visitor, the source of all the lightning in the sky, finally manages to break through to our world and we're once again greeted with the 80s Flash. Earlier in the episode he had managed just barely to contact them and tell them to find Deegan's book, which they did manage to procure in the breakout, but now he finally traveled the distance between their universes and joined them. There was a MAJOR Green Lantern shout out as 80s Flash recognized John Diggle but remarked that in this universe he didn't wear his RING. On earth-90, is John Diggle actually John Stewart? It was a short passing remark, but so many to the possibility of Green Lantern appearing on the show!

80s Flash introduced himself as Barry Allen, which I'm surprised no one made mention of since the actor has portrayed Barry's father on the main show, but he ended up making an entrance just in time as the Monitor from Cisco's vibes appeared on the streets outside. Barry, Oliver, Kara, and 80s Barry went out to face him, with 80s Flash almost immediately being vaporized(?), and the Monitor retrieving the book once again. He declared that he was not simply causing mayhem, but rather travelling the multiverse searching for a universe with heroes powerful enough to face the evil that is coming. Then he vanished to return the book to Deegan and insist that he "think bigger" when it comes to his changes to reality, and evidently, he thought bigger.

Barry and Oliver find themselves depowered, without Kara, and manifested as a pair of crooks called the Trigger Twins. The police approach them, made up of Arrow villains Jericho, Merlin, and Diaz; however, the pair are able to escape capture only to find themselves stopped by a black suited Superman.

SO MUCH AWESOME. This crossover has been great for two episodes now and I need it so much to stick the landing, especially with such a great set up for the final entry. But to savor what we got in this episode, Batmam, Arkham, Gotham, Batwoman, we have so much in the Arrowverse now that I didn't expect to get so soon and so fast! I am absolutely pumped now for the Batwoman tv show that the program is working on and I'm definitely going to watch it, no doubt in my mind after seeing the character be such a delight on screen, and the CW already handing us an intriguing mystery for her show with the disappearance of Bruce Wayne/Batman! The icing on the cake is that we would most likely get to see all the villains teased tonight plus lots and lots more, which will be such a victory for the CW show to add to its roster of DC world building. We no longer have Oliver and Barry swapping powers, which I'll miss, but black suit Superman is gonna be a blast to watch in live action. I'm seriously hoping that the 80s Flash wasn't killed when he vanished, really really hoping that isn't the case, but I guess we'll see. Anything more I say about this episode will just be me gushing about Batwoman, Gotham, and all the other great stuff that went down (not even gonna mention the fact that Monitor directly teased Anti-Monitor's arrival, because I will not stop talking about it if I start!), so I will leave it here, and be back to cover the third and final chapter in the CW's Elseworlds crossover.