The Flash S05 EP09 spoiler review (crossover episode)

(This body swapping has to be one of the best ideas the CW team has ever had)

This year's crossover started off with a really fun episode and a whole lot of fun for what I feel like will be the best crossover so far. We got a lot of new information and plot threads that will continue through three episodes, with Barry and Oliver swapping lifes, Superman taking part in the episode, and the arrival of one of my favorite DC villains with Amazo. Without time to waste, here is my review of the ninth episode of Flash's season 5.
And yes, I do realize that I'm writing this after the second episode of the crossover has already aired so I'm a bit behind. I won't be as speculative in this review, and will focus solely on my thoughts of what happened.
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Oh boy, I'm so happy with how this crossover started off! We got the same scene of Earth-90 being destroyed as we did at the end of the last episode of the Flash, but it is still cool to see John Wesley Shipp in the 80s Flash uniform again. This was followed by the introduction of a professor by the name of John Deegan who seeks to perfect the human race and cure imperfection, though is viewed a a wacko for this. While his perceptions were a bit much, I really enjoyed how they introduced him as such a small and pathetic character who has no power and is full of self loathing by his failed attempts to make something of himself. It did a lot to distance him from typical mustache twirling villains, so when the Monitor brought him the reality altering book it truly seemed like Deegan was having his dreams come true!

This lead into the rest of the episode with us first being introduced to Oliver waking up in Barry's life. Seeing him stumble his way through a morning with Iris trying to figure out what was going on was hilarious, along with him suiting up in the Flash suit and immediately wondering, "Barry...what did you do now?" haha! I also swear that the hamminess and loving nature of the Flash's cast was turned up to 11 in this episode! Iris was all over Oliver with the physical affection, Cisco was hugging him, and when it seemed like "Barry" was acting strangely the entire group followed him into the hallway to see if he needed to talk. It really played great for the writers of the show to almost make fun of how positive and close the Flash team is as a family, and to see Oliver uncomfortable by it all.

Barry woke up in the middle of training with Diggle, and he took the life switch much more casually at first. He was astounded by the fact that he was ripped, that he was mayor, and that he was the Green Arrow with all of his skills. Though, the minute that he found out that Oliver woke up in bed with Iris Barry instantly declared that they needed to fix everything, lol. So together, the two of them told Team Flash about their apparent body swap which the group immediately disregarded, until they decide that something was up and knocked the two of them out, placing them in the pipeline.

This scene had to be one of my favorites as the two of them bickered and tried to find a way out of the cell by using each of their abilities. After five seasons, the questions of how the villains used the bathroom in the pipeline was solved as Barry kicked the wall and a toilet popped out, which they had to clog in order to short circuit the meta-dampening properties of the cell. Oliver taught Barry to dislocate his thumb to get out of the cuffs (Since Barry had Oliver's life, he also had Oliver's body and flexibility), which ended up being hilarious as Barry's thumb proceeded to hang limply for the next minute. Oliver learned to phase, and the two set out to visit earth-38 where Kara was and to see if their body swap continued throughout different earths.

Iris stood in their way, but true Barry was able to convince her that what they were saying may be true, and Iris handed over the breach device for them to leave. I really liked this scene, as it further cemented how close of a bond Iris and Barry share, and how much the bonds of Team Flash are made through love and trust; they really are a team.

As they breached, we immediatly met up with Superman and Lois Lane on the Kent farm with Kara. I LOVE Superman and that holds true for the CW's version of him as well; he is a constant ray of kindness and heroism, and he got to take part in almost the entire episode. It was very funny seeing Oliver puffing out his chest upon meeting him, and things worked out for the two of them as Kara recognized them as who they really were, meaning only things on earth 1 were altered. At this point the two of them took a moment to sit down and take in the situation, with Oliver insisting to train Barry to use him powers. This lead to a great season 1 of the Flash callback when Barry told Oliver to run at him and assured him that there were no hidden crossbows anywhere...but of course there was and Barry shot Oliver in the back. Being the serious, more hardened vigilante, Oliver got angry and tried to get a rise out of Barry, shouting that Barry couldn't go 9 hours without a sappy motivational speech (that was a funny line). Barry refused to get angry, and Oliver eventually apologized and after being buddy buddy with one another they deciphered that to really be in touch with one another's powers they had to act the part. Barry had to be angry, like when he dislocated his thumb, and Oliver had to have fun like he did every time he used Barry's powers.

With that revelation, they returned to Earth 1 with Kara and Clark. With Iris vouching for them, and Cisco as well who has felt that strange things were going on with red skies, yellow lightning, and strange visions of a stranger occurring ever since that morning, Team Flash decided to trust them. Just in time as well, as the super powered robot Amazo was tearing up the city, accidentally released earlier in the episode when Oliver was trying to stop a robbery, and then matters made worse when Elongated Man and Killer Frost tried to face the robot only to have their powers replicated and used against them. There was one line Ralph said that I really liked but can't remember when he said it; upon seeing something odd happening he postulated, "It isn't even Tuesday," which was a really meta line for the show to say since this episode aired on Sunday, lol.

A really awesome fight scene ensued in my opinion where Oliver, Barry, Kara, and Superman faced off against Amazo who ultimately absorbed their powers as well and used them against the heroes. Leading them to working as a team, Barry and Oliver harnessing each other's powers, to trap Amazo and upload a virus into the robot that destroyed him. It was a really fun scene with good use of CGI as well as Barry donning a very dark tone and declaring, "You have failed this city!" in a very Arrow-esque way. I was sad to see Amazo go so soon, but for the time he was there he provided a great antagonist and fun entry point to the crossover.

As the episode wrapped up, Superman returned to earth 38, Barry and Oliver remained swapped, and Cisco revealed that he had been having flash's of a strange individual who he vibed to show the others. They were shown the scene from the start of the crossover where the Monitor gave Deegan the book; however, even though they were vibing an event that happened in the past, Monitor sensed them vibing him and told them that they had no chance against what was coming, and after seeing the next episode I can confirmed that they really didn't.

So that was the first episode of this year's crossover! It was a lot of fun with some great lines, action sequences, and concepts that will continue throughout the next two episodes. I can't wait to see how it all wraps up, and I'll be back soon to cover the second episode of the crossover that aired last night!