ARROW Season 3 Episode 8
Episode Title: “The Brave and the Bold”
Story by: Greg Berlanti & Andrew Kreisberg
Teleplay by: Marc Guggenheim & Grainne Godfree
Director: Jesse Warn
Previously on “Arrow”:
Episode 3.07 “Draw Back Your Bow”
One of the benefits of having two DC superhero shows on the same network is that the two series can easily crossover. The CW concluded its two night event with The Flash and his supporting cast making an extended appearance on “Arrow.” But unfortunately, “The Brave and The Bold” wasn’t as strong of an episode as “Flash vs. Arrow.”
The biggest problem with “The Brave and the Bold” is that it sticks too closely with the normal conventions of a regular “Arrow” episode. And while the weaker members of the “Arrow” cast were downplayed this week, the flashback sequences noticeably dragged down the rest of the episode.
The Flash Returns The Favor
Following the events of “Flash vs. Arrow,” Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) show up unannounced at the office of Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards). Although Caitlin says that they’re only in town to collect the DNA samples to solve the murder of Sara Lance, Cisco admits that they want to see “the Arrow Cave.”
Meanwhile, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), John Diggle (David Ramsey) and Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) are searching for the boomerang killer aka Captain Boomerang aka Digger Harkness (Nick Tarabay), who is ridiculously competent in this incarnation. The comic book version of this character was never this formidable.
With an A.R.G.U.S. facility under attack and both Oliver and Roy overmatched by Digger, a call is placed to Central City and The Flash aka Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) comes running to help. Digger still manages to get away from the “fastest man alive.” And Diggle’s “not my wife,” Lyla Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson) confesses that Digger is after her because she ordered his termination during a botched Suicide Squad mission.
Hong Kong Kaboom
For this week’s Hong Kong flashback sequence, Oliver is summoned by Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to interrogate a man who knows where a bomb is hidden in the city. Waller clearly expects Oliver to torture the man for the information… and he does a piss poor job of it. Even his captive can see that Oliver isn’t a torturer.
But then the bomb goes off and innocent people die, which changes Oliver’s mind about the need for the torture. While the flashbacks weren’t very strong scenes, it was interesting to see present day Oliver repeat Waller’s philosophy about dealing with threats. But the only way that it makes sense for Waller to have placed Oliver in that position instead of a skilled interrogator is if she wanted the bomb to go off… both to serve her overall agenda and to mold Oliver into a better operative.
Cracks In The Partnership
While Barry is eager to once again team up with Oliver, he balks when the Arrow begins torturing information out of Digger’s criminal network. Barry starts to realize that he’s been so blinded by his hero worship of the Arrow that he didn’t fully comprehend just how different they are from each other as heroes.
After forcefully retrieving a cell phone from the man who created Digger’s boomerangs, Arrow and Flash close in on Digger’s location. But while they find several Russian gangsters, Digger is long gone. And Team Arrow slowly realizes that they’ve been played. The cell phone was planted to give Digger a way to track down Lyla.
Break-In At The Arrow Cave
Thea Queen (Willa Holland) owns the nightclub and she still can’t open the door to get into the Arrow cave. But this episode doesn’t even bother to tell the audience how Digger manages to get in, or how he knew which room to look in. Lyla manages to hold him off for a while, but she catches a boomerang to her body that nearly kills her. And Digger leaves before finishing the job.
To save Lyla’s life, The Flash transports her to a nearby hospital and Diggle stays by her side. Meanwhile, the remaining members of Team Arrow and Team Flash pool their resources to find Digger before he gets out of town.
Captain Boomerang’s Five-Way Revenge
As Digger attempts to board a train, Flash removes all civilians from the area before he and the Arrow confront Digger. However, Digger claims to have planted five bombs all over Starling City as a way to cover his escape. Okay, I’m gonna call bullshit on that one. It’s one thing for Digger to be such an exceptional fighter on this show. But on top of that, he had the time and the foresight to get five bombs into place as a contingency plan?! And where did he even get the bombs?
At least there was a pretty good fight between Arrow and Digger. The Flash also came up with a clever way of simultaneously disarming the bombs by using his speed to place Cisco, Roy, Felicity and Caitlin with the other bombs just a few seconds before the explosions would have gone off.
The Rocky III Ending
After locking up Digger in the same secret island prison as Slade Wilson — a choice which will definitely come back to haunt them — Oliver and Barry return to the Arrow Cave where they discover that a place has been added for Barry’s costume in case of future team ups. Cisco also gives Oliver a new costume that is more bullet resistant.
In the hospital, Diggle asks Lyla to marry him and she quickly accepts. Much later, Oliver and Barry meet in private to settle on which of them would win in a fight. In the closing seconds, The Flash and Arrow begin their friendly competition… which we don’t get to see. That definitely seemed like a very Rocky III thing to do.
As much fun as it was to once again see the casts of the two shows together again, this just wasn’t quite as entertaining as “The Flash” episode that preceded it. Still, I’m all for making The Flash and Arrow crossovers an annual event.
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