‘Arrow’ 3.08 Episode Recap and Review: The Brave and the Bold

It’s the Arrow/Flash crossover, part two!

Team Arrow is back on their home turf, one week after the events of Tuesday night’s episode of The Flash.  Oliver, Roy,  and Diggle are closing in on what they believe to be the secret lair of Captain Boomerang (who isn’t actually named “Captain Boomerang” yet, but his real name has a totally different meaning for me when it comes to this show. You’ll see.) The guys explosively disarm the Cap’s booby traps, only to run into a small squad of ARGUS bullyboys who warn them off the case. As it turns out, Captain Boomerang’s victim was an ARGUS agent, so they’re taking jurisdiction here. Oliver sends Digg off to get intel from his ARGUS ladylove.

Across town at Queen Consolidated Palmer Technologies, Felicity has a pair of unexpected visitors. Cisco and Caitlin have dropped by, purportedly to pick up the DNA sample from Sara’s killer, but honestly, they just want to check out the ArrowCave. They’re down in the lair with the rest of the gang when the call comes through that Captain Boomerang is attacking ARGUS and has Lyla and Digg pinned down. Roy and Oliver rush to help, but the Captain is faster than they anticipated. Fortunately, aid comes from an even faster source: Caitlin called in Barry as backup!

According to Lyla, Captain Boomerang’s real name is Digger Harkness (whom I will now refer to as “Digger,” because “Captain Boomerang” is a mouthful and “Harkness” will always belong to John Barrowman in my universe). Digger was a member of the Suicide Squad until an op went south. Lyla made the call to have the team “sanitized,” but Digger’s neck bomb malfunctioned, leaving him footloose, fancy-free, and feeling vengeful. Now he’s after Lyla, in particular.

With the help of Team Flash, our guys are able to trace a couple of exploding boomerangs to their maker, Klaus Markos. Markos works for the Bratva, so Oliver knows exactly where he’s going to be holing up for a while. Team Arrow, plus one red speedster, descends on the Bratva warehouse. Barry takes out the guards pretty easily, but Oliver shocks him by torturing Markos for information on Digger. Evidently things in Starling aren’t as shiny and comic book-ish as they are in Central City. If nothing else, Oliver’s methods result in Markos giving up a burner phone that Digger uses to get in touch.

Felicity is able to crack the encryption on the phone to get a location on Digger, which sends the boys all out to a biker bar. Digger isn’t there, but he paid the locals 10 grand to hand the Arrow a burner phone of his very own. Unfortunately, the whole operation was just a setup. Digger uses Felicity’s trace to find the lair and leaves a boomerang in Lyla’s shoulder. Barry gets back in time to run Lyla to Starling General, but it’s a close call.

Falling for Digger’s trap tips Oliver over into a heroic angstfest. Stephen Amell delivers a truly stunning scene in which Oliver fears that he’s disappearing into his vigilante persona and losing what it means to be Oliver Queen. Barry calls him on it, saying that Oliver couldn’t have survived everything that he had to go through without his humanity. You guys, if you can’t watch the whole episode, watch this scene. Seriously.

Barry and Oliver track Digger to the train station, where he gives the heroes a choice: take him in, or defuse the five bombs that he’s hidden around Starling City. Felicity, Cisco, and Caitlin are able to figure out where the bombs are, but they’re all connected. If one bomb is defused, it triggers the detonation of the rest. Barry rushes Roy, Felicity, Cisco, and Caitlin each to a bomb of their very own, allowing the team to cut the wires at the exact same time and save the city.

Oliver and Barry decide that the best place for a man like Digger Harkness is a cell next to Manu Bennett on an inhospitable Chinese island. (I would think that those two shouldn’t be allowed to communicate, but that’s just me.) When they arrive back at the lair, there are a couple of pleasant surprises in store. Barry now has his very own costume-holding mannequin for when he visits Starling, and Team Flash worked up a new, fancier version of the Arrow uniform for Oliver. Bonding!!

Meanwhile, Diggle has decided that he’s tired of the episode’s running gag about the state of his and Lyla’s nonexistent marriage. Once Lyla wakes up, he asks her to be his ex-ex-wife. It’s more than a little adorable.

Arrow has been pretty on point this whole season, but this was definitely one of the best episodes thus far. The crossovers both stood on their own fairly well (though if you didn’t watch The Flash on Tuesday, you missed what promises to be a pretty major Arrow development). I was really impressed at how well each show was able to keep its own tone. The Flash episode was a lot of fun, but had a couple of darker moments, while the Arrow episode was nearly the opposite. (Though I will never get tired of Cisco geeking out over the ArrowCave. You know you’d do the exact same thing if you were there!)

Next week, Ra’s al Ghul and the return of shirtless Oliver. Feels like it’s been a while.

Best Quotes:

Cisco: “We wanna see the ArrowCave!”
Felicity: “We don’t call it that. Ever.”

(slightly later)

Roy: “Since when did we start selling admission to the ArrowCave?”
Oliver (to Felicity): “Do you see what you’ve done?”

Oliver: “I’m sorry, Barry. I’m not as emotionally healthy as you.”

Things to Ponder:

• Is Oliver’s voice manipulator controlled telepathically now, or should I just add that to the list of Things I Ignore, right next to the Magically Disappearing Heroic Eye Makeup?
• I know Roy was “Speedy” in the comics, but I thought we’d officially given that nickname to Thea in the Arrow-verse. Did I forget an important scene somewhere?