This whole crossover made absolutely zero sense. Look at my comment on 8x04 for everything wrong up until that point, but this episode just keeps adding to the mess.
First off, nobody supposedly remembers Despero, because of the timeline shift in the last episode. Yet somehow, everyone seems to be very acutely aware of who he is, what he can do, and more importantly, how badly Flash got his ass handed to him on a silver platter the last time they fought (they even literally talk about this fight).
Second, Joe acts completely out of character in this entire episode. Threatening to "break up" the family if they let Thawne die, THE arch-nemesis of the entire show, the person who killed Barry's parents, who has consistently proven time and time again he is a giant threat, the guy who caused Armageddon in the first place. Suddenly Joe thinks his life is more important than the safety of his whole family? The hell?
Third, Damien Darhk's interaction with Nora. In 8x01, Ray literally says Nora is fine and is out doing her fairy godmother thing. 8x01 was already happening in the manipulated timeline that Thawne set up (because Joe is gone already and Despero shows up). Yet somehow, Nora is magically dead all of a sudden because Damien's alive, and later on Damien and Nora meet in "the land before time"? That makes zero sense.
Expanding on that, are you trying to tell me that the timeline, something that has no conscious thought, kept Damien outside of his own timeline long enough so he could give Joe a present? Again, makes no sense.
Expanding further on the timeline nonsense... Thawne is dying because the timeline got reset, so he technically doesn't exist anymore. Time's just catching up with that fact. Great. Ignoring everything that was wrong during the previous episodes, I get that premise. But how does taking away Thawne's speed change any of that premise? They don't explain this at all, they just... say that it'll work, so it works. But regardless whether he keeps his speed or not, Thawne's timeline still got erased. Again, no sense.
Also, Flash's "Wizard of Oz" go-go boots that make him able to beat Despero all of a sudden. Hilariously bad.
Also, Mia Queen's completely pointless cameo, which basically was only there to tell the audience that, no, they totally didn't forget about the cliffhanger they ended Arrow on two years ago. The audience forgot about it, though, because no one cares about Mia friggin Queen. There's a reason her spin-off got canceled.
And I might be remembering this wrong, but did Cavanagh always have such puffy cheeks in his suit? It looked ridiculous. I swear that wasn't the case way back when.
Review by treidenBlockedParentSpoilers2021-12-18T16:26:39Z
This whole crossover made absolutely zero sense. Look at my comment on 8x04 for everything wrong up until that point, but this episode just keeps adding to the mess.
First off, nobody supposedly remembers Despero, because of the timeline shift in the last episode. Yet somehow, everyone seems to be very acutely aware of who he is, what he can do, and more importantly, how badly Flash got his ass handed to him on a silver platter the last time they fought (they even literally talk about this fight).
Second, Joe acts completely out of character in this entire episode. Threatening to "break up" the family if they let Thawne die, THE arch-nemesis of the entire show, the person who killed Barry's parents, who has consistently proven time and time again he is a giant threat, the guy who caused Armageddon in the first place. Suddenly Joe thinks his life is more important than the safety of his whole family? The hell?
Third, Damien Darhk's interaction with Nora. In 8x01, Ray literally says Nora is fine and is out doing her fairy godmother thing. 8x01 was already happening in the manipulated timeline that Thawne set up (because Joe is gone already and Despero shows up). Yet somehow, Nora is magically dead all of a sudden because Damien's alive, and later on Damien and Nora meet in "the land before time"? That makes zero sense.
Expanding on that, are you trying to tell me that the timeline, something that has no conscious thought, kept Damien outside of his own timeline long enough so he could give Joe a present? Again, makes no sense.
Expanding further on the timeline nonsense... Thawne is dying because the timeline got reset, so he technically doesn't exist anymore. Time's just catching up with that fact. Great. Ignoring everything that was wrong during the previous episodes, I get that premise. But how does taking away Thawne's speed change any of that premise? They don't explain this at all, they just... say that it'll work, so it works. But regardless whether he keeps his speed or not, Thawne's timeline still got erased. Again, no sense.
Also, Flash's "Wizard of Oz" go-go boots that make him able to beat Despero all of a sudden. Hilariously bad.
Also, Mia Queen's completely pointless cameo, which basically was only there to tell the audience that, no, they totally didn't forget about the cliffhanger they ended Arrow on two years ago. The audience forgot about it, though, because no one cares about Mia friggin Queen. There's a reason her spin-off got canceled.
And I might be remembering this wrong, but did Cavanagh always have such puffy cheeks in his suit? It looked ridiculous. I swear that wasn't the case way back when.