Things kick off with the appearance of a new metahuman, Roy G. Bivolo, who comic book readers may recognize as the D-list supervillain, Rainbow Raider. Bivolo has the power to instill his onlookers with uncontrollable rage with just a red glimmer of his eyes, which the S.T.A.R. Labs team dub the “Whammy” effect.
Oliver, John Diggle, and Felicity Smoak happen to be in town on a mission to investigate a mysterious boomerang found in Star City (which will come back around, no pun intended, when Captain Boomerang shows up in tomorrow’s Arrow episode), and reluctantly agree to help Barry stop Bivolo.
The reason for their arrival in Central City is believable enough, and it actually leads to some pretty interesting character development on Barry’s part. He may already be the costumed hero known as the Flash, but hasn’t yet perfected his skills and often puts himself, and those he’s trying to save, in danger. Barry’s become a bit cocky now that he has superpowers, and underestimates the need to – metaphorically speaking – slow down and take his time instead of rush into things and haphazardly save the day.
Oliver tries to hammer this point across in a surprise training session, first berating Barry for not scoping out his crime scenes before jumping into the action, and then demonstrating that point by cleverly tricking him. Oliver tells Barry to run at him while he shoots an arrow, promising that he’ll hit him. Barry, of course, catches the arrow, but because he didn’t survey the scene, he missed the two crossbows Oliver set up, which immediately shoot him in the back.
At first, Oliver seems harsh and condescending toward Barry. But, you have to remember that he’s been doing this a long time, and he brings that up during the session. Barry has been running around as The Flash for just a few months, while Oliver has been the Arrow for eight years (five on the island, three in Star City). He has a considerable amount of experience under his belt and has lost a lot along the way. He’s learned a lot, too, as evidenced by his more heroic antics, and is simply trying to save Barry the trouble of going through the same hardships.
Unfortunately, Barry doesn’t have much time to heed Oliver’s warnings; he soon ignores Oliver’s advice and goes after Bivolo himself, which of course gets him infected with “Whammy.” It doesn’t affect him the same way it does a normal citizen, though. Instead, the effect is more subtle and emotional.
Barry seems to lose his inhibitions and lets his bottled-up emotions come bubbling to the surface. He’s mean to Caitlin and Felicity, yells at both his police chief and Joe West, and attacks Eddie (who’s driving around with Iris) in a jealous rage. It reminded me a lot of the effect that Red Kryptonite had on Clark Kent in Smallville. Most importantly, however, it gave Barry and Oliver a reason to duke it out.
The Arrow shows up to save Eddie and faces off with Barry. The two engage in a well-choreographed, exciting fight, and both use their various abilities to their fullest. Oliver may not have superpowers, but he’s got a few trick arrows up his sleeve and holds his own against Barry for quite some time. Barry effectively uses his super speed against him (one great moment comes when Barry literally vibrates a dose of horse tranquilizer out of his body in a matter of seconds), and even almost kills Oliver in the process by dropping him off the side of a building. Luckily, Oliver’s grappling-hook arrow comes in handy, but it’s a pretty close call that shows just how damaging the Whammy effect is to Barry.
What could have been a contrived fist fight came off as a fun, adrenaline-fueled showdown that felt like it was taken right out of the pages of a DC Comic. Barry uses his powers to land a flurry of blows against Oliver, but the archer gets a few hits in nonetheless with some clever fighting of his own. In a way, the fight proves Oliver’s point and shows that even with his powers, Barry isn’t untouchable.
