The second part of the Flash-Arrow crossover, “Heroes Join Forces,” begins with a flashback to Ancient Egypt as Kendra Saunders (played by Ciara Renée) recalls her and Carter Hall’s (Falk Hentschel) past lives as Chay-Ara and Khufu, and how their eternal battle with Vandal Savage (played by Casper Crump) began. This is happening as the members of Team Arrow and Team Flash have taken the Hawks to a safe house out in the country to form a plan to defeat Savage and his Staff of Horus (my tip of the hat to the producers for acknowledging that we had already seen this move in Avengers: Age of Ultron).
In the middle of all this, Oliver takes time to visit the woman who may be the mother of his child, Samantha Clayton (played by Anna Hopkins). Samantha dismisses Oliver’s concern that her son, William (played by Jack Moore), is his, saying that his father was someone she met after moving to Central City. Ollie, a bit suspicious, gets a strand of William’s hair from his ball cap. Oliver hopes to have a DNA test run, but this will have to keep since Merlyn has set-up a meeting between the two of them, Barry (Grant Gustin) and Savage in the hopes of negotiating with the immortal. While racing to the meeting, Barry encounters a future version of himself (more on that later). At the meeting, Savage tells Ollie and Barry to turn over Kendra and Carter within 24 hours, or he will lay waste to Central City and then he’ll come for Star City.
After Ollie lays out the facts to the teams, Barry talks to Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and tells him that he saw his future self and he thinks he is going to time travel again. Meanwhile, Kendra is freaked out by what Savage will do to get to her and Carter. Carter begins to work with her, challenging her to hit him, finally enraging her enough to tap into her memories and her abilities.
Some new information comes to light as Diggle is able to unearth a forty year old video tape by Dr. Aldus Boardman (Peter Francis James) that discusses the threat that Savage poses and how, even in 1975, he was considered little more than an urban legend. The good doctor offers the theory that items tied to the calamity that empowered Savage could also prove his undoing. Kendra has a hunch that the Staff of Horus could stop Savage. Meanwhile Oliver gets Barry to do the DNA test. Barry confirms there is a match. Felicity finds Barry after Oliver leaves and realizes he is hiding something. She demands he show her the DNA test and she realizes right away what it and what it means.
Sure of the truth, Oliver goes to Samantha and confronts her about their child. Samantha comes clean, even showing him the million dollar check Oliver’s mother gave her to leave Starling City and tell Oliver she lost their baby. Oliver tells her that she wants to know his son. Samantha agrees, but on the condition that the boy not know Ollie is his father and that he not tell anyone about William
When Oliver returns to the farmhouse, he is confronted by Felicity, who is furious at him for keeping secrets again, especially one this huge. Things do not end well between them and it looks like it is over between the couple. Oliver, not thinking straight, goes through with the meeting with Savage. He plans to have Barry grab the staff using a pair of gauntlets that Cisco has come up with and to have Kendra’s emerged abilities be a surprise they can throw at Savage. He also orders his team to stay behind.
At the meeting with Savage, things go cock-up quickly. First, Kendra is unable to tap into her abilities. Without back-up, Ollie is taken out long enough for Carter and Kendra to both be killed by Savage, who absorbs their life forces. Barry seizes the Staff of Horus, but can’t control its power. Savage regains the staff and unleashes its full power, leveling Central City. Barry is able to outrun the destruction, but in doing so, time travels back to the moment just before arriving at the meeting Merlyn set-up.
Time begins again as Savage makes delivers his ultimatum again. After the meeting, Barry reveals to Oliver that he has time traveled and he tells him the plan doesn’t work. Barry tells Oliver that when they went up against Savage, the Battling Bowman’s head wasn’t in the game. When Ollie asks why, Barry asks if his friend is planning to give him a hair sample to check-out. Realizing he has to get this together, Oliver is determined to change this outcome. He begins by asking Cisco to talk to Kendra instead of Carter. When he does, Cisco tells her she needs to focus on the priestess, not the warrior part of her past. He tells her she knows she is good-hearted and that is where her power lies. Once Kendra listens to him, she remembers the moment when Savage gained his immortality from the meteors that fell on Egypt. Because of the flashback, she realizes the staff has pieces of the meteor, Nth Metal, embedded in it. With a sample of one of the meteor in hand, Cisco realizes he needs to coat the gauntlets with the Nth Metal to help counter the staff. Also, Ollie makes the call to let his team come along this time.
As the meeting with Savage unfolds a second time, Kendra is able to spring into action and Oliver has Diggle, Laurel and Thea for back-up. Along with the modified gauntlets, the heroes destroy Savage, turning him to dust. With the threat of Savage gone, Kendra and Carter decide to leave to seek out their destiny together, which means Cisco ends up without the girl. Before parting company, Barry warns Oliver not to not hide his son from Felicity, but he also tells him to go be a part of his son’s life. Taking his friend’s advice, Ollie reaches out to the boy and starts to get to know William better.
Just like Part One, the thing I liked most about Part Two of this crossover is the very thing that will be confusing to anyone who has not been watching both these shows regularly. Their continuities are so interwoven together, it is hard to tell where The Flash ends and Arrow begins at times. Again, fun for the hardcore fans, but it’s going to leave the newbies scratching their heads and wondering what is happening at times.
Also, while I have been eager for Arrow to go back and explore the idea that Oliver Queen has a son, this wasn’t the episode to do it in. The scenes with Oliver and Samantha are good, but there is an immortal villain out there who is hell-bent and determined to kill whoever he needs to get what he wants. Now is not the time to find out if Ollie is the daddy or not. Granted, the threat of Oliver losing his son in Savage’s onslaught on Central City is a heck of a motivation, but this plot point could have been introduced into this season sooner. On the plus side, it is cool to find out that the Green Arrow’s kid is a Flash fan. Nice touch, producers.
Even with this subplot wedged into the episode, there is still a lot to like. Having Barry time travel back to the past after the first meeting with Savage goes south is an outstanding scene and I’m glad to see this speed trick being used again. Speaking of the past, I have heard some fans complaining about the producers tying Vandal Savage’s and Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s origins together, but I can understand the need to streamline the origins for television. Given the fact that Savage has lived for centuries and the Hawks are always being re-incarnated, it makes sense to have had them cross paths previously. Also, just when I thought it was okay to believe Malcom Merlyn might be a half-way decent guy, we got one heck of a tag at the very end. It sees Merlyn gathering up the remains of Savage, promising, “Your hate will be everlasting. Your enmity will never die. It will follow them from this life into the next, and the next… and the next. You owe me one, buddy.”
To be continued, no doubt, with the first episode of Legends of Tomorrow.
Finally, after seeing this episode, I think I know whose grave was being alluded to in the first episode of the season. If I had to lay money on it, I don’t see Samantha being a recurring character past this season. That’s just a hunch. And with that prediction, this review is a wrap and this installment of the Flash-Arrow crossover event gets 4 stars.