Looks like Kendra might be getting memories of her original life back, though she denies it to Carter. Team Arrow and Team Flash are holing up in a farmhouse outside the city, trying to make it harder for Savage to track then down. The brainy types are going to work on a gauntlet to neutralize the staff, while others are going to work on other leads and Carter says he’ll train Kendra.
As for Oliver, he has something “he needs to run down.” That makes the love of his life, Felicity Smoak, naturally suspicious, but he promises to explain when he knows more.
Kendra wants to talk to Cisco, but he says maybe not talking is the way to go. He’s also not welcome as Carter reveals a crate full of gear that he says they need to track down in every life. It contains Kendra’s Hawkgirl costume and weapons, of course. She still insists she’s not ready despite his insistence that her skills, languages and other knowledge will come back to her, also saying that if she can’t remember who she ways, they will probably both die — again.
Longtime Arrow watchers will know that Oliver wants to talk to Samantha, the ex-girlfriend he got pregnant and his mom paid off to say she lost the baby. She claims the boy, William, isn’t his son, but he manages to snag a hair from a hat the boy drops on the ground. I sense a Maury moment coming at some point. Malcolm Merlyn calls, surprising Ollie with the news that he’s set up a meeting between the two of them, Savage and the Flash. Barry Allen is already speeding his way over, but as he runs, he passes himself. That can’t be good.
When the meeting goes down, we see again that arrows aren’t going to stop Savage. He gives the heroes 24 hours to turn over the Hawks, or he promises to destroy the loved ones of both heroes. That includes Thea Queen, Malcolm’s daughter, meaning he’s none too pleased when Oliver says he’s not going along with it.
Back at the farmhouse, Oliver says they need a plan. Kendra gets upset at the thought of putting so many lives at risk of her own and storms out. Barry takes Cisco aside and reveals that he “ghosted,” meaning he’s going to travel back in time sometime soon. Headaches commence as they discuss the possibilities.
Carter follows Kendra and they discuss the nature of heroism. He gives her an impromptu training session, and tapping into her rage finally seems to unleash some of her true potential. Will it be enough?
We’ll have to wait and see, because the others have uncovered a VHS tape from 40 years ago with some interesting info: a professor at St. Roch University knew about Savage and claimed to know how he might be stopped. Specifically, he thinks an item connected to the great calamity that gave Savage his power can also defeat him. Maybe that means the Staff of Horus.
Turns out Ollie grabbed that hair to have Barry run a paternity test. It’s not a “Billy Jean” situation, because the kid is his son. Felicity happens by a moment later and “persuades” Barry to show her the results, and she’s smart enough to know what they mean.
Oliver has already left to confront Samantha, who reveals that she never cashed the check (for a million dollars!) from Moira. She insists that William be left out of Ollie’s orbit, and despite his reluctance, she makes it clear that he can’t tell anyone the truth. Even Felicity.
That pledge gets put to the test right away, with Oliver lying to Felicity and her throwing the truth right back in his face. His only defense is that the truth is complicated, but she feels it’s that he just doesn’t trust her. Barry sees it all go down, suspecting it was bad even after Ollie insists he’s fine.
He tries to hide his feelings by going into order-giving mode. With Cisco assuring him the gauntlets work, Oliver says that Hawkgirl can be their ace in the hole since Savage doesn’t know she’s recovered her powers. Speedy, Black Canary and Diggle ask for their roles, but Green Arrow tells them to stay behind.
The meeting goes down, with Savage pleased the heroes have decided to hand the Hawks over. And it does seem jealousy is part of his motive, as he expresses unrequited love for Kendra/Shayera. The heroes attack at the last second, with Green Arrow disarming the villain. Unfortunately, Kendra freezes in a critical moment, allowing Savage to kill both her and Carter. Flash and Green Arrow grab the staff and try to use it on Savage, though it appears to be draining the lives from both of them. Oliver tells Barry to run, and he does — just before Savage regains the staff and incinerates Green Arrow and the entire city. Oh man. Flash runs fast enough to see himself running, traveling back in time to the night of the first meeting.
Once that’s done (again!), Flash takes Green Arrow aside and tells him the truth about his time travel. They argue about the proper course of action, and Barry thinks the problem is that Ollie wasn’t himself due to his fight with Felicity. He vows to do things differently, time-changing backlash be damned.
That begins at the farmhouse, where Oliver tells Cisco that the gauntlets don’t work correctly and that he needs to be the one who gets through to Kendra. You know, since he loves her. Cisco then interrupts Kendra’s training with Carter to give his opinion that maybe she needs to focus on the priestess part of her past lives instead of the warrior. She closes her eyes, and …
She’s back in Egypt, waking up with Khufu. Savage tells the couple that clergy and royalty can’t have relations and that the penalty is death. A fight ensues, but all that leads to is Savage killing both of them before “sky rocks” come from the sky. Those would be meteors, and as Shayera prays to Horus to protect her and Khufu before they die, we see pieces of the meteors glowing.
Armed with this new knowledge — and surprising even Carter — Kendra tells the rest of the group that the metal from the meteors might be able to defeat Savage. Barry grabs some from a museum in Keystone City so that Cisco can coat the gauntlets with it. Oliver makes his big strategic change by telling the rest of Team Arrow to suit up this time.
Before the confrontation, Flash and Green Arrow briefly discuss if changing history can possibly go worse this time. I’d submit that it can’t, at least in the short term. The second fight goes better thanks to a more confident Hawkgirl and the presence of Team Arrow. Flash and Green Arrow grab the staff with the gauntlets, and together, they use it to blast Savage into dust. No sweat, right?
What will the Hawks do now? Help people in St. Roch (comic reference!), it seems. That fact isn’t easy for Cisco, who gives Kendra a small item made of the nth metal (and another!) with a GPS tracker embedded in it. One last kiss seems fair for that.
Barry and Oliver have an awkward talk about whether he should tell Felicity the truth. The Fastest Man Alive does think Oliver shoud be part of William’s life, and he seems to agree, going to Samantha’s house and agreeing not to tell Felicity if he can see the boy. She makes him promise to say she’s a friend of her mom, and Oliver and William bond over Flash and Captain Cold action figures.
Back at their still-trashed loft in Star City, Felicity gives Ollie a nice speech about wanting to be the best teammate she can be in their relationship. Despite that, he lies and says what was bothering him in Central City is behind him now. Yet our last look at her eyes says she might not completely believe him.
The final scene shows Merlyn scooping up some of Savage’s dust, performing an incantation of some sort and saying, “You owe me one, buddy,” insinuating that his earlier assertion that he knew nothing about the immortal was also a lie.
Burning Questions:
Merlyn just restored Savage to life, didn’t he?And Vandal taking over the whole world in the future is the bad side effect of Flash changing the timestream, isn’t it?Will Arrow fans be mad at Barry if his time trip ruins #Olicity, even if it’s better for them to be alive and not together than, you know, dead?
Final Thought: A slam-bang conclusion to the two-part crossover, complete with great elements from both The Flash (time travel) and Arrow (the importance of #Olicity and Team Arrow). Yes, it was a set-up for Legends of Tomorrow, making the “victory” over Savage somewhat hollow, but that’s the way it goes. And there was enough with Oliver’s son and Merlyn that it worked well just on the Arrow front. Well done.