Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 7

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “The Gift”

Channel: HBO

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Writers: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: May 24, 2015

This season of Game of Thrones is still moving more slowly than I would like. There are just too many story lines for every one of them to get a large amount of time. The plot is inching forward in incremental steps because of it. With that said things are finally coming to a head in most of the arcs, and the situations don't look good for anyone.

Jon headed out with the wildlings to find the rest of the free folk and bring them to safety south of the wall. Maester Aemon shuffled loose his mortal coil and now Sam has found himself short on friends and surrounded by people that don't like him much, due to his loyalty to Jon. Aside from veiled threats for First Ranger Thorne his first bit of trouble comes in the form of two brothers of the Night's Watch trying to force themselves on Gilly. The physical confrontation goes as poorly as you'd expect and the surprise reappearance of Ghost is the only thing that saves Sam and Gilly. When they're alone later on, with Gilly tending to his injuries, they have a moment. Now Sam is an oath breaker as well and we'll be left to find out if he's guilt ridden due to his honor or if his affection for Gilly will push him to do things he was previously incapable of.

Sansa tried to enlist Theon's aid in summoning help from her remaining friends in the North. Theon is still too afraid of Ramsay to act against him overtly and reported the request to Ramsay. Ramsay tracked down the old woman with whom Sansa had spoken before and flayed her. With the prospect of outside help seeming rather unlikely we might finally see Sansa take control of the situation herself. She did manage to sneak some sort of weapon while Ramsay was gloating. I'm really hoping that she'll take matters into her own hands before Stannis' army arrives. Speaking of Stannis, the weather has made his march on Winterfell nearly impossible at this point. Davos reported the loses they're suffering due to the inclement weather, causing Stannis to look to Melisandre for help. After some beating around the bush her solution was to sacrifice his daughter to fuel another killing spell. This was the first time we've really seen Stannis angry at Melinsandre, as this was a line he seems unwilling to cross. Over the last few weeks a fair amount of effort has gone into making Stannis a more likable character, but I fear that the moment we saw between he and his daughter was there to establish how major a sacrifice she would be to his cause. When push comes to shove what will be more important to him?

In Meereen, Jorah and Tyrion have finally reached their destination. Jorah saw Dany partaking of the 'entertainment' in the fighting pit and read her disdain for the killing on her face. He proceeded to take several men out of the fight without killing them and revealed himself to her. I feared that with loses she's been suffering she'd forgive and forget, but she immediately wanted him dragged away. Only Tyrion's quick appearance kept that from happening. How she reacts to having such a powerful captive from the Seven Kingdoms is anyone's guess, but at least now she's willing to hear them out.

Through most of the episode it seems like Ceresi's plans in King's Landing are going smoothly. Olenna is doing all she can to get her grandchildren out of their current predicament, but her conversation with the High Sparrow yielded no reason to be optimistic. Her meeting with Littlefinger was much more successful, as he promised her some information that would help her cause. Ceresi paid a visit to Margaery to gloat for a moment and then went to speak to the leader of the Faith. Her meeting with the High Sparrow started off promising, for her, with the holy man describing the next steps of the Faith's justice system. It took a turn though when he started talking about some of her own crimes. Lancel appeared to let us know exactly what was being discussed and then Ceresi was dragged away to a cell of her own. It's good to see the plan she was so proud of starting to blow up in her face.

The scenes in Dorne are still the weakest of the season so far. Aside from filling this episodes nudity quotient there's just not enough going on their to make me care. Myrcella doesn't want to leave and Jaime is powerless to make her. Bronn did have a bit of a bonding moment with the Sand Snakes, which could be interesting, but something really needs to happen in Dorne soon. For a setting that could have provided a real change of pace from the locales we've become accustomed to it's been lackluster so far.

Conclusion: “The Gift” represented another tiny step forward in this season's arc. There seems to be too many things going on for their to by much development from week to week. With that said the big positives coming out of the episode were Ceresi finally reaping what's she sowed and Tyrion coming face to face with Danaerys.

Rating: 8.25/10

Saturday is Haul Day 44!!

The big addition this week is The Witcher 3 from CD Projekt Red.  It's a massive open world RPG that promises to deliver well over 100 hours of gameplay.  I missed the second game of the franchise, but enjoyed the first one immensely and I'm excited to jump back into the boots of Geralt of Rivia.

I also came home with quite a few high quality comics this week:  Archie vs. Predator #2 of 4 by Alex de Campi, Fernando Ruiz, Rich Koslowski, and Jason Millet, Hexed #10 by Michael Alan Nelson, Dan Mora and Gabriel Cassata, The Kitchen #7 of 8 by Ollie Masters, Ming Doyle and Jordie Bellaire, Moon Knight #15 by Cullen Bunn, German Peralta, and Dan Brown, Star Wars #5 by Jason Aaron, John Cassaday, and Laura Martin, Trees #9 by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard, and Wytches #6 by Scott Snyder, Jock, Matt Hollingsworth, and Clem Robins.

The Flash: Season 1, Episode 23

The Flash

Episode Title: “Fast Enough”

Channel: CW

Director: Dermott Downs

Writers: Gabrielle Stanton and Andrew Kreisberg

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 43 min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: May 19, 2015

Go no further if you haven't watched The Flash's season finale, you have been warned.

First, a word on the entire season. The Flash's first season has been one of the most consistently good premiere seasons of any of the shows I've watched. Often it was more than good, with truly great moments sprinkled throughout the season. Sure, there were the occasional things to quibble over, but it's hard to imagine a better way to bring the Flash to the screen. With that said it's time to get into the season finale, “Fast Enough.”

One of the first things that struck me concerning this episode is the bucking of the trend when it comes to final showdowns between the hero and his nemesis. Eobard Thawne was captured last week, and was in no position to pose a physical threat when the episode opened. With Thawne neutralized the show was given more time to focus on the personal and emotional ramifications of Barry's plight. Given the opportunity to travel back in time and prevent his mother's murder Barry was presented with, what seemed at first, a dream scenario. If he successfully saved his mother he'd be able to live his life with his real parents. Nora would avoid her fate and his father, Henry, would actually have his freedom. What on the surface seemed like an easy decision was made much more difficult when Barry realized all of the consequences.

There was little time spent beating around the bush. Barry gathered his closest friends and family and laid out the options. The scenes leading to his decision were the most emotionally powerful we've seen so far in the series. Grant Gustin's chemistry was on full display with both of his onscreen fathers. Jesse L. Martin's scenes were heart wrenching. He realized that if Barry was successful the son he had raised as his own would cease to be, worse than that; the times they had spent together would be forever lost in the new time line. Despite his obvious sorrow at the possibility he encouraged Barry to save his mother and have the childhood he deserved. Barry's biological father, Henry, had an entirely different take on the situation. Overcome by pride in seeing what his son has become he counseled Barry to leave things as they are, believing that everything happens for a reason. John Wesley Shipp shined in his portrayal of a proud father, unwilling to change the worst night of his life if it meant changing the man his son had become.

Another great pseudo-father/son moment took place between Cisco and Thawne. Cisco told his former mentor about the memories he's retained from Barry's first jaunt through time. Thawne explained to Cisco that this was a sign that he was affected by the accelerator catastrophe and that he was some sort of metahuman too. It looks like we're not too far away from seeing Cisco Ramon's alter ego, Vibe. In this and every other scene he was in, Tom Cavanagh, continued his stellar work as a villain who has genuine love and affection for those he's been manipulating. Cavanagh deserves more recognition than he's likely to receive for his performance this season.

Victor Garber's character, Dr. Martin Stein, also made an appearance. With Wells no longer around to guide everyone through the scientific aspects of what they're attempting he filled in admirably. Aside from explaining the technological aspects of their plan he also shared a good moment with Eddie. Eddie was, understandably, feeling as if he had no place in the proceeding. After a pep talk from Stein he realized that because in the future he's an unknown he has the opportunity to make anything he wants of himself. He reconnected with Iris and it looked as though they were going to try to make it work, no matter what future Eobard had shown them.

If there was a weak spot in “Fast Enough” it was the way in which Caitlin's character was handled. The first irritating moment came when the possibility of a black hole was being discussed. She needed someone to tell her what a singularity was. It's hard to believe that someone has science savvy as Caitlin would be ignorant of that information. The line should definitely have been given to one of the less scientifically minded people in the room at the time. She really didn't have much to do this week, but with Stein's presence in the episode they also brought along Ronnie Raymond. He has changed his mind about staying with Caitlin in Central City and re-proposed to her. With all of the things going on around them they decided that this would be a good day for a wedding. I suppose the writers believed there was a need for something happy to happen in an episode that had been so tearful, but it felt unnecessary.

Barry and Eobard made a deal, Eobard would tell Barry how to travel back to the night of his mother's murder and Eobard would be allowed to return to his time. Of course there were going to be complications with the plan, the most dire of which was the possibility that the worm hole Barry was going to open would become a black hole and swallow the world. Barry made the decision to go back despite the danger, though he'd have less than two minutes to accomplish his goal before the worm hole destabilized into a black hole. He successfully made the trip, seeing some interesting possible time lines, notable among them one in which Caitlin becomes Killer Frost, on his way back. It looked like everything was going to plan until the moment came to intervene. Somehow the future Flash knew his past (Present? Time travel gets so confusing) self was in the next room and warned him away.

The look of pain on Gustin's face has he listened to his mother's murder in the next room conveyed perfectly to the audience that toll that decision took on him. After the deed was done he did go into the room to say goodbye to his mother, at least giving himself some closure. Back in STAR Labs, Eobard was preparing to go back to his time. Before he left a helmet came back through the worm hole and landed at his feet. It looks like we'll be seeing another Flash in the near future, one Jay Garrick, who is the first man to use the Flash moniker in the comics. The appearance of the helmet was enough to panic Eobard, who was mere feet from realizing his goal when Barry came bursting back through the portal. While the team struggled to shutdown the worm hole Eobard and Barry fought it out. Eobard got the upper hand, and in true comic villain fashion took time to gloat and threaten Barry's friends and family. A gun shot rang out, Eddie had made his decision regarding his future and shot himself in the chest. Because he's an ancestor of Eobard Thawne this caused Eobard to be erased from time. It was a great moment for Eddie, he became the hero he always wanted to be and made the impact on history that Eobard had told him he wouldn't make.

Unfortunately for team Flash things quickly got worse. The worm hole reopened and became a singularity. It was centered over STAR Labs and quickly devouring everything nearby. Barry decided to do what he could to stop the destruction of the city, possibly the world, by diving into the swirling accretion disc and using his speed to sap it of its power. Then the screen went black, fans left with a cliffhanger that seems much too removed from being resolved. Season two can't get here fast enough.

Conclusion: A stellar ending to a great first season. “Fast Enough” benefited from being able to forgo the villain showdown one would expect from the finale of a superhero show. Nearly all of the performances were their respective actors' best of the season, making it very hard to pick out a single standout. The lack of something important for Caitlin to do could be viewed as the episode's sole weakness.

Rating: 9/10

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 6

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”

Channel: HBO

Director: Jeremy Podeswa

Writer: Bryan Cogman

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: May 17, 2015

I'm going to get the big, uncomfortable thing out of the way to start things off. This week the audience got to see Sansa back home and preparing for her wedding. There was one moment while Myranda, Ramsay's former mistress, was doing her best to intimidate Sansa. Sansa was not to be deterred, and dismissed the woman in a fashion that seemed to say she was coming into her own. Theon escorted her to the godswood for her marriage ceremony and with little pomp or flare she and Ramsay were married. I knew things were going to be rough for Sansa in this situation, every other time she's been in a dire situation she's had someone there to act as a safety net. That is not the case in Winterfell at present. Ramsay ordered her to undress, forced Theon to watch, and then raped her. It was a tough scene to watch and one has to wonder if Littlefinger had any idea how bad things would become for Sansa when she became married to Ramsay. Theon's reaction had me believing more a moment that he might risk stopping things, but ultimately he was unwilling to intervene. All we can hope for now is that the indignity Sansa has suffered will be avenged, preferably by her own hand.

Arya is continuing her training to become a Faceless Man. Things aren't going smoothly for her, she can't let go of who she is/was and it makes the lies she tries to tell Jaquen as part of her training transparent. The best part about the scene in which she tries multiple times to sneak a lie past Jaquen, getting walloped by a switch the punishment for a discernible lie, was when she was forced to admit that she didn't hate the Hound. She'd been telling herself she did for so long the that her lack of hatred came as a surprise, even to herself. We then saw her first successful lie, as she ushered a sick little girl into the next life by having her drink from the fountain at the temple's center. This was enough to convince Jaquen that she was ready for the next step of the process. He revealed to her a chamber beneath the temple that houses thousands and thousands of faces, unveiling the secret of what happens to the dead after they're washed. To close out Arya's scenes, Jaquen tells her that she might not be ready to be nobody; but it is time for her to become someone else. After the slow progress that Arya's story has been making so far in season five it's good to see it finally going somewhere.

In King's Landing there's a lot of intrigue. Littlefinger was stopped on his way to a meeting with Ceresi by the Sparrows, but they let him pass. His meeting with Ceresi featured him telling her about Sansa's presence at Winterfell, and then volunteering to take an army northward to flush out the traitorous Boltons. Littlefinger's ability to play both sides against each other, ensuring that no matter the outcome of a battle at Winterfell, has left him in what seems like a good position. The same cannot be said of House Tyrell. First, the Queen of Thorns has returned to King's Landing. The verbal sparring between Olenna Tyrell and Ceresi was one of the better moments to occur in King's Landing this season. The audience also so the Faith's inquiry into Loras Tyrell and his, according to them, blasphemous behavior. The High Sparrow questioned by Loras and Margaery, who both lied in order to keep Loras from having a trial. Then the Sparrows ushered one of Loras' lovers into the chamber. The man was Loras' squire, with whom Loras had also been intimate with. The damning evidence was his knowledge of a birth mark on Loras' thigh. While the audience knows the truth this seemed a little to easy a way to prove his supposed crimes. As a squire wouldn't the witness have helped Loras dress and whatnot, it seems easy to argue that through the course of normal squiring that is knowledge that would have been easy to come by. Either way, the Sparrows hauled of Loras so that he might face a trial. Then, in a twist, they seized Margaery as well for bearing false witness. Tommen sat idly by and let his wife be escorted from the room, much to Ceresi's pleasure.

Jaime and Bronn eventually made their way to the Water Gardens and attempted to free Myrcella. Complications arose when Myrcella didn't wish to leave, and the Sand Snakes showed up. I'm all for some action to break up the intrigue, but this fight sequence was sorely lacking. The editing was strange and the action itself was awkward. Perhaps the oddest moment in the fight choreography was when Areo put his axe to Jaime's throat. I had expected the man safeguarding the ruler of Dorne to be quicker and more dangerous, his movement was so ponderous that his claim that were Jaime whole it would be quite a fight couldn't be taken seriously. Also, it is difficult to care about the Sand Snakes grievances. They're all forgettable, which is disappointing considering how much Oberyn Martell added to season four. Let's see there's the one with the whips, the one with the knives, and the one with the spear. Dorne has been a missed opportunity this season. Instead of offering a new setting, one with grand new things to see, we've been relegated to watching every Dornish scene take place in the same tiny section of the grounds.

The unlikeliest of of traveling companions, Jorah and Tyrion, had some quality time this week. They discussed their pasts and seemed to at least build a grudging respect for each other. Unfortunately for them they were accosted by slavers. Some quick thinking and humor on Tyrion's part kept them both alive for the time being. They've still been captured and now Jorah is bound for the newly reopened fighting pits. No matter who is in charge of Tyrion's travel arrangements it is inevitable that he'll end up before Daenerys.

Conclusion: Some of the story lines that had up to this point been boring are starting to come around. Arya's story in particular finally seems to have some direction. While I suppose Sansa's fate on her wedding night isn't a surprise given what we know about Ramsay it was still hard to watch. Ceresi might have maneuvered the Tyrells into a comprising situation, but it seems she's forgetting what the Faith's opinion on some of her past transgressions might entail.

Rating: 8/10

Saturday is Haul Day 43!!

It's been another light week as far as interesting releases go, but that's sure to change soon.  For the time being, here are the comics I picked up this week:

Angel: Asgard's Assassin #6 by Kieron Gillen, Marguerite Bennett, Phil Jimenez, Darth Vader #5 by Keiron Gillen, Salvador Larroca, and Edgar Delgado, Lady Killer #5 by Joelle Jones and Jamie S. Rich, Sage #28 by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan, and Thor #8 by Jason Aaron, Russel Dauterman and Matthew Wilson.

Arrow: Season 3, Episode 23

Arrow

Episode Title: “My Name is Oliver Queen”

Channel: CW

Director: John Behring

Writers: Marc Guggenheim and Jake Coburn

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 42 min

Rated: TV-14

Original Air Date: May 13, 2015

It's no secret that season three of Arrow has fallen short of the promise the show presented the audience in season two. Much of the season felt aimless, with the main villain appearing halfway through the season following a mostly pointless investigation into the murder of Sara. Although there were flashes of the quality we had become accustomed to it didn't feel like the show had the same fire. Now we're wrapping up the season with an episode that served to remind everyone of all the good and the bad we've seen so far.

I'm going to start off with the flashbacks. They have been lackluster all season, with nearly every one of them revolving around the capture of one fluid filled tube or another. After last week, with Akio dead and the ruin of the Yamashiros' marriage coming to light, it was hard to imagine what the point of this week's flashbacks would be. Oliver, Maseo, and Tatsu skirmished with General Shrieve's men and captured the general. They then left to have Akio's body cremated and Tatsu distributed the ashes in three urns to each of them. Oliver returned to Shrieve and tortured him, fully embracing the darkness that Amanda Waller had seen in him. He left Shrieve on death's door, and Maseo put the general out of his misery. Then, during the good bye sequence, Maseo fled his responsibilities as a husband. Tatsu decided to go to a monastery near her childhood home. Oliver made reference to keeping the darkness he had found in himself away from his family in Starling City, leaving us to believe that he intends to return to Lian Yu. There were no big reveals here, we already knew where these characters would end up. This season's flashbacks could have been condensed into half of the number of episodes they were featured in.

In present day, Oliver and Ra's were riding in an airplane towards Starling City. The plan began to experience malfunctions and Oliver revealed that it was all a sham to Ra's. Ollie then tossed a blade to Nyssa and they went on to take out the League men. Ra's was one step ahead of them though, grabbed the plane's only parachute and jumped out with the Alpha/Omega bioweapon. Luckily for Oliver and Nyssa, Oliver is apparently capable of emergency landing a cargo plane. They then set out to stop Ra's before he can release the weapon on the unsuspecting citizens of Starling City.

Back at Nanda Parbat we learn the fate of team Arrow. It wasn't some sort of knock out gas in the tube that the team was exposed to. It was the actual virus, luckily Merlyn had someone synthesize a vaccine. He administered it to the team through skin contact. That does leave the question though, how did the team know to fall unconscious to keep the ruse alive? Does the vaccine make the Alpha/Omega a relatively harmless sleeping gas? Whatever the explanation the team is still stuck in the dungeon. Until the Flash shows up to take out all the guards and release the team from captivity. This served to highlight one of the complications in a shared universe. The Flash has time for a quick jail break, but doesn't have the time to help Oliver end the threat to a major metropolis? It probably would have been better if the Flash had been left out of the episode altogether, at least then those type of question would have remained in the viewers' subconscious. As it was presented you couldn't help but wonder why Barry couldn't take a half hour to save the day.

The team got back to Starling City with no problems. (Where is Nanda Parbat anyway? You have to take a plane from there to Starling City, but if team Arrow took their plane how long did Ra's wait to put his plan into motion?) Merlyn started giving everyone on the team orders that they reluctantly followed and then Oliver showed up. Felicity, after some initial anger, seemed ready to forgive Oliver for the deception he had put them all through. Diggle was not as agreeable. He agreed to help only to save innocent civilians, his relationship with Oliver is very much a question mark now. After come computer based voodoo Felicity managed to track down the four places Ra's was preparing to release the virus. There was a tiny side-excursion by Oliver to a man named Damian Darhk, who is Ra's nemesis and a threat to the Demon Head's right to rule the League of Assassins. This bit was only filler, and a way to keep that name in the forefront of the audience's minds, presumably because Darhk will be a major player in season four. Another side-arc revolved around Laurel's attempt to get her father to help them track down the virus. Lance is drinking again, but that really could have waited until next season before coming to light

The team goes out to stop the bioweapon's release and discovers that Ra's plan was to infect four of his men and then have them spill their own blood to release the contagion. One of the walking virus bombs managed to complete his task after being shot by Thea, who is now gallivanting about in Roy's old costume. The birth of Speedy! A League member approached Oliver and invited him to watch Starling City at Ra's' side. Just like that it was time for the final showdown. This particular fight lacked the sense of dread that their previous encounter and been steeped in. While they were fighting Lance appeared at a post manned by some of the police force, who were being ordered to take out Ra's and Oliver. Before they could carry out their orders, Oliver beat Ra's, and in a poignant moment recited the same prayer Ra's has used upon vanquishing a foe.

Ray Palmer was busy during all of this, trying to figure out a way to stop the Alpha/Omega. While he and Felicity were brainstorming ideas they received a call from Captain Lance, sharing with them the amount of danger Oliver was in. Felicity implored Ray to don the ATOM suit and save Oliver, but he was having none of it; weighing Oliver's life against the thousands that could die if he didn't finish his work. When Oliver was shot he fell over the side of the Starling City Dam, but was saved from being splattered below by the ATOM. The television version of the ATOM's transformation into a discount Iron Man is now complete, after Oliver finds out that his savior is none other than Pepper Pots...I mean Felicity.

In the falling action a lot of story lines were set up for season four. Oliver and Felicity are going to run away together, with Oliver maintaining only his real identity. Before they left Oliver gave everyone a pep talk, telling them how certain he was that the rest of the team would manage well in his absence. He welcomed Thea into the fold and asked Diggle to keep fighting the good fight. Diggle is still not 100% on board, but if he continues his career as a vigilante Oliver suggested he find a way to obscure his identity. In the one big shocker of the finale Oliver is forced to pay the price for Malcolm Merlyn's help, that little bit of finger jewelry that serves as Ra's al Ghul's symbol of office is now in Merlyn's possession. This gives him control of the League, but Oliver reminded him that there were stipulations concerning how the League was to be run. I'm sure Merlyn will hold to his agreement for as short a time as possible. I hope that next season we see Merlyn OR Darhk as the villain, in my eyes both would be too much. The episode closed with Oliver and Felicity driving off to happier times, with Oliver admitting that he was finally happy. The ending was completely different from the finales of the previous two seasons, giving it a strange feel. It is as if the ending was thrown together in preparation for the show being canceled, finally giving Oliver a chance at a real life. Since there's not much of a show without Oliver Queen doing his thing it seems like a safe bet that something is going to ruin his happily ever after before the first commercial break of next season's premiere.

Conclusion: A happy ending to the season was not what I was expecting. On the whole “My Name is Oliver Queen” encapsulated much of what didn't work in season three. Although it had its positive moments, large chunks of the story simply fell flat. The evolution of Thea into masked crime fighter and Merlyn's new position were the best things to come out of the episode.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Flash: Season 1, Episode 22

The Flash

Episode Title: “Rogue Air”

Channel: CW

Director: Doug Aarniokoski

Writers: Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 43 min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: May 12, 2015

There was an unbelievable number of things going on in “Rogue Air.” The final stages of Eobard Thawne's plan are begin set into motion and he's comfortable enough to monologue to Eddie for a bit on loss, and what one would do to get back the things he's lost. Cisco discovered that there was a power source in Wells' wheelchair that was generating an insane amount of power, enough to energize the entire city. He theorized that Eobard was somehow using it to power himself, how that would work wasn't touched on and the idea seemed a bit too convenient a way to explain Eobard's superior speed. The team realized that Eobard was still in STAR Labs somewhere, but when they went to the pipeline to investigation he escaped and freed Shawna Baez, aka Peek-a-Boo. She briefly wreaked havoc and was threatening to kill Caitlin when Iris knocked her out. She was placed back in her cell, and Joe heard yelling coming from inside the particle accelerator. They rescued Eddie from Eobard's hiding place, Iris finding the engagement ring in the process.

After discussing with Eddie his time in captivity the team discovered that Eobard was powering up the accelerator for some nefarious purpose. With no way to stop it Barry decided they needed to move the metahumans out of their makeshift prison in order to save their lives. Barry decided that Lian Yu, the home of ARGUS's prison for exceptional inmates, and Oliver Queen's dumping ground for the worst of the worst, is the best place for the metahumans. Calls for help to Oliver, Robbie, and Dr. Stein (both halves of Firestorm) go unanswered, but through Diggle he's able to set everything up. Joe was not a fan of moving the criminals from one unlawful prison to another, but was convinced to try to help. His plea for help from Central City's D.A. fell on deaf ears, with her reiterating what that kind of imprisonment is in the eyes of the law. It is an interesting moral argument, but felt a bit misplaced in this particular episode. The moral questions surrounding the pipeline seem like something to tackle during the middle of season two, not something you distract from the upcoming season finale by mentioning them.

Barry, seemingly out of options, resorted to the lesser of known evils to get the job done. He met with Captain Cold to secure his help in the transportation. After some haggling Barry agreed to erase all evidence of Leonard Snart's existence and Snart agreed to help Barry. He brought his sister along, and the scenes between her and Cisco served as the infrequent comic relief in the episode. Luckily they left Heatwave at home, he must not play well with others, which was good. Dominic Purcell plays the character too cornily to fit into a situation as serious as the end of this season. Cisco figured out a way to rig the power supply he found on Wells' wheelchair to subdue their metahuman captives' powers while they were in transit. Leaving one to wonder why exactly Barry needed Snart's help. The transport goes smoothly until they arrive at the airport. ARGUS's plane was late, and suddenly the dampening field Cisco had rigged was failing. The metahumans escaped, Snart admitted to sabotaging the device, and now four of the Flash's dangerous foes are free.

I know that this conflict was set up to do two things. First to pose the moral questions asked by various characters during the season. Joe's insistence that Barry was too unlike Oliver Queen to use villains to his own ends, which seemed like an odd thing to say because I can't remember the Arrow doing anything like that. They did use Barry's desire to save the metahumans to highlight the way in which Barry is different, heroically, from Oliver; but it would have easier to show how Barry was different from Oliver by focusing on the possibility that Oliver might have just left them all to die. The second reason of course was to get some established villains back into the world and ready to cause trouble for season two, setting up the Flash's Rogues Gallery with Captain Cold at its head. I just wish that instead of dragging Snart along in a situation he wasn't needed hadn't been the way this was accomplished. Wells could have just released them all to distract Barry from whatever his motivation was in reactivating the particle accelerator.

Barry and company returned to STAR Labs to lick their wounds, with Joe provided a brief “I told you so,” moment. Then alarms began to go off as the accelerator reached operational status. Like clockwork Wells appeared outside ready to do battle. Barry went out to face him, but he wasn't alone. The Arrow and Firestorm showed up in the nick of time, prepared for the showdown. The battle between the two sides was brief, but action packed. The best part about this scene was that the man without powers, Oliver Queen, was most effective in the fight. With the help of some nanites provided by Ray Palmer, Oliver twice managed to incapacitate Eobard. The first time Eobard recovered after trading blows with the Arrow. The second time took all three of them; the Flash got him isolated, Firestorm roasted him, and once Eobard had hit the ground Oliver pumped him full of more nanites. The show ended with Barry standing over his vanquished foe.

These crossovers have a flaw. While Oliver is dealing with his trouble in Nanda Parbat he had time to jet over to Central City and bail Barry out? There must be a direct shuttle service between Central City, Starling City, and Nanda Parbat. Just slide your Metro card and you'll arrive at your destination in an hour or less, or your next ride is free! The crossovers are always exciting and I really enjoy seeing the other heroes guest starring, but some serious effort should be made to have these events feel more organic. The other issue I had with the ending is that it seems obvious that Eobard intended to be caught. He has activated the accelerator for some unknown purpose but has limited access to it while Barry is hunting him. His best chance of getting close to it will a occur when Team Flash tries to take him into custody. I'm really hoping for Cisco, the resident movie buff, to mention something to this affect early in next week's episode.

Conclusion: The moral questions raised in “Rogue Air” seemed out of place this close to the season finale. At this point I want more of a focus on Eobard and his endgame. Barry got burned by trusting Leonard Snart in a moment that he should have seen coming. Snart's presence was not necessary to the final plan, so he was there only to teach Barry a lesson. The superhero team-up was a lot of fun, even if it was a little short, but more effort needs to be made to make the guest appearances of other heroes feel more natural. The quick shout out to Green Lantern, the test pilot that went missing from Ferris Airfield, was a good way to remind the viewers that this is all part of a much larger picture, even if our chances of seeing Hal Jordan or another Lantern in action on the small screen are pretty low.

Rating: 7.5/10