The life of a superhero gets pretty strange. You deal with a lot of things the “normal” population never even have to think about. Barry deals with a lot of elements of the strange and wonderful on what’s supposed to be a happy day. There are surprise guests, both welcome and unwelcome, in The Flash’s “It’s My Party and I’ll Die if I Want To.” I am a bit disappointed that, with the title, the song it hints at is never even referred to.
I’m usually very careful about spoilers. This review is going to have some, but considering the episode is several years old, I think that’s allowable. If you haven’t seen it and really, really don’t want spoilers, skip this review. We’ll both be happier.
Usually, when you hear something like, “He’s turning 30 again,” it’s someone in denial about their age. In this case, at least according to Chester, it’s apparently true, as some of Barry’s recent adventures have rejuvenated his cells, and he is, temporarily at least, aging backwards. The team puts together a surprise birthday party for Barry, and guests include Singh, Kramer, Wally, and even Diggle, in from wherever they have him roaming to these days. I guess either time or budget issues prevented Supergirl, any of the Legends, or Cisco (who I still miss) from making it. Diggle has brought something special for Barry: Oliver’s bow, lost during the Crisis, which ARGUS apparently found in National City. Barry, clearly touched, says he’ll hang the bow in the Hall. That Hall of Justice was one of many things that never got enough follow up in the Arrowverse. It was a great idea, and I love that there were hints of adventures of that version of the Justice League, we just never got to see them. I guess that’s a fanfic waiting to happen.
As Barry and Diggle reminisce about Oliver, and how hard it was to not even get a chance to say goodbye for Diggle, Wally checks on Iris. Iris is having a few understandable but really not enjoyable pregnancy related problems. Chester and Allegra get a moment or two together which I appreciate in theory but the scene is weird to me. Chester gives Allegra a present at someone else’s party, which she wouldn’t need if she’d wear a damn mask while trying to be a superhero. I’ll take self-created problems for $400, Alex. Wally also talks with Barry about some problems Wally is having with his journey to enlightenment. The party moves on to karaoke and a toast, and then everyone starts passing out except our resident speedsters. This is, of course, the lead up to the first uninvited guest: Bloodwork.
Bloodwork, played wonderfully by Sendhil Ramamurthy, is smug and annoying and starts going into villain monologue mode almost as soon as he appears. While Barry has some problems to deal with, Chester’s lifestyle puts him in a unique spot. Bloodwork turns the rest of the team against Chester, putting the team’s tech genius in his own version of a horror movie. Barry finds himself in a void, dealing with Bloodwork’s weird visions of the future. Barry argues with Bloodwork, who says he has a different target in mind, and we see Wally put through a really grim trip down memory lane.
Remember what I said earlier about superheroes having to deal with weird situations? Heroes being tempted isn’t really new, but Bloodwork has some knowledge he definitely shouldn’t, and is doing his best to taunt Wally with a really different spin on a lost girlfriend. It’s a nice callback to a character we haven’t seen in a few years. The villain is also trying to draw Wally to the dark side by playing the “No one understands you except me” card, which works a disturbing amount of the time. On the run and alone, Chester is doing his best to stay ahead of his friends, now Bloodwork’s minions.
Barry, admirably, is trying to stand up for Wally, but Bloodwork seems to be a step ahead at every turn. Bloodwork has dropped Barry into a really ugly parody of a kids’ tv show, and is taunting Barry with some of the losses he’s endured since becoming the Flash. Unfortunately, Bloodwork’s source of knowledge, whatever it is, is impressively accurate, and enough to get Wally heading down a dark path. The two heroes clash, and Barry, of course, isn’t really fighting back, which puts him at a disadvantage. Things get ugly, and then Barry suddenly finds himself someplace else.
Impossibly, he seems to be on Lian Yu, the island that was such a big part of Oliver Queen’s origin in the Arrowverse, really, the place the Arrowverse started. Even more impossibly, Oliver himself is there, and echoing one of his more amusing lines from one of their past teamups. Barry is stunned to be reunited with his friend, and has a lot of questions. He gets answers to some of them, and this is the point when, post-Crisis, Barry finds out that there’s a new multiverse, where Stargirl, the Titans, the Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing are, and presumably, the various other DC worlds. Oliver explains a bit about how this happened, and also fills Barry in on some details about Red Death. For a fan of the Arrowverse since it started, this was a great scene, and I loved seeing Barry and Oliver together again.
Khione arrived to the party late and so was spared being taken over by Bloodwork. She manages to get in and find Chester, giving the poor man some much needed backup of the superpowered variety. Off in their own little world, Ramsey/Bloodwork keeps dragging Wally further into the darkness, and the combination of Ramsey’s influence and Wally’s powers are beginning to mean bad things for not just the world, but the multiverse. All of this leads to a great team up moment, as, after talking some things out, Barry returns to the world, as does Oliver (with reduced powers) so one last time, we get to see the Flash and Green Arrow, fighting side by side.
As Flash and GA battle on, Khione and Chester begin freeing the ones under Bloodwork’s influence. Poor Diggle. He never did handle the superpowered/weird end of the masked life well, but do we get to see him as Spartan again. Flash and Kid Flash race through the city, with Barry doing his best to reach Wally through Ramsey’s mindfog. Spartan is stunned to see Green Arrow back, and, between them, the heroes manage to get all the pieces in place to defeat Bloodwoor, and Oliver gets one more shot at his trademark line.
The heroes win, the bad guy even gets something good out of the deal (although he doesn’t like it) and there’s time for a bit of talk among old friends before they have to go their separate ways. Oliver explains as much about as he can about his odd situation, and he and Diggle get their good bye. Oliver also tries to explain the weirdness we saw with Diggle over several different shows worth of crossover. I will say this: from everything I read, John Diggle was supposed to become Green Lantern, and DC nixed the idea because of an upcoming project, more of the stupid conflict DC editorial created between the tv shows and movies. This episode aired quite a while ago as of this writing, and we STILL don’t have a live action John Stewart, so this great plot with Diggle was shut down for no reason. Thanks, guys.
Barry and Oliver get a final goodbye in a bar; two old friends sharing a drink. It’s a nice little scene. There’s an in joke about how many times each has saved their city (roughly corresponding to the number of episodes for Arrow and Flash), and then Oliver resumes the mantle of the Spectre and disappears. Barry even gets stuck with the bar tab because, as Oliver observes, you can’t take it with you. Coming near the end of both the Flash series and the Arrowverse shared universe, this was really well done. A nice tribute to a great character friendship.
What I Liked: While I really liked him as Mohinder on Heroes, Sendhil Ramamurthy does play a great villain. It was good to see Wally and Diggle back, and for Kid-Flash and Spartan to get one last ride before the show ends. And I really, really enjoyed seeing Ollie and Barry team up again. They are this world’s version of Batman and Superman in a lot of ways, and it was a nice nod to so many “World’s Finest” moments. I also liked that Diggle got a proper farewell to his friend, boss, partner, and mentor. It was good that Chester got a few moments to shine.
What I Didn’t: I’m still annoyed at what they did with Diggle and the Green Lantern ring, and this really pathetic attempt to explain it away just smacked of desperation to wrap up a loose end that no one enjoyed. It would have been really great for them to at least mention Cisco, who was such an important part of things for so long. Also, Joe not being here was just a weak plot choice.
Even with the things I didn’t like above, this was a great episode. I’ll give this a 4 out of 5. The end is almost here.
