The first part of the Arrow and The Flash crossover kicks off in the latter tonight, with part two following tomorrow. This is something fans have been looking for ever since Barry Allen came to Starling City in season two of Arrow, and in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, producer Andrew Kreisberg had plenty to say about why fans should be excited for the two-parter. First off, he actually shed some light on the latest metahuman we'll meet in The Flash, Roy G. Bivolo (better known to comic book fans as Rainbow Raider or Chroma). "A mysterious man who kills someone with a boomerang is what brings them to Central City," reveals Kreisberg, "but they then get caught up with Barry’s latest metahuman investigation of Roy G. Bivolo, who is robbing banks by inducing uncontrollable rage in the patrons of the bank. At first, Oliver is not too keen on helping Barry with his investigation, but pretty soon he and Felicity and Dig get swept up in it."
Reverse-Flash is set to finally going to make his presence felt in the upcoming midseason finale of The Flash, and while that episode won't reveal his identity, one popular theory is that Detective Eddie Thawne is beneath the mask. Could tonight's episode give us a better idea of his possibly sinister motivations? "The best special episodes—especially when you think back to “Once More, with Feeling” on Buffy—are not just gimmicks, they also really enhance the plot and the character arcs. This episode really does that, especially where Eddie is concerned. It all comes out in this episode that Iris has started a correspondence with The Flash that has turned into them meeting together, which is not something that Eddie approves of. The events of this episode, both the Arrow showing up and The Flash getting whammied, only increase Eddie’s desire to see The Flash unmasked and brought down." Of course, a lot of Eddie's behaviour doesn't really match that of Reverse-Flash (unless he's just doing a great job of staying undercover), but he's still clearly not all that happy with The Flash making his precence felt in Central City as a superhero/vigilante.
He's not the only one not a fan of vigilantes as it turns out, because Dr. Harrison Wells - another Reverse-Flash suspect - isn't too keen on The Arrow paying Barry Allen a visit in tonight's episode either. "What’s interesting in this episode is that Joe and Wells, who normally have a tension between them, are actually in complete agreement that the Arrow is bad news and should leave town as soon as possible. So much of these two episodes are really examining the very different kinds of heroes that Barry and Oliver have become. Joe and Wells share this view that the Arrow is dangerous and unstable and not the kind of hero that Barry should be emulating. What’s interesting about these episodes is that they’re both validated in some ways, but Oliver actually really learns something through the course of these episodes. He grows from them, too, so it’s really special that these shows can speak to each other in that way. As much as we’ve seen so far in the series that Oliver’s had a tremendous impact on Barry’s life, we’re also seeing that Barry has had an impact on Oliver’s life as well." Are you looking forward to the crossover?