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"Just focus for just a second and take this seriously, because the world thinks that you're Oliver Queen and I'm Barry Allen, and I would really like to know why! Is that cool?"
Oliver Queen to Barry Allen

"Elseworlds, Part 1" is the ninth and midseason finale episode of the fifth season of The Flash, and the one-hundred-first episode overall. It aired on December 9, 2018. The episode is the first of the three-part crossover, Elseworlds, with the ninth episode of the seventh season of Arrow, and the ninth episode of the fourth season of Supergirl being the rest of this year's crossover.

Synopsis[]

Plot[]

On Earth-90, the planet is devastated, with many heroes lying dead on the ground. The Flash of Earth-90 tries to crawl towards a book, but it is picked up by a man, the Monitor, who claims he has failed. He opens the book and the Flash runs away.

On Earth-1, Dr. John Deegan talks to an almost vacant room about karma making a few people substandard and that the most ideal approach to help mental patients is to make them super people. He is pestered and individuals begin leaving him.

In the parking garage, Deegan is vexed as he prepares to leave. The Monitor shows up and requests help. After a showing of intensity, The Monitor presents Deegan with the book he had on Earth-90 and advises him to shape the world. Deegan enthusiastically opens the book as The Monitor instructs him to prepare to stun the world.

In Central City, Oliver Queen awakens and is confounded to wind up in Barry's bed. He strolls through the condo and Iris kisses him and serves him breakfast. He understands that Iris accepts he is Barry. Ollie cooperates, obviously befuddled. They're cautioned at a burglary and when Iris leaves, Ollie understands that he is a speedster. Iris brings his ring and Ollie makes sense of how to get ready.

As yet getting the hang of his speed as The Flash, he speeds past the burglary and needs to turn around. Inside, precious stones are being taken and the looters have a prisoner. At first, Oliver has difficulty handling the situation, until Cisco tells him to hit them with lightning blast. He enters Flashtime, and speeds around in order to do the strike. The strike causes the bandits to flee, and the lightning bolt starts bouncing around, and Oliver flees too, not noticing that the lightning bolt awakened a large robot.

Caitlin inspects Oliver, and she and the remainder of Team Flash all accept that Oliver is Barry. Ollie reveals to them that he is going to converse with Oliver Queen.

In Star City, Barry is competing with Diggle at ARGUS, however he doesn't appear to know how he arrived. He wins the battle conveniently and understands that he is by one way or another Oliver Queen. Diggle is made aware of difficulty in The Glades and requests that The Green Arrow help.

Barry gets ready as The Green Arrow and enters the conflict in the wake of shooting an inappropriate bolt. He handles himself well in the battle, but then The Flash speeds in to spare The Green Arrow and Diggle from one final crook. They review images and Oliver straightens Barry by revealing that he woke up sleeping with Iris (unwillingly).

Barry and Oliver go to S.T.A.R. Labs together and reveal to Team Flash their genuine characters. The whole group is befuddled and don't accept that their legends have been exchanged. They assemble a Team conference without Barry or Oliver.

At the point when they see Iris without anyone else, Barry advises Oliver to converse with her. He proposes calling Iris his "lightning rod" which Ollie disregards. Iris enlightens Oliver, that she talked with Felicity after Oliver was imprisoned and how that can't be her person. Oliver requests that Iris acknowledge his story, yet before long is rendered oblivious as Iris spiked the wine she gave him with nanites. Barry sees Oliver on the ground, yet before he can help him he is taken out by Ralph.

Barry awakens to see that he and Oliver have been bound and secured in the pipeline. Oliver wakes also, and Barry proposes that if just Earth-1 individuals have them stirred up, they ought to go to Earth-38 to check whether Kara can be an observer to their genuine characters. But first they need to escape.

Caitlin and Cisco talk about red lightning which is meddling with Cisco's work. When Caitlin leaves, Cisco vibes and sees The Monitor.

Oliver and Barry understand that they can utilize the mechanics in their latrine to harm the pipeline so Oliver can utilize his speed to eliminate them. To begin with, Barry needs to dislocate his thumb so he can slip out of his handcuffs. Oliver talks him through it, and Barry helps Oliver to phase. They figure out how to get away from the pipeline and go to take and extrapolator and penetrate to Kara.

Iris has gotten the best of them and holds the extrapolator. Barry begs her, sharing the memory of the day he moved in with her and Joe as a youngster and calling her his lightning rod. Iris yields and gives them the extrapolator.

On Earth-38, Kara is visiting Clark and Lois on the Kent farm in Smallville. Lois wants to write an article about Argo City, as she is literally the first human to walk in the remains of Krypton. Clark is a little reserved about it, but doesn't object. Kara then comes as Lois heads to in to the barn, while Kara and Clark take a break with beers. They talk privately about Clark's time in Argo City, and Kara's recent discharge from the D.E.O., after she refused to reveal her identity to President Baker. She wonders if she did the right thing, and Clark claims she did in order to protect her loved ones.

Suddenly, they hear noise from the horse ranch, and it's Oliver and Barry who ran straight to Lois. She is about to strike with a hammer, but Kara speeds there, and breaks the situation, and introduces Oliver ad Barry to Clark and Lois, and vice versa. Oliver and Barry immediately see that Kara can recognize them as they who they really are, but she is shocked that Oliver is the Flash and Barry is the Green Arrow.

Back on Earth-1, Killer Frost and Elongated Man are battling the robot Oliver accidentally activated. It scans them and gains their meta-human powers and flees.

Back on Earth-38, Oliver and Barry attempt to train each other. Eventually, the do the training exercise Oliver did with Barry years ago, despite Oliver's reluctance, as back then he set up crossbows in order to teach Barry to look at his surroundings. Barry claims there are no crossbows, and Oliver succeeds, but Barry did set the crossbows, and finally gets payback. They start to argue, while Kara, Clark and Lois witnessed the whole thing.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco lerans the robot's name is A.M.A.Z.O.. They discover that it is utilizing mirakuru to duplicate superpowers. Sherloque has made sense of that Iris helped Barry and Oliver getaway and advises her to admit. She says that she trusts them about their characters and Cisco also comes to believe it. Suddenly, A.M.A.Z.O. returns to wreak havoc in Central City.

Back on the Kent Farm, Oliver goes to Barry. He concedes the amount he detests seeing Barry be so carefree with his abilities, so as to be The Green Arrow Oliver utilizes the entirety of his history of torment. Barry says that being The Flash for him is the inverse. Relinquishing his torment encourages him. They understand that Oliver is a superior speedster when he is upbeat and Barry is an increasingly gifted warrior when he's distraught, so with Kara's consolation they choose to be progressively similar to one another.

Cisco arrives to the farm to be greeted by Oliver, Barry and Kara. He tells them they believe their characters have been switched, and requests their help in defeating A.M.A.Z.O. Clark also joins and reveals himself as Superman to Cisco.

By the time the heroes arrive at Earth-1 Central City, A.M.A.Z.O. is already on a rampage. Oliver, Barry and Kara strike at it hard and fast, and eventually Clark swoops down from the sky and strikes the robot to the ground. However, it gets back up and copies all of their powers, and the heroes can't harm it, as it can now phase like the Flash can. Iris asks if Cisco can do anything to stop it, while Cisco denies it, and Sherloque tells them "It's a computer right? So- Just turn it off."

Once the countermeasure is ready, Barry then tells Oliver to lure A.M.A.Z.O., as it can't run and phase at the same time. He tells Kara and Clark that they must hold the robot still and Barry will then shoot it with the countermeasure. Cisco arrives with it, and Oliver brings the robot. Kara and Clark grab hold of it, and Oliver grabs on it too to neutralize it's phasing ability. Barry aims at A.M.A.Z.O. and says Oliver's catchphrase, "You have failed this city!", and shoots. it's a direct hit, and A.M.A.Z.O. shuts down.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry talks with Iris and she reveals she let him and Oliver go, because she felt something when Barry told her the truth. But she wants him to promise that he will come back as himself and not as Oliver. Barry promises. Cisco then reveal to Oliver, Barry and Kara about the vibe he had about the Monitor. Oliver wants to see it, and Cisco vibes with him and Barry. It is seen that the Monitor gave a book to John Deegan, and he could sense Cisco's presence and is amazed that there is someone with Cisco's powers on Earth-1. He claims that the events are already in motion, and that they can't stop what comes and it's better to run. The vibe ends and Cisco bleeds afterwards. Monitor's words didn't make sense, but Oliver quickly draws a picture about the place they were on, and while they don't recognize the men, Oliver recognizes the name of the tower in it: Wayne Tower. This means that they are in Gotham City, and that's where they will be going.

In Gotham, Batwoman looks over her city.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Special guest star[]

Guest starring[]

Co-starring[]

Uncredited[]

Trivia[]

  • This episode is tied with What's Past is Prologue as the highest rated episode of Season 5 with a rating of 9.0 on IMDb.
  • This is the first episode of the series to not feature Jessica Parker Kennedy (Nora West-Allen) after being promoted to series regular.
    • This is also the only episode of Season 5 not to feature Nora.
  • The episode was previously titled "Elseworlds: Hour One".[2]
    • The episode's title is listed as "Elseworlds: Hour One" on Netflix in the United States, Canada, and Israel.
  • After Barry and Oliver switch lives, Barry refers to it by saying "Man, what a total Freaky Friday. No, wait, we didn't switch bodies. It's more of a Quantum Leap". In the Freaky Friday franchise, the characters' minds swap bodies. In the Quantum Leap TV series, Dr. Sam Beckett changes places with people when he's still in his own body but people perceive him to be the other person, which is closer to their situation.
    • Noticeably, despite Barry obtaining Oliver's more muscular build from inheriting his life, Oliver did not obtain Barry's slim frame, but rather remained the same.
  • A major Smallville easter egg appears in this episode where the show's theme song "Save Me" by Remy Zero was played during the introduction of the Earth-38 Smallville, with the farm location featured in Smallville also reused.
  • Lois calls Clark "Smallville", referencing Clark's nickname given to his comic book counterpart by Lois Lane.
  • When Barry tried to talk like Oliver, he said "wear a mask", which is what Oliver said to him in "Pilot".
  • The scene when Barry shot Oliver with arrows is almost an exact replica of the original scene from "Flash vs. Arrow", with Barry and Oliver switching dialogue and roles.
    • The shot that shows the remote control bows is recycled from that episode, with only a few changes through edits.
  • When Oliver is about to faint, Iris says "Nanites, courtesy of Ray Palmer", the same quote Oliver said to the Reverse-Flash in "Rogue Air", which became an internet meme after that episode's airing.
  • When Oliver (as Barry/The Flash) arrives at Ivo Labs, Cisco says, "It is too early for this." Additionally, when Team Flash realizes something weird's going on, Ralph says, "Man, it's not even Tuesday". These fourth-wall-breakers are nods to the fact that episodes of The Flash typically air on Tuesday nights, but that the show swapped time slots with Supergirl, instead airing on Sunday night, for the Elseworlds crossover event.
  • After Barry shot him with arrows, Oliver complained that Barry can't solve any problem without Iris giving him a motivational speech. This is a reference to a real-life complaint from fans of the show, that in most episodes Barry isn't able to solve a problem until Iris gives him a speech on comms.
  • Referencing A.M.A.Z.O., Ralph says "So an evil copycat Gort is coming to klaatu barada kick-to our asses". This line is a reference to the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its character Gort, also using the phrase "klaatu barada" from it.
    • During the same conversation, Cisco refers to the situation by saying "How do you stop a T-3000 that kills for breakfast?", which is a reference to the popular Terminator franchise.
  • When the Flash was distracting A.M.A.Z.O., the chase leads to a scaffolding area, which bears resemblance to where the Prism was located during "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2".
  • When Cisco asks who Clark is, Clark replies "A friend", referencing the 1978 film and the first feature-length adaptation of the Man of Steel himself, Superman. This was previous referenced in the Supergirl episode "Changing" with Kara and James Olsen/Guardian.
    • A part of the Super Friends intro plays when Clark does the infamous Superman "S" reveal.
  • The Tom Cavanagh-directed cold open previously appeared at the conclusion of the Supergirl episode "Bunker Hill", Arrow episode "Unmasked", and The Flash episode "What's Past is Prologue".[1]
  • The super-speed sketch Oliver made of the Monitor and John Deegan was drawn and provided by DC artist Jim Lee.[3]
  • When Barry and Oliver meet Clark, Barry asks the Oliver if he's puffing out his chest, to which Oliver agrees. In the original script, Oliver was instead supposed to say "no".[4]
  • A.M.A.Z.O.'s name and manufacturer may be related to the scientist Anthony Ivo and his ship of the same name, who Oliver encountered during his time on Lian Yu. The android also runs on the Mirakuru supersoldier serum Ivo was searching for.
  • The sweater top Iris wears in the opening scene is the same as the one Felicity wears in the opening scene of "Unmasked".
  • Some fans noticed Team Flash being EXTRA friendly and close compared to normal; believing it to be how Oliver sees them in comparison to his more disciplined and reserved Team Arrow.

Goofs[]

  • How Ivo Laboratories was able to obtain Mirakuru despite all known samples of the drug being destroyed is left unexplained.
    • Given that the last remaining sample of the drug was given to S.T.A.R. Labs to synthesize for a cure[5], obtaining it from there would have been the only possible means for Ivo Labs to get a hold of it.
  • According to Barry, A.M.A.Z.O. can't run and phase at the same time, although there were countless instances shown where speedsters phased through walls while running; including Barry when he first learned to phase.[6]
  • As seen when John Deegan later rewrote Earth-1's reality with the Book of Destiny a second time, thereby turning himself into Superman and leaving Kara locked up in the S.T.A.R. Labs' pipeline,[7] even if someone who's not native to an Earth altered by the Book of Destiny is on the affected Earth when reality is altered, they'll retain their memories of reality as it had previously been. But, now, when Barry and Oliver swapped lives as a result of Deegan's first Elseworld, Sherloque, who isn't from Earth-1, still perceived Barry as Oliver, and Oliver as Barry.
  • It seems strange Team Flash doesn't consider the possibility Oliver and Barry are telling the truth. They have literally encountered equally strangeness of doppelgangers and time travel. Though the concept multiverse counterparts (who have the same name, but look different) was not introduced until they met Earth-90's Barry Allen in "Elseworlds, Part 2".
  • To convince Iris about the truth of their situation, Barry suggests that Oliver talk to her and call her his lightning rod. Since Iris already believes that Oliver is Barry, this would only serve to reinforce that notion; she would more likely be convinced hearing it from "Oliver".
  • When A.M.A.Z.O. analyzes and duplicates the quartet's powers and abilities, a tag reading "ACQUIRING META DATA" appears to him. Of the four, only the Flash is a meta-human; the others' abilities all come to them naturally.
  • Kara and Clark are seen drinking beer while catching up at the Kent Farm. However, it was previously established in "The Last Children of Krypton" that Clark did not drink and fly.

Deleted scene[]

  • Team Flash considered the possibility that "Barry" and "Oliver" are telling the truth about their lives beings swapped. Even Sherloque agreed that the idea is feasible. Iris adds that "Barry" has been treating her like he doesn't even know her. However, they all agreed to detain the two, fearing they will go bonkers if left alone.
  • Clark and Oliver (as the Flash) raced with Oliver not being able to control his speed, and questioned Clark's methods. Clark then taught Oliver on how he learned to control his own speed with the help of his adoptive parents. This lesson being to run towards what truly matters in life. Oliver asked to go again, this time adding a "please" in addition in order to be more patient this time.

References[]

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