Arrow S2 E8 - 'The Scientist' Review

Blood Provides Power.
The penultimate episode before the mid-season finale sees Barry Allen enter the Arrowverse as he teams up with the Arrow to take down The Acolyte and put a stop to the Church of Blood. I love that they chose to turn this into a two-parter, as it allows for a more fleshed out story and a stronger mid-season finale.
The big lure in this episode is the introduction of Barry Allen, who will go on to become the Flash. Here however, he is just a geeky CSI forensic scientist who flirts with Felicity and strives to locate the vigilante. We learn about his past, his mother's murder and his father's incarceration, which are all nice set-ups for The Flash TV show which follows this season of Arrow. His debut is slightly underwhelming as he doesn't contribute too much to the overall story apart from picking up clues, but the final shot of him being taken to the Arrowcave is cool and I'm glad they aren't hiding the secret from him for too long.
The villain this week is Cyrus Gold a.k.a. The Acolyte, a man of few words whose sole purpose is to display the full power of the Mirakuru serum. It's effective watching him destroy the Arrow in his ominous, Deathstroke-esque mask and conveys how dangerous the serum can be. The Arrow being on death's door is a trope we have seen before, so hopefully the show-runners take a different approach to the next episode.
Elsewhere, Roy becomes full of rage at the lack of the vigilante's actions, thus declares to go it alone before Oliver shoots him in the leg with an arrow. It's a bold move from the titular hero, which comes across cold and cruel and forces the viewer to question Oliver's morals and techniques. Moira is also given a sub-plot this week alongside Merlyn, who pressures her to reveal the truth to Thea. I can't truly understand why she wouldn't just tell her daughter the truth after everything that's happened, but I admit it was nice to see Moira stand up to Malcolm for once and the threat involving Ra's Al-Ghul was pointed and exciting.
Finally, the flashback scenes tie in nicely to the present-day plot, as the group discover the Japanese sub and the Mirakuru for the first time. Slade is injected and dies, and whilst I should've been upset the first time I saw this, it is fairly easy to predict that the serum will work on this iconic villain, especially after all the character building the show has sown into his origins. Slade finally reveals his feelings to Shado in this episode too, in an emotionally powerful scene on the submarine.
Overall, 'The Scientist' provides a simple introduction for Barry Allen, whilst pushing the plot forward in meaningful way. Brother Blood's plans have been revealed and now the Arrow is on the case.

STARRING: The Acolyte (Cyrus Gold), Brother Blood, Barry Allen

AWESOME MOMENTS:

• The Arrow getting tossed around like a rag-doll by The Acolyte!
• Slade's death was gut-wrenching and you could feel Oliver and Shado's loss
• The scene where the Arrow takes down a van is very cool 
• Loved how Barry sussed out the vigilante's backstory so easily, making Felicity uncomfortable
• The big reveal that Malcolm left Tommy because of the guilt he felt for cheating on his wife with Moira

EASTER EGGS:

- While Barry is observing chemicals in the lab with Felicity, there is a noticeable thunder crack and lightning that catches Barry's attention. This is a direct nod to how he eventually gets his powers as The Flash, being struck by lightning in a chemistry lab

- This episode was originally intended to be a back door pilot for the The Flash (2014), but the CW decided to give the show its own stand-alone pilot

- Just before the 6 minute mark, Barry Allen describes the stolen industrial centrifuge as "a Kord Enterprises 2BX-900". In the DC-verse Kord Enterprises is run by Ted Kord, AKA The Blue Beetle

- Barry tells Felicity a couple of times that he's not a very good dancer; however, the actor who plays Barry, Grant Gustin, is an incredibly talented dancer. He started tap dancing when he was 8 years old. He's also a talented singer and played the recurring role of Sebastian Smythe on the third season of Glee (2009). Grant had originally auditioned for a role as a tap dancer, but he didn't get the part

- When Felicity asks Barry Allen to be her plus one at the upcoming Queen party, he asks "will there be any dancing? I'm not very good with my feet." This is ironic foreshadowing of his character's future alias as The Flash

- One part in the episode, Diggle remarks, "What's next? Aliens?" Later in Season 5, Ep. 8: "Invasion!" the team fight the Dominators, an alien race

- Furthermore, this episode introduced Barry. When Barry went to ask Team Arrow to help him battle the aliens three years later, John said, "I swear to God, Barry; my life was somewhat normal before I met you"; a possible nod to the fact that John and the rest of Team Arrow first encountered strange things like Mirakuru soldiers around the same time that they first met Barry

- This episode is notable as being the first episode of Arrow to hint at super-human abilities; previously, the show was considered to be extremely grounded
- CSU Tech Kelton - Kelton makes his first appearance this season, assisting Officer Lance at the scene of the break-in.  Kelton made several appearances last season, usually helping Lance try to catch the Vigilante with his computer skills
- Barry is called back to Central City by his boss, Director Singh.  In the comics, David Singh is Barry's boss at Central City's forensics unit. Singh is often frustrated by Barry's more tedious methods, and often accuses Barry of dragging his feet and not working hard enough, leading to the two having a tense relationship.  Singh is secretly gay, and has a relationship with the Pied Piper, one of the Flash's reformed Rogues

RATING: 8.4/10