The Flash Reaction: "Invasion!" (3x08)

Spoilers for The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow

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When an alien spacecraft crashes into Central City, Barry calls on his friends for help in stopping the alien invasion. But secrets between team members create dissension among the group.

"Best team-up ever." -Felicity

What I Liked

Everything
Can I just say everything? Okay, there were a few things I didn't like, but that's because somebody is being a meanie pants. But overall, this episode was epic. Here's why.

Basically me during the entire episode. Also I love these two together. (source)

All the character interactions
The greatest thing about these crossover events are when all the characters come together again. I loved seeing the characters interact. It was precious.

• Cisco and Ray fanboying over technology was perfect. 
• Felicity talking to Cisco about Barry was touching and also sad. I love watching them work together to solve problems, though. 
• Stein and Caitlin reuniting was so adorable. I love that Stein was giving Caitlin advice about her powers. It was fun to see characters get updates on each other's lives. 
• Iris learning Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow and calling him hot in front of Barry was perfect.
• Mick talking to Kara was hilarious. His comments are always funny, and Kara's reaction was spot-on. 
• The best was that Oliver was there for Barry and able to help him get over his mistakes. He didn't put him down or accuse him of being terrible (like someone else we know); instead, Oliver opened up and shared his own mistakes, his own desire to go back and change things. It was touching, and it just shows how far Oliver has come in the past five years. (Look at my little green baby all grown up.) 

Look at these gorgeous ladies. I love this all. (source)

Martin Stein
On Legends of Tomorrow, Stein has been having weird memory flashes about another woman. Since he's in 2016, he decides to go get some answers, and he takes Caitlin with him. But what he learns is that he's not married to another woman, but he has a daughter! What?!? This is actually so exciting, and I'm so happy for him. I was so worried it was going to be something bad, but it's actually wonderful. I'm excited to learn why this has happened instead.

This is precious. They're both precious. (source)

Iris
I admire Iris for being so adamant about protecting her brother. Her best moment was slapping him after he got hurt. You go, girl.

Best Iris moment of the season. (source)

Training with Kara
The scenes where everybody trained with Kara was adorably fun. She's so cute. I want more moments like this.

Go, Kara. Go, Kara. Go. (source)

Brainwash Fight
While the aliens brainwashing most of the team is a bit cliche, it still worked well for a conflict. It was interesting to see Barry and Oliver take on everybody. There were a lot of match-ups that I think we've all been waiting eagerly to see: Oliver vs. Sara, Barry vs. Kara. Wally's contribution of tripping some of them was great as well. A+ writers.

Special effects are special
The special effects of this episode were spectacular. Seriously, just go watch it for that because wow, it was cool.

This was too wonderful for words. (source)

What I Didn't Like

The Aliens
The aliens are super creepy looking, and I don't like them. I also don't know what they want or why they killed (?!?!?) the president for no reason. I'm scared, but I know our heroes can do it.

Wally
I love seeing Wally happy because of his powers; he's an adorable guy. But I hate that nobody is willing to trust him. If they would just let him train, especially with Barry and Kara around, then he probably wouldn't have run out there and gotten himself hurt. If they would trust him, they could protect him--like they did with Jesse. But now, he's going to train with HR and that is not going to go well at all. It makes me so angry!!

I mean, just look at that puppy dog face. *pinches cheeks* (source)

Cisco
Cisco has really bothered me lately. I know he's mad about Barry and his brother dying, but he's being a complete jerk. I know you're sad, but seriously, Barry is your friend too. And I don't like seeing him this way. He was almost no fun in this episode because he's being so uptight.

Barry
Watching Barry in this episode was really sad. He really beat himself up about Flashpoint. (Thank goodness Oliver was around.) To make matters worse the message from 2056 that Stein and Jax found doesn't help. He tells everybody the truth, but they don't trust him. He tries to be a leader, but he doesn't know how. In addition, he learns what happened to Snart. Poor Barry. Can I just give you a hug?

I don't know if I should laugh, facepalm, or wince in secondhand embarrassment. (source)

Kidnapping
The end was just: WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED. People got "beamed" away. (What is this, Star Trek?) But where did they go? Why were they taken? Ahhh... I need answers.

Overall, I love it. The crossover was so much fun. Can we do one of these every week? Please? No? Then more often than once a year? Maybe? I love the character interactions and seeing how everybody works together (or not). I'm stoked about the rest of the crossover event and what's next for The Flash.

Bonus:

Okay, Iris gets two good moments in this episode. (source)

What did you think of "Invasion!"? What did you think of the first mega-super-ultra-awesomesauce team-up?