The team travels to 1863 to respond to a distress signal from a time pirate. It seems simple enough, but things get more complicated when the team discovers zombies. Zombies tend to complicate things.
It makes for a fun episode, as we see that Stein suffers from a severe phobia regarding flesh eating corpses. Said fear only gets worse when Mick is infected and it is up to he and Ray to cure him. Garber is given some solid comedic material, but the scenes also offer some solid horror aspects. Many of the scenes take place in dimly lit hallways, the pair are confined to the ship until a cure can be administered, and when Zombie-Mick does appear, his eyes get an eerie glow. It worked really well, especially given the fact that it aired right around Halloween.
As the episode takes place during the Civil War, it should come as no surprise that, much like 'Night of the Hawk', it tackles the issue of racism. Where that episode was eye-roll inducing and annoying, this one is incredibly effective, becoming moving and powerful as a result. The episode is much better written and, as such, the obstacles feel a lot more natural as opposed to having the characters do something simply because the plot needs them to in order to start preaching.
It did give Jax a bit of an internal struggle, as he initially put more focus on preserving the timeline as opposed to helping people in the short term. It seems like Rip had a bigger impact on him than he thought. It does differ from the venture into future Star City, as that was only a possible timeline, where as Jax's situation requires him to protect an already established timeline. Still, at face value, he isn't entirely wrong, butterfly effect and all that. Still, given what the team's done at this point, the timeline's all kinds of wonky anyway. The dilemma also gives Amaya a chance to show her heroic spirit and bring Jax into the "save people now" mentality.
Last season, I used to chide episodes where everybody split off into various subplots, but this episode (as well as a couple before it) have done a much better job of justifying the splits and giving them the room they need to function.
It actually built up tension here as many heroes were put at a disadvantage. While it would have been cool to see the whole team take on a massive zombie horde, I get why they decided to go this route.
At the very least, we see Sara and Nate having to contend with said horde, as it attempts to overrun Ulysses S. Grant's camp. You'd think that Nate's ability would give them a distinct advantage, but it never really comes up until the final gambit.
I do wish Grant got more to do. As he's unfamiliar with zombies, he's fairly limited in his ability to contribute to the problem at hand. However, his final scene manages to do quite a lot for him, as we see him offering food, shelter, and aid to newly liberated slaves and follow that by having a heart to heart with Sara about how to handle the burden of commanding people who are putting their own lives at risk. I just wish the episode gave him more moments like that throughout the episode as opposed to just giving him a really good send off.
Alas, there isn't much in the way of ongoing arc material. There's a brief scene where we hear a part (though still not all) of future Barry's warning. I was convinced that it had to do with Reverse Flash, but given his line about a war coming, this could be building up to the big three and a half part crossover concerning the Dominators, maybe even tieing into what Alchemy is doing over on "The Flash".
There is follow up about Ray concerning his lack of suit. While he was able to contribute by playing medic here, Mick helps Ray deal with the existential crisis by offering him Snart's gun. I'm kind of surprised that there was no talk of a new suit. I do wonder how long "Ray as new Captain Cold" is going to last, but given how chummy he and Mick are now, it seems like it could be interesting to see.
This episode covered the emotional gamut, providing dark, real world horror, over the top zombie horror, comedy, and several heart warming moments. You'd think that it would lead to mood whiplash or inconsistency, but it actually made for a very well balanced episode. It never gets so dark that it becomes grim, but the comedy doesn't undermine the serious nature of what's on display either.
All in all, it made for an entertaining one and done. All of the characters got a chance to shine in some capacity and it allowed for some nice character development along the way.
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