You know that phrase, "I don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings"?

Today, we come bearing a great gift. Arrow Season 5 will put an end to the flashbacks. 

I'll give you all a moment to pull yourselves together while you reflect on Oliver's bad hair.

“We always said that Oliver had a five-year journey when he was marooned on the [island],” Executive producer Marc Guggenheim said.

“This year, Oliver spends his time in the flashbacks in Russia. We know from various seeds we planted back in the pilot that he knows how to speak Russian, he became a Bratva captain."

"Sort of the flashback story in the first half of the year is going to involve Oliver’s introduction into the Bratva.”

“He’s basically recruited into this crime organization while at the same time in the present day Oliver has recruits of his own,” Guggenheim said.

“He’s a trainee in the past, trainer in the present, and I think that will give the audience the connect-up thematically between present in the past.”

And when you're in Russia, you hire Dolf Lundgren to be a bad guy, Kovar.

“He is somebody we heard about in season 4,” EP Wendy Mericle told EW. “Kovar. We are going to bring him in and he’s going to be this super big badass guy who works for the Russian government, and is not a friend of Oliver or the Bratva."

"It’s part of Oliver’s promise to Taiana at the end of season 4 and it’s going to be interesting because it’s going to get complicated and very messed up very fast.”

So what on earth (different earths?) is this other news about Supergirl and The Flash creating a musical episode?

Scratch that: TWO MUSICAL EPISODES. Here's what we know, folks.

We've already seen some of the cast members of The Flash utilizing their musical talents. Jesse L. Martin sang on The Flash Season 2 Episode 13 when Joe of Earth-2 was a professional singer.

Barry and Caitlin sang a tune from Grease once on Karaoke night. Apparently the talents go far enough beyond that, including Melissa Benoist and Jeremy Jordan from Supergirl, so much so there is enough material to sew together two musical episodes for a crossover of sorts.

“Yes, there will be a musical crossover,” said executive producer Greg Berlanti.

“There’s going to be a musical pair of episodes in the back half of the year between Supergirl and Flash.”

“Some of you may know my own personal love of musicals and actors who have been in them, and we have a number of people who can sing across all the shows who will be making some very exciting appearances in the back half of the year,” Berlanti continued.

Does all the shows mean people from Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow might swing by to belt out a tune? 

I'm literally shaking my head at this one. Right now, while I'm typing. I'm not sure this is what I want from my superhero shows. Can they make it feel organic? Maybe.

Here's a look at the trailer for all of The CW Superhero shows so far. Can you imagine singing included?

The CW Superheroes Promo: Some Serious Nerd Love Right Here!

The last bit of news comes by way of an identity for Chris Wood's character. He's playing Mon-El, a character from Daxam with powers similar to Kara's. He was an explorer who landed on Krypton just before it exploded.

Running into Jor-El, the elder provided him with a map to earth, and he made it safely but suffered a bit of amnesia since the landing. Voila. Mystery character solved!

What else is coming? We'll tell you when we know! 

13 Things We'd Like to See on The Flash Season 3

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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.