A pair of Sentries are teaming up to take on the five-part “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event. If you would like to start with previous episodes, please read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Arrow
Gordon S. Miller
As the miniseries continues, The Paragons, seven heroes (well, six since Lex Luthor replaced Superman), remain trapped outside time and space. Viewers learn that 10,000 years ago on the planet Maltus, the Monitor attempted to travel back to the Dawn of Time, but the experiment caused a breach between universes, unleashing the Anti-monitor.
Oliver, now in his role as the Spectre, comes to the heroes and tells them what’s required. Through the Speedforce, a team (Supergirl, Lex, and Ryan Choi) go back to stop the Monitor’s experiment. Naturally, Lex undercuts them to make a deal with the Monitor. The Anti-monitor somehow attacked the rest (Barry, Oliver, Sara, J’onn, and Kate) inside the Speedforce, causing Barry to have to find them within. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but allows for some great Arrowverse callbacks as well as another cool Multiverse crossover with the DC Extended Universe Flash (Ezra Miller). While it’s fun seeing the character flashback to old episodes, not sure it made much sense why. It felt like padding.
Reunited, Barry takes them to the Dawn of Time. They fight the Anti-monitor and his ineffectual Shadow Demons as a stall so Spectre can spark the birth of a new universe. But to help it grow, the Paragons have to think, with a laser focus, about their individual aspects. Of course, it took everything Oliver had, causing him to die yet again in this story, undercutting the emotion of the scene.
Shawn Bourdo
I’m usually pretty good at picking up shows where I left off after a long break. I balance a good 30-40 shows that I’m at various places in watching. Yet, it took me a good 15-20 minutes to really like I was back into the Crisis story from last month. I think that’s probably a testament to the mess of the details of the story. Overview, I get that the worlds are ending, there is matter and anti-matter issues and Lex had a book. Detailed level, the plights of all the Legends, Flash supporting characters, Arrow team, etc was less clear to me other than Oliver’s sacrifice. Some thoughts:
- The acoustics in the Speedforce are terrible. Turn down the echo and pull the focus on the camera a bit better.
- Ghost Arrow is the most annoying version of Arrow yet.
- When you put all the players onto the playing field in a crossover like this, I find the female heroes to be the most compelling. Batwoman is a bit of a spectator because of her connection to the others. Yet she adds important attitude to her scenes. The real star is Supergirl. Her show has done the best job at creating a well rounded character and her powers make her an important member in any battle.
- Sith Lord Arrow is actually even more annoying.
- The heroes finally got around to fighting some Dementors. Did Lex escape from Azkaban in this Universe?
- The conclusion of this episode might have been more emotional if I didn’t have a DVR to tell me this is the last episode.
Legends of Tomorrow
Gordon S. Miller
Supergirl wakes from a bad dream and all seems back to normal until she learns that Lex is a hero, is her boss, and has won a Nobel Peace Prize. When The Flash shows up, they discover there is only one Earth and they have been teaming up “since forever,” thanks to a cameo from Crisis comic book writer and industry legend Marv Wolfman. Turns out only the Paragons know what happened, so J’onn informs the Arrowverse heroes. Some learn of Oliver’s fate and viewers get to watch characters deal with his loss, again. But this episode does feature a nice chat between Sara and Barry about loss and family.
Nash Wells discovers an anti-matter surge when there shouldn’t be any, realizing that the Anti-monitor is still alive. They come up with a plan to shrink the villain forever. Some Legends join the fight, as does Kaitlyn from The Flash (but no Iris, Cisco, or rest), and at the last minute, Black Lightning. At the show’s conclusion, the President asks for a moment of silence for Oliver and then the heroes gather for yet another goodbye to him, which occurs at their new headquarters, which is a nod to the Super Friends cartoon show.
There was a diversion as they battled against a giant furry creature named Beebo that seemed unnecessary, but is likely a good indicator of the show’s humor. Mick Rory is a very funny character thanks to Dominic Purcell’s delivery. I would watch this show just for him. It’ll be interesting to see how the Arrowverse shows move forward in the aftermath of Crisis, and I although the CW shows are all one planet, this episode seemed to indicate the Multiverse is back unless I misunderstood.
Shawn Bourdo
The story is over and it’s time to put the worlds back together again. The umbrella of Legends of Tomorrow where history goes all wrong and has to be fixed is a good place to launch us into the rest of the season. Some thoughts:
- The Supergirl reset is the most radical of the transitions because of how different her world was from that of Flash and Arrow.
- Turning Lex Luthor into the “good guy” is the perfect way to segue to other Lex stories from the more current comics.
- Once we’ve figured out that everyone exists in the same Universe now, it’s just a matter of time before we move on to a “normal” crossover.
- I’ve really had enough anti-matter and matter talk for another twenty seasons.
- What if in the end we would have been more entertained by an actual episodes of Legends?
- Of all the shows, Black Lightning just doesn’t have a spot in this Universe that’s even remotely believable. Even with matter/anti-matter logic.
- Perez Landing is a nice nod to George Perez who made the most iconic poster of a comic generation for the original comic book Crisis.
- The final scene looks like it takes place where all of our heroes would not believe all the awards that this Chevy Pick-Up truck had won.
The crossover ends with at least some permanent changes to the CW Universe. If nothing else, it will make the blurring of the shows and heroes easier to crossover from week to week. And we’ve introduced the next two shows to debut in the near future. I’m not sure it was needed.
Gleek.
