Warning: Spoilers for Crisis on Earth-X below.
After watching this four-part event, it was hard for me not to compare it to last year’s crossover. The most glaring advantage that Crisis on Earth-X has over Invasion! is that it is a four-episode narrative arc, whereas last year’s Supergirl episode, Medusa, was just a Supergirl show with a crossover cliffhanger. This year’s installment truly has been the most sprawling and expansive of all the Arrowverse events. Things have been ramping up to this for years, starting with 2014’s two-episode “Flash Vs. Arrow” storyline, followed by 2015’s two-episode “Heroes Join Forces” event and then last year’s “Invasion!” This season might have been high-stakes, and on a huge scale, but how did it compare in quality?
Let me start with some positives. I enjoyed seeing our Arrowverse heroes fighting Nazis more than last year’s aliens, although this is due to the budget of the show. The hand to hand combat at the end of the Arrow and Flash episodes were some great action scenes. The character's Earth-X doppelgangers were also standouts, having superheroes fight their other dimensional selves is a trope that I particularly enjoy. Since news of Victor Garber’s departure from Legends of Tomorrow, his death on the show has been inevitable. Martin Stein’s exit from the Arrowverse was handled smoothly, including an emotional scene between him and Jefferson.
There were several action scenes I found jarring within these four episodes, but I would say this is due to budget and special effects restrictions. One of these was the Earth-X Red Tornado scene featuring the Flash. Another includes the final confrontation with Metallo. Although I enjoyed seeing our heroes fight real people, sometimes the dialogue concerning the Nazis felt a little awkward. For example, Earth-X Kara talking about an Aryan race.
My other complaints are more nitpicky, like not enjoying the amount of exposition pertaining to each individual show. However, I understand why this is necessary; the audience that tunes in for these events probably doesn’t watch every series. These episodes also had me asking little things like, where is Elongated Man during all this?
Overall, these four episodes were a success. They were entertaining, but still had some of the same flaws we see week to week in these shows. For every cheesy line, like Wells telling Cara to go “up… up… and away”, we get to see an intense shot, like the Flash fighting the Reverse Flash. Relative to CW standards, I found this event to be thoroughly enjoyable.
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