CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS PART I REVIEW ... SPOILERS

Part One:

Well, after a year of waiting since its announcement, the time has come where ‘worlds will live, worlds will die, and nothing will ever be the same’ as the DC comics television crossover event of 2019, Crisis on Infinite Earths has started on Supergirl. In this article, I am going over a recap of the episode, as well as my thoughts, and the plethora of Easter Eggs in the episode. Spoilers ahead for the episode.

Recap

After a wave of anti-matter is found covering Earth-38, J’onn warns the team about the Monitor and the coming crisis. Brainiac-5 discovers that the Kryptonian refugee planet of Argo is in imminent danger from the wave. Kara makes a distress call to her cousin Clarke about the danger that he, Lois, and their son, Johnathan are in. Clarke and Lois send Johnathan in a pod to escape the destruction of Argo, as they meet their fate along with Alura- Kara’s biological mother.

Lyla Diggle, now a servant of the Monitor, known as “Harbinger” gathers together a group of heroes from across the multiverse, including Oliver Queen, Mia Smoak, Sara Lance, Ray Palmer, Kate Kane, and Barry Allen as she transports them to Earth-38 to meet Kara. Also, Harbinger also saved Clarke and Lois from their deaths.

A tower implemented by the Monitor emerges in National City and is holding off the effects of the anti-matter wave. The heroes are told to protect the tower from an army of shadow demons, meanwhile, Brainy, Sara, and Lois go to Earth-16 Star City 2046, to save Johnathan who fell into a wormhole. Elsewhere, Alex goes to visit Lena to help here build a gigantic extrapolator for J’onn and the other aliens of Earth-38 to evacuate the planet’s population to Earth-1. Lois, Brainy, and Sara find Johnathan in the Arrow cave of Earth-16. Sara finds an alternate Oliver as she gives him comfort over the actions he has made, as they leave.

In the invasion, the Monitor shows up and tells the heroes that the fight is lost on Earth-38. The Monitor teleports all the heroes except for Oliver, who continues to fight the shadow demons, losing all of his arrows. The Monitor quickly teleports a defeated Oliver to Earth-1 in the Arrowcave, where he and the other heroes surround him lying down. Nash shows up as the Piraha, telling the surviving heroes that he caused the crisis, as he released the anti-monitor on Earth-1. Oliver tells Kara and Barry that it is up to them to stop the crisis, as he tells Mia that he loves her as he dies.

Well, that does it for the basic recap of the episode, now for the review, which will be broken down into different parts, discussing the various plot elements.

   Prologue

The opening scene of the crossover was a really neat explainer to the multiverse. There has never really been an official explanation of the multiverse in the television series, just interpretations. I also liked the detail of the parallel universes being created similar to mitosis in the human body, hinting at the idea that the multiverse has sentience to it.

   

   Act One: The Crisis Begins

The destruction of Argo was a scene that I felt like was underwhelming. The illustration of the high stakes of the entire city-planet being destroyed was not portrayed as well as I feel like they could have been. Kara’s mother, Alura did die for real, and I feel as though that is something which was not taken as seriously as it should of. For this being a Supergirl centric episode, I feel like a moment like this should have been explored more. On Argo, I did like the parallel with Clarke sending away Johnathan in a pod, mirroring his origin from Krypton. I thought it was a neat touch, and somewhat sentimental.

Harbinger gathering the heroes was a fun scene. The reasoning for the heroes which were gathered were all mostly valid. All the heroes did prove themselves to be notable heroes during the Elseworlds event last year, and it felt like nothing was too outlandish for having all of these characters in the same place. The only thing that I could say is a bit of a stretch is Sara and Ray hanging out in a bar in Star City 2019, as the last time they were in present-day was when the Waverider was not in their possession, which is not the case now.

   Act Two: A Quest for Jonathan

The side plot of Sara, Lois, and Brainy finding Jonathan was an interesting side story. I feel like it was kind of unnecessary, as I feel as though the stakes were not as high, especially with Oliver saving him. I did appreciate the development with this alternate Oliver Queen getting closure on his decision to get on the Gambit, and that he did not fail anyone. Sara and this version of Oliver reconciling was a heartfelt moment in the episode.

The shadow demons, although they look awesome, were kind of unexplained. I know that they are a part of the Anti-Monitor’s army, as they were mentioned in the future newspaper, and that these guys are the main army that the heroes will fight, there was not a full explanation for them being the Anti-Monitor’s army.

   Act Three: The End of Earth-38

The fight the climax of the episode was really well stringed together. The one thing I did not like about the ending is that Oliver managed to hold back the omnipotent being that is the Monitor with an electric arrow. But other than that, everything leading up to that moment, and post that moment was really well done. The climax was built up well with the overwhelming amount of shadow demons appearing, and the heroes being teleported away one by one.

Earth-38, or as I should say, Universe-38 was completely obliterated. Even those it is being stated that Earth in the multiverse is being destroyed, the entire universe in which that Earth resides in is being obliterated. The idea that an entire universe, one which has been explored through four and a half seasons of Supergirl was just obliterated is insane. On Earth-38, characters such as Jimmy, Kat Grant, and Alura are all gone.

Oliver’s death in the episode was an unexpected twist. We knew that it was inevitable that Oliver Queen was going to die in the coming crisis, and even the Monitor was shocked that Oliver died in the way that he did. The way Oliver passed was really well done, with him sacrificing himself for more to survive. The death, although immediately emotional, was not so impactful, as with Oliver dying this early in the crossover it is almost given that there will be a twist of some sort.

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Character Moments

Superman was a character that was explored a little more in this episode in a meaningful way. He was humanized in a way for feeling as though the universe was out for him. I liked the idea that Clarke has this sense of guilt for over-achieving. Superman, although a representative for the democratic nature of the American way, is still someone who does care for everyone. In wanting to care for everyone, Clarke feels as though that he has let everyone done by achieving his dream, and that every time he wants to succeed, he feels like he can not.

One of the aspects of prior crossovers that was extremely lacking in this episode was the interpersonal relationships between most of the main characters. Barry and Oliver did not get many conversational scenes together, and it felt odd seeing Oliver not introduce Mia to more of the heroes he is closer to such as Sara, Ray, and Barry. I feel like building up these relationships and catching these characters up over the past year of adventures they have missed from each other would have added a lot of extra depth to the interpersonal side of this cosmic event and presented something that would have been more relatable.

Oliver’s argument with the Monitor was a really interesting scene. I loved how Oliver just completely lost it knowing that Barry thought that he was going to die in the crisis. Oliver’s arrangement with the Monitor last year was his life this year for Barry and Kara’s lives in Elseworlds, which did place both the Flash’s and Supergirl’s lives on the line in this crisis. What I liked about Oliver not liking this agreement was not only his friends meeting their fate, however, Oliver offered his life because he knew that out of the heroes, he was the one who inspired the least, even though he started the “age of heroes”. Oliver wanted a world when he is gone to still be inspired by the good in the world, and that inspiration would come from Barry and Kara. 

Oliver’s determination to save everyone on Earth-38 was so endearing and what defines the character in a nutshell. The dread in Stephen Amell’s voice as he says “It’s not time…” in response to the Monitor telling Oliver that the entire planet had not been evacuated was great. And although this is not Oliver’s Earth, he still wants to fight for the side of life. Oliver’s innate nature to fight to the end was really great to see be put to the limits. One thing that was interesting that I liked was how the Monitor commended Oliver for what he did, as Oliver saved up to one billion lives from Earth-38.

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Easter Eggs

The opening of the episode had so many references in expanding the multiverse. We saw five new Earth’s explored in this episode of Supergirl, all of which had a reference to a past live-action DC Comics property. So let’s go through each new Earth seen and discover the Easter Eggs within.

Earth-89: This Earth is the Earth where the Tim Burton-directed “Batman” (1989) film and its preceding sequels took place. This Earth did reveal a newspaper where a Michael Keaton Batman is still fighting the Jack Nicholson Joker. 

Earth-9: On this Earth, the “Titans” (2018-) DC Universe series takes place. It was rumored a couple months ago that there would be a Titans cameo in the crossover, however, I did not believe it, but I am glad I was wrong. In the clip, we saw Jason Toad/ Robin and Hawk fighting crime. It is possible that the number nine was chosen because this is the number of television series adapted from DC Comics, which started after Arrow, up to Titans, and were still airing new episodes in 2019 was nine. That is the only connection I could find, and there could be another reference I am missing.

Earth-X: This is an Earth we have explored before in the Crisis on Earth-X crossover. This universe was liberated from the Nazi reign, and heroes such as the Ray are (well, were) patrolling the planet.

Earth-66: “Holy crimson skies of death!” 

This Earth is where the Adam West “Batman” (1966-1968) television series took place. In the scene, we saw a grown-up Robin, played by Burt Ward, who reprised his role from the original series. The sweater that Dick was wearing in this scene was also a reference to his robin suit from the series. Also, the line that Dick says is a reference to how in the series, Dick always said “Holy… Batman!”

Earth-16: I did like that Earth-16 was visited, in this reality, the events of a pre-Nora/XS and pre-Eobard timeline still remains intact, so it was great visiting such an awesome take on the future of Star City that had already been established prior. It is most likely called Earth-16 as the episode where the Legends meet future Oliver is from season 1, episode 6.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, this episode of Supergirl, which was the first part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover was a well throughout start to this mega-crossover event. Although the episode spent a little too much time with some of the Supergirl characters instead of focusing on this situation as a whole, the high stakes, and streamlined plot were all well strung together on and off-screen. Also, the references were just so awesome to see, as so many other series are now a part of the Arrowverse in a sense.

Rating: 8.5/ 10

What did you think of this episode? Comment below your thoughts and what you think will happen next in this crisis down in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading, take care.