Crisis on Infinite Earths begins on Supergirl as our red skies descend to shake up the CW’s Arrowverse. Bureau 42 has a primer for you here, and a review for the first part her available here if you want more.
Title: Crisis on Infinite Earths (1)
Cast and Crew
Directed: Jesse Warn
Written: Derek Simon & Jay Faerber
Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers / Supergirl
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers
Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor
Jesse Rath as Querl Dox / Brainiac-5
Nicole Maines as Dreamer
Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen
Andrea Brooks as Eve Teschmacher (credit only)
Julie Gonzalo as Andrea Rojas (credit only)
Staz Nair as William Dey (credit only)
LaMonica Garrett as Mar Novu / The Monitor
David Harewood as J’onn J’onzz / Martian Manhunter
Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
Caity Lotz as Sara Lance / White Canary
Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer / The Atom
Tom Cavanagh as Harrison ‘Nash’ Wells / Pariah
Premise
The Monitor sends Harbinger to gather the worlds’ greatest heroes – Supergirl, The Flash, Green Arrow, Batwoman, White Canary, The Atom and Superman- in preparation for the impending Crisis. With their worlds in imminent danger, the superheroes suit up for battle while J’onn and Alex recruit Lena to help them find a way to save the people of Earth-38. (from IMDB)
High Point
The CW does a nice job with the crossover events to make them feel like the annual convention where people get to see their friends they only see once a year. “Oh, you’re wearing pants now.” “You brought your daughter?” “Barry’s late again.” “Hey, Burt Ward is here from Earth-66, of cou– Is that Wil Wheaton?!”
Low Point
The ending has a “surprise” that I am not sure anyone expects to stick, which steals a lot of the impact.
The Scores:
Originality: 3/6 The idea of bringing superheroes together are as old as superheroes are. but seeing them all grabbed and assembled is still feels new for TV.
Effects: 5/6 This is not a movie level production, but they certainly seem to aim (and make it) to that level.
Acting: 4/6 If you are already watching the show, the quality is about the same. The actors don’t seem to pull off believable the whole time.
Story: 4/6 The story is weak, as the show throws as much technobabble and comic science at the circumstance as they can to make sure they hit the story beats they want to hit. They do hit all of the interesting beats, however.
Emotional Response: 4/6 The emotional response is conveyed well, up until the last moment. That just didn’t land the way that it was intended.
Production: 6/6 Production quality for a television show feels like a full scale, big budget movie.
Overall: 5/6 Seems like an interesting opener for a good crossover event, but still just feels like Act 1.
In total, Supergirl, receives 31/42
Note: Batwoman was on Earth-1? So that means Batman was also on that world and nobody talks about him?
As I recall, Barry and Oliver met her during last year’s crossover when they went to Gotham which would put her on Earth-1. There does seem to be some confusion related to the timeline on Batwoman vs the rest of the Arrowverse, though, since we just got through her origin story which had to have happened before Earth-X last year. As far as nobody talking about him, Batman has apparently been missing for a long time. There have been references over the years, though, and we also haven’t really been in Gotham at all on screen and there’s no apparent history of friendship so it makes sense a hero from one city wouldn’t get a lot of attention in another that has its own problems and heroes.
I’m willing to handwave the inconsistencies in Batwoman’s timeline– and yeah, they’ve managed to reference Batman on both the ArrowFlash and Supergirl Earths without him actually being around.
With regards to production– leave us face it, this remains the DCTVU, with slightly improved values. The effects (the Shadow Demons, for example– did they just start calling them that?), like the actors, “don’t seem to pull off believable the whole time.”
I’m intrigued, and find myself hoping they’ll pull off a full-on Crisis ending, with a single earth and new timeline. That could be interesting.
Rumours claim that Bruce Wayne will turn up tonight, but I guess we’ll see.
So, the Earths mentioned in this episode… I wanted a reference:
Earth-89 – Batman, the Tim Burton movie
Earth-9 – I think we are supposed to take that as the Titans show
Earth-X – Nazi world from the other crossover
Earth-66 – Burt Ward (Robin) from Batman’s 1966 show
Earth-38 – Supergirl’s Show
Earth-16 – Old Oliver from the Legend’s episode Star City 2046
I must say, though, that cast list is missing a lot of people, from the Flash, Batwoman, and Superman to cameos like Burt “Earth-66 Robin” Ward and Will “Crazy Sign Guy Who Recalls Rorschach’s Other Identity” Wheaton.
Oh. And I missed the brief appearance of the Titans/Doom universe. Its ending diminishes the likelihood we will see a true reshaping of the DCTVU as we did with the comic source.
I wouldn’t rule it out, yet. I figure they still can merge everything from the TV side, but I can’t imagine we’ll see Batfleck show up in the finale or anything. (Haven’t seen the Batwoman episode yet, gimmie a hour or two.)