Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part Two: Batwoman S01E09

The Crisis on Infinite Earths continues, as the characters move to Batwoman’s show and encounter a couple more Legends, some spare Supermen, and an especially Dark Knight.

Title: Crisis on Infinite Earths (2)

Cast and Crew

Directed: Laura Belsey
Written: Don Whitehead and Holly Henderson
Based on characters created by a whole bunch of other people

Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman
Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers / Supergirl
Brandon Routh as Clark Kent/Superman
Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent/Superman
Tom Welling as Clark Kent/Superman
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/the Flash
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane
Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor
Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory / Heat Wave
Caity Lotz as Sara Lance / White Canary
Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer / The Atom
Matt Ryan as John Constantine
Audrey Marie Anderson as Harbinger
Candice Patton as Iris West
Johnathon Schaech as Jonah Hex
Rachel Skarsten as Alice
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers
Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox
Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak
Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
LaMonica Garrett as Mar Novu / The Monitor
LaMonica Garrett as the Anti-Monitor

Premise

After temporarily stalling the destruction of universes, the assembled heroes try to gather more heroes, including a couple of Supermen and a Dark Knight. Lex Luthor complicates matters, and the Anti-Monitor finally reveals himself.

High Point

Tom Welling plays Clark Kent with such charm that I am willing to forget just how mopey and silly Smallville got over the course of its run. His interaction with the Arrowverse Lex Luthor is hilarious. If their scene had lasted any longer, one suspects it would have ended with him bitch-slapping Lex back to his ‘verse. Jon Cryer, for his part, gives a solid performance as a megalomaniac wrestling with the fact that he’s been completely outclassed. Of all the Supermen, I wish we could have seen more of this one.

Low Point

All reality is ending, and several key characters get sidelined into a plot to revive Oliver Queen. It not only feels unnecessary, it also reminds us that a probable Big Reset Button looms.

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6 The show continues in a range of directions, and while it draws from the source material, it does not just recapitulate its plot using the available characters. Live action DCTV finally shows us a Batman—and it does not turn out how we expect.

By the way, who won the betting pool for the time it took Bruce to mention his parents’ death? I know I was off by about ten seconds, so it isn’t me.

Effects: 5/6

Acting: 4/6 As always, the acting ranges. Grant Gustin gave a rushed performance of a rushed part. Kevin Conroy, however, carries considerable weight as Bruce Wayne.

Story: 4/6 It remains a difficult task to assess a story in progress. Like most mainstream Event Comics, the plot meanders quite a bit, but they do a decent job of giving each character a moment.
Emotional Response: 4/6 This series, like its inspiration, has a lot of great fan moments, but it has yet to cohere into a compelling narrative.

Production: 5/6

Overall: 4/6 I enjoyed the references to the 1970s Superman Movie, Kingdom Come and the numerous other fannish touches, but it really feels like a lot of sound and fury that may signify nothing. It would remain entertaining, but I am hoping for more than fannish fun. The original comic-book Crisis fundamentally changed the DCU, and those changes (more-or-less) stuck for the next fifteen years, resulting in some of the company’s most compelling comic books. It would be unfortunate if they missed a similar opportunity for their TV shows.

In total, Batwoman Crisis Part Two, receives 29/42

Lingering Question

This Mick Rory comes from Earth-74. Is that the one where the mid-70s Shazam and Isis series took place?

5 replies on “Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part Two: Batwoman S01E09”

  1. Notes while watching:
    *Reading the guest starts at they show up was a spoiler.
    *The theme music snippets are fun, as we land on Earth-99, that was the animated show’s theme.
    *Kevin Conroy is many people my age’s archetypal Batman, it’s great to see him.
    *I did not expect to see him go dark, and having Kevin play him helped allow for some surprise. Earth-99 was The Dark Knight Returns work, wasn’t it? I was hoping we’d get a live action Batman Beyond. I didn’t know I wanted that until today, but now I want that.
    *It’s nice to see where my Clark ended up, too. After ten years of Smallville, I didn’t realize how attached to him I was. I am a bit annoyed that they had to tell us it ended rather than let us go with what we had, but that was nice ending.
    *Earth-96? Superman Returns came out in 1996, didn’t it? No, that’s 2006.
    *The events here seems like a reference to Injustice, but there is a lot of DC I haven’t read.
    *I’m also kind of annoyed they keep going to Superman and Lex. It feels like after five years television is Kara’s domain and The CW should respect that.
    *Earth-18, is that Jonah Hex? *Searches* Yeah, that’s Jonah Hex.
    *Kate is a paragon ? I’m aghast with not-surprise.
    *Hope? Courage? I’m suspect the last Paragon is going to be the Paragon of Friendship and have four hooves.
    *After seeing the whole episode, Tom, Kevin, and Erica stole the show.
    *To your lingering question, I didn’t know there was a show like that. I searched it, and after seeing the preview image, I do not want to watch it.

    *Edited a bunch because the li tags I was using was destroyed the spoiler guard.

    • With regards to your comment on the Lingering Question: you have to understand the state of superhero TV and movies was not good in the 1970s. Marvel tried several shows, and only the Hulk stuck. The others made Shazam/Isis look like masterpieces.

      We used to joke about how Captain Marvel’s powers varied wildly, so that, when there was little at stake, he seemed overpowered. When something really depended on his actions, he strained to move one Styrofoam rock out of the way.

      Also, I am absolutely convinced that, when he landed at the end to hit you over the head with deliver the week’s moral lesson, he was jumping from an off-camera stepladder.

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