This week was the television event that Flarrowverse fans were waiting for – the epic four night crossover. The event itself, which began a story in ‘Supergirl’, continued to ‘The Flash’ to ‘Arrow’ and concluded on ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, is unprecedented in television history and a giant leap for superhero television.
But did it live up to the huge hype? Well we are going to be breaking it down episode by episode, rating each separately and then giving an overall rating. It goes without saying but here’s your SPOILER ALERT. Let’s do this thang!
Supergirl S2E8 Medusa
Though billed as a four night crossover the ‘Supergirl’ part was a self contained episode with only a book end really connecting it to the larger story. And that bookend, where Barry and Cisco travel to Kara’s Earth and enlist her help, was repeated in The Flash so you did not even need to watch Supergirl.
Besides the flimsy connection it was a pretty decent episode. It was fun watching J’onn battle Hank Henshaw aka Cyborg Superman and the Luthor mother/daughter storyline was interesting. I was surprised that J’onn was cured of his White Martian infection as I thought they would have stretched that out a little further. Overall an average Supergirl episode but not grand enough to draw in too many new viewers.
Supergirl Crossover Rating: C
The Flash S3E8 Invasion!
The crossover really started in ‘The Flash’ and they definitely delivered the goods. Barry having first contact with the Dominators was cool, it was great seeing Lyla being all official and Kara meeting the new heroes was fun. Rory telling her that her name is “dumb” and he would be calling her “skirt” was hilarious.
I was surprised that they combined the three teams so quickly as I thought they would have waited until ‘Arrow’ for that. The heroes versus heroes battle was comic book gold and thoroughly enjoyable. And poor Barry had a huge guilt trip when he revealed “Flashpoint”, a guilt trip mind you which he fully deserved. Stop messing with time kid.
The Flash Crossover Rating: A
Arrow S5E8 Invasion!
It was a little tricky for the Arrow entry of the crossover because it was also the show’s 100th episode. So how do you pay tribute to the show’s history while still connecting to an intertwining plot? You create a fake reality ‘Twilight Zone’-style and bring back dead characters like Laurel, Oliver’s parents and Damien Darkh, and still alive villains like Malcolm Merlyn and Deathstroke (though he remained masked at all times).
I had a good time with the episode and they mostly kept the Arrow dark tone. Some funny moments, some sweet action and the sidekicks even got some time to shine. And when Oliver said goodbye to his parents my ticket was booked for the feels train. Happy 100th Arrow and cheers to 100 more.
Arrow Crossover Rating: A
Legends of Tomorrow S2E7 Invasion!
It was up to ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ to bring it all home and they did a commendable job. It was more of a continuation from The Flash episode as the Arrow episode did not really impact on the story that much and why those heroes were played mind games with was not fully explained. Highlights included seeing Citizen Steel with his full costume – according to Rory “a star spangled idiot” – and he kicked a lot of alien backside. I do have to complain about Vixen though as they have not been fully exploring her animal powers and this episode continued that trend. Why not have her fly up like a hawk and then come crashing down on Dominators as a hippo? She used her elephant power and then kicked a bunch of guys? Come on folks! She deserves better.
The 50s flashback was cool and I was glad to see Cisco and Barry mend their fences. Cisco and Felicity as armed “tech support” was quite the hoot. The final battle was epic and I enjoyed the big Firestorm moment at the end. I thought the Dominators kind of packed and left Earth a bit too easy though and overall they were not that interesting of villains. And in case you missed it Ray’s “she looks like my cousin” comment about Kara is an in joke because he played Superman in Superman Returns.
I had a lot of fun with the crossover even though I found it a bit uneven. For next year’s inevitable crossover I would advise that the Supergirl episode be more integral and have more interesting baddies. Other than that it was really a fanboy’s dream come true and kudos to them for balancing so many characters. Best team up ever indeed!
Legends Crossover Rating: B
Overall Crossover Rating: B+
So which crossover episode was your favourite? Feel free to comment below.
For last week’s Flarrowverse recap which featured Supergirl vs Cyborg Superman and Flash vs Killer Frost you can click here. And for more super powered posts and wild movie videos you can like the MovieVille Facebook page here.