The second part of the CW Elseworlds was a bit more serious comic crossover, like a big annual crossover, and less like a silly single issue of Super-Team Family. The stakes became very real in this episode of Arrow. The immersion into the whole DC became deeper. The emotions, foreshadows, and angst that much more palpable.
I said in my review of the first part that this felt a little like Crisis On Infinite Earths Lite and this episode continues that with direct homages and indirect homages to what happened in that landmark series. As a long time fan, and someone who bought COIE off the rack, I can tell you I was basically gobsmacked this whole crossover.
There was so much to love about this. And I always worry that I might be focusing too much on the minor little Easter eggs in these reviews as opposed to recognizing the story as a whole. Yes, the body swap and the 'relationship' stuff was a very 'CW' layer to add. But this story of heroes getting together, fighting bad guys, meeting up with new allies, and saving the world was just classic comics, the reason why I still read these things today. And that makes me happy.
This is what a DC movie should feel like. I won't belabor that point.
On to the show.
This is technically an episode of Arrow so his supporting cast get the time that the Flash folks did in chapter one. But in a nice little wrinkle, the show runners had Grant Gustin do the voice over for the title. They even made props of his face where Ollie's would otherwise be, on newspapers, etc. It is a nice way to remind us that we are in a weird place right now.
As I said, this is an Arrow episode, so the opening sequence is Diggle and Argus fighting Deathstroke's son. That guy's name is Grant Wolfman (surely a nod to Marv).
I don't watch Arrow regularly so hard to know if he is an established character. But Wolfman slices his way through agents until the super squad arrives and takes him out.
Having lived through a couple of these crossovers Diggle knows when these three are together, it's trouble.
And what says that better from a comic book perspective than the three of them standing below red skies flashing with lightning. This is *a* Crisis, for sure.
The three have come to ARGUS to try and help figure out who is in the sketch Ollie created the last episode. For now, the three decide to keep the body swapping between Ollie and Barry a secret from Felicity. The Ollie/Felicity relationship is strained already and so the decision is to not muddy things even further. A constant in this crossover has been the amusing way we see both Ollie and Barry be uncomfortable in the shoes of the other. Barry simply doesn't know how to act as Ollie around Felicity. It is cringe-worthy in an amusing way.
When ARGUS can't help figure out who the man in the sketch is, the three decide to head to Gotham. As a public figure, Ollie wants "Ollie" (Barry) to stay home. But it's clear they'll need everyone. Plus Barry wants to meet Batman.
In one of the best running bits, Ollie keeps denying that Batman is real, thinking he's an urban legend cooked up by the cops. He wants Green Arrow to be the first vigilante. Now that is funny!
The two don't have much to go on in terms of investigating. Ollie knows some people in Gotham, mostly women he has slept with.
In Gotham, it is clear that the whole city is 'the bad part of town'. Rich people go to work in armored vehicles with armed guards.
And our heroes learn this quickly, being mugged in an alley right out of the gates. When one tries to shoot Ollie/ Kara snags the bullet. This is a Donner swipe no doubt. I love it.
The hubbub of a brawl in the alley leads to the cops showing up and arresting everyone. And the cops are quite happy with themselves for having snagged Ollie Queen.
Tossed in jail, Kara is the voice of reason. Barry (as Ollie) escalated things too quickly. Ollie (as Barry) should know he can't talk down muggers. She would have sped them away. This body swap is getting trickier to handle.
Luckily, the three are bailed out by someone.
They're brought to Wayne Tower, as seen in the sketch. The place is in ruins, the lobby smashed and covered in graffiti.
There they meet Kate Kane, running the Wayne affairs after Bruce left the city 3 years earlier. That's the same time Batman left.
She wants these three out of her city. She doesn't want vigilantes in her town. The fastest way to accomplish that is to help them figure out what they are looking for so they'll leave.
Again, in another funny moment, Barry (as Ollie) says he would never compare his career as Green Arrow to a badass like Batman. It is a way friends would needle each other over insecurities.
Of course, needling can go both ways. As the Flash, Ollie stole a database from the GCPD.
Using that info, they learn the man in the drawing is Dr. Deegan, thrown out of the medical community for his illegal experiments and torture on his patients brains. With no address, Kara says she'll fly over the city for a super-vision scan.
And she isn't worried about what Kate will do. After all, she couldn't have Kryptonite stashed somewhere, right?
Well Kara ... if Kate inherited Batman's stuff, she just might.
Before flying off (literally), Kara runs into Kate. I love the conversation they have.
Kara implies strongly that she knows that Bruce was Batman. She wonders if keeping his private life 'private' broke him. Kara even says that her cousin and Bruce are frenemies, a cute way of summing up the Batman/Superman relationship.
But Kate says that looking out at Gotham steels someone; it doesn't break them.
With the conversation going well, Kara asks about Deegan and Kate says he is a psychiatrist at Arkham. (I have to question Arkham's hiring practice!)
With a place to investigate known, the heroes head off. And Kate descends into a Batcave of sorts. She is the Batwoman we have seen in glimpses alreadry.
I do have to laugh at the Shakespeare bust in Bruce's office, a nod to the Batman '66 show.
Meanwhile, it has become clear that the red skies are a phenomenon of someone trying to breech into the Earth 1 universe and it is following our heroes. With that in mind, the ARGUS team and the STAR labs team join up.
Using some fancy science, they are able to stabilize the field enough to catch a glimpse of the Earth 90 Barry warning them about the book of Destiny.
This is the purest of Crisis on Infinite Earths homages. In the early issues, our heroes were getting glimpses of the Flash in similar energy clouds warning them about the upcoming Crisis.
Man, I trembled a little when I saw it. Wonderful!
The place is ripped from the comics. We see doors marked for Cobblepot, Isley, Karlo, Nygma, and even one for writer Marc Guggenheim (maybe he thinks he is insane for trying to pull this off?). We even get a riddle? Any answers? Mine is 'America in the Civil War.'
Ollie confronts Deegan who laughs at the situation. He wonders why, despite trying to rewrite the world, he didn't become the Flash. It is true. Why is Deegan still stuck in this dead end job? Why isn't the world that much different? Maybe he isn't thinking big enough?
To delay matters and get his hands back on the book, Deegan opens up all the cells in Arkham. We have an old fashioned breakout.
We get an old school Supergirl shirt rip! I love these moments!
Diggle takes out a bunch of lunatics.
Batwoman beats up some thugs who show the appropriate amount of fear. We get a semi-extended look at someone that has to be the Psycho Pirate.
Caitlin gets into a scrap with Nora Fries who wields Victor's gun.
We see boomerangs, grenades, and even Bane's mask from the Nolan films.
Ollie as the Flash super-speeds people back into their cells.
It's all good.
Kara is able to grab the book of Destiny from Deegan even if she isn't able to grab Deegan himself.
Meanwhile, Ollie and Barry are exposed to Scarecrow fear toxin and experience each other's biggest nightmares. For Ollie (living as Barry), he sees Thawne who says he is too good, too slow, too pathetic to do what needs to be done. Barry (living as Ollie) sees Mark Merlyn and hears about how he is a coward, weak, and pathetic. They battle their mortal enemies when in reality they are fighting each other. It is a nice way for the two friends to honestly understand each other.
It is only when Batwoman shows up and knocks them both out do they come to their senses.
This whole scene is shot effectively with zoom in shots allowing us to see the fight in all three combinations in one seamless feeling take - Flash vs Reverse Flash, Arrow vs Merlyn, and the reality of Flash vs Arrow. It is very well done.
Before they go, Supergirl has a great solo scene with Batwoman.
Kara says that Kate's cousin would be proud of her. She should know what it means to have to live in the shadow of a super-cousin. And Kate lets on that she knows that Supergirl is Kara Danvers.
In the end they know they make a great team together, the World's Finest.
COME ON NOW! DID I JUST SEE THAT!
Amazing!
And I have to reiterate that in both this scene and the prior between Kate and Kara, Melissa Benoist and Ruby Rose have great chemistry. Let me see more of this at some point, please!!!
The book can't be unlocked.
Barry and Ollie sit down to acknowledge what they saw while under the influence and how they now respect each other even more. In a line I think dripping with foreshadow, Barry tells Ollie to patch things up with Felicity because you never know how much time you have. Is Ollie doomed?
But before that can happen, the Earth 90 Flash arrives through a breech. Of course, he is confused for Jay Garrick and Barry's dad (both played by Shipp as well). But he says he is the Barry of Earth 90. And as the Flash he wonders, while looking at Diggle, why John isn't wearing his ring. Yep! On Earth 90, Diggle must be Green Lantern John Stewart!
Barry warns everyone that the Monitor is testing universes to find one strong enough to withstand an upcoming Crisis, a collision of realities.
Unbelievable.
The Monitor shows up and sends the Earth 90 Barry away.
He does indeed say that a Crisis is coming, someone stronger than him, something more powerful than a reality altering book. He needs to find heroes strong enough to withstand that attack and save the multiverse. Earth 1 has promise. He takes the book back and blips away.
That idea of the Monitor testing heroes is also right out of the comics. The threat has to be The Anti-Monitor.
And he isn't done testing this place. He goes back to Deegan and hands him the book again, this time telling him to think bigger.
Sure enough, our heroes awaken in a new world, one where they are gun-toting criminals called the Trigger Twins. The Trigger Twins! And worse off, their Earth is now guarded by a black garbed Superman!
Nice cliffhanger.
So this one had it all. The Gotham scenes, and especially the Kara/Kate scenes, were perfect. Arkham was fantastic. We had many Crisis beats in the story. And now a new reality.
I said it before. I'll say again.
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