Well, the first 3 parts of the 5 part crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" have been seen and we are waiting for the final 2 hours on January 14th. I just wanted to get some of my thoughts written down now, and I will probably do another one come January 14th.
As I believe I have mentioned before, I do not read comic books. That is a little weird given how many tv shows and movies based on comics that I have watched, but I have never gotten into comics. That being said, as soon as I saw that headline about the Flash disappearing during a crisis on the pilot episode of The Flash, I started reading about "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in anticipation of the story being made for tv. Last year, when they announced that this year's crossover would be "Crisis", I was super excited, mainly because "Crisis" is one of the biggest comic book stories of all times. Even I had heard about it, even if I didn't know any details.
Reading all the spoilers coming out about who would be making cameos got me even more excited. They had previously made the 1990 version of The Flash a part of the Arrowverse, but now they have expanded that to include the Batman movies from the 1990s (Alexander Knox appeared in the first episode), the 1966 Batman tv show (Burt Ward [aka Robin] appeared in the first episode), Smallville (Tom Welling and Erica Durance appeared in the second episode), Birds of Prey from the early 2000s (the Huntress [Ashley Scott] appeared in the third episode), Lucifer (from Fox and Netflix), and Titans (from DC's streaming service). They also had Brandon Routh play Superman (albeit not the same one from Superman Returns) and they finally brought Black Lightning into a crossover. So hearing about all of these cameos (the Titans and Alexander Knox were the only ones I did not know about ahead of time) made me all the more eager to see the crossover.
I'm not going to say that the crossover has been without its flaws, but for the most part, it has been really good. I was a little disappointed in the pacing of the second (Batwoman) hour because the first hour had so much going on that when they slowed down for the second hour, it felt like everything was much less urgent. I will also say that killing Oliver Queen in the first hour was a massive surprise. I so did not expect that to happen, but it appears that his death will be a catalyst for the rest of the heroes to face the Anti-Monitor now.
I do also have to register immense annoyance and disappointment with Supergirl and how they have handled Lena Luthor. While I do get her being hurt at not being told that Kara is Supergirl, her reaction has been so out of proportion to the "offense". It feels like they wanted an excuse to turn Lena evil and seized on Kara's (totally understandable) keeping her identity a secret as a justification to have Lena turn. Let's be honest, Kara doesn't owe Lena jackshit when it comes to her identity. *NO ONE* owes complete honesty like that to anyone who is not their spouse/life partner. I just wish they could have found a better reason to cause Lena to turn if they were so determined to have her turn this way. Dunno, maybe that is just me.
Anyway, back to "Crisis". Aside from the pacing of the second hour and Lena Luthor, I have really been enjoying the crossover. From what I have read about the comics, they have hit a lot of the major plot points from the comics while still remaining true to the world that the series have created. Having the newest version of Wells be Pariah and having Lyla's call name of "Harbinger" mean what it meant in the comics has been pretty cool to watch.
I will say that there haven't been any totally standout moments from this year like there were last year. I'm not sure if that's because everything has been good or not, but there it is.
I know this hasn't been the most linear or coherent of reactions , but given the fact that we are just over halfway through the crossover and we are a month away from its end, I don't know how to react yet. Hopefully, I can get a better reaction after the crossover is completed.
On January 14th, the last two hours will play. See y'all then!
