This episode kicks off with a bang as Ollie and Barry have to contend with a fully deranged John Deegan, now Earth-1’s Superman, black suit and all! It’s a pretty terrifying prospect but he also nicks the opening monologue! THE FIEND!

The whole thing has shades of the Injustice video game about it, or the flashforward/dream sequence in Batman v Superman which also ripped off the Injustice aesthetic, but it’s an effective way to show how boned Ollie and Barry are, especially when they learn that everyone they could rely on isn’t going to help them. Unless they do, like Cisco because they kinda need him to jump dimensions so sure, he’ll help them.

Speaking of dimension-hopping, Ollie and Barry come face-to-face with The Monitor and his whole demeanour is great. LaMonica Garrett has been fantastic any time he showed up. Enigmatic to a fault, The Monitor still has a playful lilt to his voice that indicates that this test isn’t meant in malice and he is genuinely surprised at how our heroes adapt.

So much so that he appears to offer Ollie a deal in order to keep Barry and Kara from not dying, as foretold in the Book of Destiny. What that actually means will remain to be seen but I can see it as a way for Stephen Amell to leave Arrow should he wish to.

Can I just give some love to Tyler Hoechlin? Because he’s a great Superman. And a great Clark Kent. And a great Evil Superman. He’s just a really good actor who gets the character and that chin is chiselled as FUCK! What a handsome lad. But yeah, he’s got great bits throughout the 3 nights but his best spots are in this Supergirl episode, where he finally proposes to Lois after learning they’re going to have a child. Good for them!

The Super Friends continue to have a really fun chemistry and it’s gonna be sad when they go back to their own shows and I have to listen to the same tired shit from The Flash again but that’s 2019 Sharp-O’s problem and that bastard deserves it. He knows what he did…

Deegan is defeated, even gaining a brand new skello-face to match his comic book counterpart; Doctor Destiny. Yeah, I didn’t mention that before because he’s kind of a jobber villain, mostly known for his appearances in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics and the two times he was voiced by William Atherton in the New Batman Adventures and Justice League cartoons.

We also get some parting words from Batwoman about Deegan being incarcerated in Arkham and her concern about his new friend; Psycho-Pirate.

Words have power and there are few words in the DC Universe that inspire both awe and terror like those above. I’ve thrown the word ‘Crisis’ around a lot during this crossover, even capitalised it, that’s how important it is, because Psycho-Pirate’s final words are a portent of doom in the DC universe and foreshadowing for next year’s event which may mean the end for more than one of our heroes.

A Crisis is coming and universes will collide. Worlds will live, worlds will die, and nothing will ever be the same again.

And that’s Elseworlds! A thoroughly enjoyable romp over three nights and probably my favourite of the CW crossovers up to this point. It was funny, intriguing, and set the stage for the biggest name in DC events which will no doubt see Black Lightning come into the fold. And if you’re wondering where the Legends were during this whole escapade; let’s just say there was an incident involving Constantine, a cat, the Puppets of Tomorrow, and time being repeatedly shattered. So that’s why they had to cash in a rain check.

That’s all from Flash Facts until mid-January 2019 so I hope you all have a very merry holiday season and I’ll catch you guys next year!

Welcome back to the second night of Elseworlds everyone and hot damn, this is an episode chock full of easter eggs and references to the wider DCU and I can’t wait to dig in!

First up is the Super Friends throwing shade at Gotham because of course they will. Gotham’s like a shittier Star City but it does have a generally better calibre of bad guy!

Naturally, spending a significant amount of time in Gotham means a trip to Arkham Asylum and that means a whole host of characters that we’re not allowed to show on-screen due to a competing television show; like Oswald Cobblepot, Pamela Isley, Basil Karlo, and Edward Nigma! We also get visual confirmation of the Psycho-Pirate, a character previously referenced in Nora in the article about Barry’s disappearance. More on him later.

There’s also an assortment of villain-themed trinkets scattered around in John Deegan’s office and we get a surprise appearance from nora Fries, somehow not on ice, attacking Caitlin with her husband’s ice cannon.

Not to mention an awesome action scene triggered by Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow’s fear toxin, which gives us the prerequisiste hero vs. hero fight as Barry and Ollie see each other as their hero identities’ biggest bads; namely Malcolm Merlyn and Eobard Thawne.

There’s a lot of talk about Bruce Wayne and Batman and, naturally, we don’t see even a bat ear of him but I do love this exchange from the Super Friends. Ollie’s already tried to out-alpha Superman and now he’s doing the same with Batman, much to the amusement of Barry and Kara.

This episode is also kind of a backdoor pilot for Ruby Rose’s Kate Kane aka Bat-Woman and I’m digging her performance. She’s a no nonsense, extremely capable fighter in the cape and cowl and strikes a nice balance between business and pleasure in civvies when she flirts with Kara. I hope the proposed series proves successful because I like what I’ve seen of the character so far…

And the prospect of this team-up almost gets me as excited for it as I am for this crossover!

Also, somebody pick-up that phone because I FUCKING CALLED IT! John Diggle is Green Lantern John Stewart! Granted, only on Earth-90 but that’s a hard confirm for me and I am taking the win! BOOSH!

With Deegan’s plan exposed and the mysterious book taken from him, the Super Friends plus Earth-90’s Flash face down The Monitor and are so out-classed, it’s not even funny. They’re nowhere near his level and he, surprisingly, congratulates them for getting the book, a feat not managed by another other world he’s tested.

Yup, my theory on The Monitor testing the various universes is spot-on. He’s handing the Book of Destiny to random people in a given reality to simulate the chaos brought on by a ‘crisis’. The original Crisis on Infinite Earths comic series had the Psycho-Pirate (told you we’d come back to him) become a willing henchman to the Anti-Monitor, a being of immense power that The Monitor alludes to. Given the red skies, the presence of The Monitor and the Psycho-Pirate, and the threat of an oncoming Crisis means bad news for Barry Allen, specifically. We may finally see that headline come to pass, after all.

The episode ends with reality being rewritten again; Barry and Oliver being remade as a criminal pair known as the Trigger Twins, Ollie’s greatest enemies as Central City cops and, worst of all, a black-clad Superman intent on arresting them. Tha’s no’ good.

The second part of Elseworlds is a fantastic middle chapter, giving us more humour but also expanding on the ultimate threat while teasing tougher times to come. I truly can’t wait for the third and final act of this story tomorrow on Supergirl so I hope to see you all then!

Seriously, it’s been a rough week and it’s probably going to get worse so when I say this was the most I’ve smiled in a week, I mean it. Elseworlds Part 1 is an utter delight in every way and a fantastic set-up for what’s to come.

This year’s crossover event kicks off with a bang as it repeats the Earth-90 stinger from the previous week’s shows but at the top to quickly establish The Monitor before jumping to Earth-1, where The Monitor hands the mysterious glow-y book to one John Deegan (you may recognise actor Jeremy Davies from his role as Ritchie Simpson on Constantine).

Deegan appears to be a struggling scientist with ideas that some would brand ‘mad’, which happens during a lecture. For reasons unknown, The Monitor hands the book to Deegan and tells him to remake the world. I guess this is some sort of test, given what happened to Earth-90 and how he said that “You did this to yourself” to that world’s Flash. The mystery thickens but from here on out, I’ll just be telling you about how much fun I had with this episode.

Flash Fact: The Monitor is a character closely associated to DC’s various Crisis events, which also have red skies as a motif. Both are present here and that bodes ill.

Like Ollie not adapting well to being the Flash and screaming old faithful at criminals (and earlier assuming Barry fucked up time again).

We finally have an AMAZO! And he’s just as cool as I could hope! AMAZO is one of those great villains to use for a character-driven story because his schtick is to steal powers and that is it. No monologuing, no hidden agenda, just a big out-of-control robot to punch until it falls down. I also liked how it affectionately nodded at the existing Arrow lore of Anthony Ivo, his ship The Amazo, and Mirakuru.

Meanwhile, on Earth-38, shenanigans are afoot and it’s always a pleasure to see Stephen, Grant, and Melissa onscreen together. Grant and Stephen’s banter is pitch-perfect and is often the best part of any crossover. Ollie trying to be more alpha around the perfectly nice Clark is hilarious. Additionally, Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch as Clark and Lois are a great match, they have brilliant chemistry.

SOMEBODY SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE ME from these Smallville references! The Remy song kicked in before the Earth-38 title card and for a split second I was audibly screaming “WHAT?!” at the idea of a Smallville universe being shown but holy crap, it’s the Smallville farm! That’s so cool! It’s been just long enough for this place to be nostalgic and I’m happy to see out new Superman hanging out.

Flash Fact: The Smallville Green Arrow costume makes a sneaky cameo in the Earth-90 segment.

This scene. I had to pause I was laughing so hard and then I played it again. Perfection.

This is also a damn good scene, despite being the obligatory ‘serious talk’ for the episode. Barry has always been Ollie’s opposite number and the idea of him becoming Ollie is indeed a scary prospect. Expect Ollie wouldn’t erase children from existence. Himself, sure. Loved ones, probably. Children? Only a monster like Barry Allen would do that.

Once AMAZO is dealt with, Cisco talks to Ollie, Barry, and Kara about The Monitor, who appeared to Cisco earlier, and is visibly shaken when The Monitor notices Cisco vibing him again and gives a dire warning. Ollie, though, picks up on a subtle clue and that leads us directly into Part 2 on Arrow tomorrow!

I loved this episode and I have high hopes for the next episode! What are your thoughts on this episode? Be sure to share them on our Facebook and Twitter and I’ll see you all tomorrow for another Elseworlds episode!

My plans for this review series just aren’t going to plan! So what’s happened in the weeks since the last review? Well, I’ve caught up with all of the CW opening episodes and here’s my quick thoughts! Supergirl remains boring as sin, Legends has a weak opening but it’s got Matthew Ryan as Constantine so I’m in. Arrow has an interesting premise and intriguing flash-forwards, and Black Lightning remains the most consistently good out of all the CW DC shows, not hampered by many of the tropes and trappings of the others.

So what’s been happening with The Flash? Shenanigans, mostly. While they’ve skipped the initial mistrust of Nora, I think Barry and Iris are a little too into being parents to this twenty-something they‘ve just met. Zero-to-sixty with the parenting. It’s awkward but since Nora is still an interesting character, I can put up with it. It’s the kind of development and mentorship we should have had with Wally though…

Cisco is still coming to grips with his break-up with Gypsy, being a curmudgeon and generally having a moan. That’s it. That’s his schtick now. Meanwhile, Caitlin and Ralph are going full-on Mystery, Inc and sleuthing the case of the missing dad which gives them a cool dynamic and adds to the Killer Frost Retrieval Arc. Caitlin finds a supposed suicide note amongst her father’s old notes and by using a cipher, decodes the notes to reveal a message from her father. Kinda hoping that this is Caitlin trying too hard to find a connection and the accumulated grief will see her go full Frost once more but probably not.

It wouldn’t be a season of The Flash without a new incarnation of Harrison Wells and I think I’ve finally reached my limit of Cavanaugh’s numerous characters and garbage accents. It was fun for a while but I think this Sherloque persona is one persona too far. The only semi-meaningful thing that he did was set up some doubt in the audience regarding Nora’s intentions. Like, yeah; obviously she’s hiding something, she’s from the future, there’s all sorts she could be keeping from the team.

And on the villain front, Cicada’s death-count is up to two with the deaths of both meta-jobbers, Gridlock and Block. His hostage situation with Joe reveals a lot about his motivation while Nora talks about his legacy; a metahuman serial killer who is never caught but who has clearly lost his family due to metahumans. It’s an interesting villain, for sure, especially since his lightning bolt dagger can even the playing field by stripping metas of their powers but the swerve with Vibe is a huge mistake in my opinion.

While I don’t want to see Cisco killed, it would definitely make Cicada more of a threat and galvanise the team. It’d make Nora step-up since his early arrival is a result of her actions and Barry wouldn’t be holding her hand as much. Plus this is the second time Cisco has escaped the reaper and he’s definitely got it coming.

Flash Fact: The titles of the first three episodes are a secret message that comes to pass at the end of the third; Nora Blocked The Death of Vibe. Not sure if that’s intentional or not but neat none-the-less.

So Blocked and The Death of Vibe aren’t as good as the opening episode but there’s elements that are just interesting enough to keep me coming back. In comparison, Supergirl is boring as sin and the only thing I’m interested in is the Red Daughter-esque subplot that will hopefully go somewhere. Next time, we’ll see things spin out of control in News Flash.

Hi, guys, and welcome to Season 5 of everybody’s favourite cynical look at everyone’s favourite scarlet speedster! Season 5 hits the ground running, picking up exactly where Season 4 left off, with the arrival of Nora West-Allen, Barry and Iris’ daughter from the future!

Oh, you sweet, sweet child. Thank you for gracing us with your presence. It’s been too long since someone had some bloody enthusiasm and wonder in this show and I’m so glad that Jessice Parker Kennedy is giving Nora a tangible sense of hype just to be near Barry. She’s certainly her father’s daughter too, inheriting a selfish irresponsibility that is uniquely Barry Allen.

I do like that they retread the cryptic newspaper headline and show it’s follow-up to justify Nora’s desire to risk breaking time just to spend time with her dad. It’s very humanising and while I’m clearly biased in letting her away with it, Nora hasn’t erased children from existence with her actions. Yet. If she does, THEN I’ll lay into her just like I do with Barry.

Flash Fact: Nora’s future knowledge reveals a ton of neat easter eggs but, personally, my favourites are her future vocabulary. ‘Schway’, said during a rather awkward coffee break with Iris, is the new ‘cool’ and is actually a slang term from the Batman Beyond animated show. ‘Grife’ is from even further in the future, originating in the year 3000 and being a term associated with the Legion of Super Heroes. One of it’s members, Lightning Lad, is mention in the aforementioned coffee break and the Legion has even appeared in last season’s Supergirl!

I’m glad that Hartley Sawyer is joining the cast full-time and his numerous epiphanies throughout the episode are both hilarious and nice little fourth wall breaks like mentioning he could have died in another timeline, which he actually did, pre-Flashpoint.

I’m also digging that it seems Ralph is going to be helping Caitlin dig deeper into the disappearance of Killer Frost, even managing to show that her father’s death certificate is faked. Looking forward to seeing how this plot line develops further.

Flash Fact: The non-existent coroner, Cameron Mahkent, is the identity of Golden Age Flash villain, Icicle. A very nICE nod to Caitlin’s powers, if I do say so.

And the last thing I want to mention is the new suit, designed by my favourite Atom; Ryan Choi! I don’t like the new suit. It makes Grant Gustin look like a right lanky streak of piss and it’s so plain! Yeah, the other suits weren’t bang-on for the comic version but they looked pretty damn good! We even get to see two back-ups in this episode and they look way better than this version but I suppose it’ll grow on me throughout the season. It’s great that Barry finally has the iconic ring, though!

Overall, Nora is a brilliantly fun way to kick off the new season and I hope that the new villain, briefly seen towards the end of the episode, will be just as complex and menacing as The Thinker. Come back next time and see if the show continues to be good or if it’s going to get Blocked.

We’re into the second half of the Crisis on Earth-X crossover event and they don’t let us the majority of our heroes are trapped on Earth-X while Supergirl is going under the knife of Eobard Thawne.

Stakes are high and we catch-up with our heroes in a concentration camp which is surprising given that the Nazis have won… I imagine there’d be some resistance but I thought they would have a less WWII-y mindset and be more akin to The Empire from Star Wars. Those purely Empire worlds are pretty idyllic from what I remember but hey, it’s Nazis, gotta have ze camps. Surprisingly, Earth-X’s Quentin Lance is in charge with an accent that can’t decide if it’s going full-Nazi-stereotype or British-people-playing-Germans-in-war-films.

There we meet Ray Terrill, Earth-X’s exclusive hero – The Ray. Russell Tovey, who you may remember from Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Being Human, is kind of an odd duck since he’s from Earth-1 but somehow got transported to Earth-X and is in a relationship with Leo Snart (Earth-X’s Captain Cold). That’s pretty much it in terms of character. Unfortunately, with everything else going on and with bigger character moments, Ray comes up short.

Leo Snart is a much more jovial rendition of the Snart we’re used tobut is every bit the hero ours was. Wentworth Miller is always welcome to come back in my eyes but with this being his swansong (though he seems to be staying on The Flash until the mid-season finale apparently), he does a fair amount ingratiating himself with the Earth-1 heroes and even sharing a scene with Mick, where we find both have lost their partners.

In terms of action, we get a fight to secure our heroes’ way home with Flash and Ray fighting Red Tornado, a weapon unleashed by Resistance Leader Winn Schott, which is weird because the poster had Tornado on the Nazis’ side and I thought that would be a connecting point to Freedom Fighters: The Ray but I guess not? Odd. Still, the design they use is a marked improvement to the awful suit used in Supergirl’s first season.

There’s also fight between the captured Team Arrow, Cisco, the Legends and Metallo while they rescue Kara which is pretty cool and then we have the final battle which I marked out for super-hard because this kind of line-up is rarely seen in the West but is a staple of Japanese Super Sentai/Kamen Rider shows. It tickled me just right. Sure, it devolves into a schmoz immediately but we have several key points to cover.

Flash Fact: The Gideon equivalent on Earth-X’s Wellenreiter is voiced by Susanna Thompson, who long-time Arrow viewers will recognise as Moira Queen, Oliver’s mother!

Barry. Lets. Thawne. GO! This is why you get all the bad things happen to you, Barry! Because you’re god damn idiot!

This moment right here? Perfect. Melissa Benoist continues to prove that she is worthy to wear the S-Shield and that a “Super” character can shine bright even when having inner turmoil, something the movies seem to be struggling with.

And then I have to talk about the thing that broke me. Two characters I’ve neglected to mention until now has been Jax and Stein, the two halves of Firestorm. Throughout the crossover, they’ve been butting heads about their upcoming break-up. The dissolution of Firestorm would leave them both pwerless but Stein could return to his family but it’s not that simple. These two have been, figuratively and literally, inseperable for the better part of two years (give or take, time travel’s weird, yo) and they have grown closer than even Ronnie and Stein did.

Jax became more confident in his own skills and ingenuity thanks to Stein and Stein became a more accepting and warmer person because of Jax’s influence. They’re so close as to consider each other family and admit to it during this event, but during the siege on the Nazi’s breach building, Stein is mortally wounded. Fusing into Firestorm to keep his partner alive, Jax starts to cough up blood back on the Waverider. The two are linked, body and soul, and if one dies…

It was after this scene that I had to stop. I don’t know how to explain it because I’m usually not overly-mushy when it comes to father-son talks (growing up sans-father will do that) but the performances of Victor Garber and Franz Dremah were powerful, heartbreaking and I genuinely cried as Stein sacrificed his life to save Jax, the son he wished he’d always had.

Martin Stein died a Legend and that sticks with the team even to the end of the crossover as it hits each of the Legends who knew him personally and to the others who have their unique goodbyes at his funeral. It was a tough sit through both those scenes, I’ll admit but they’d never end this on a down note and the story ends off with Barry and Iris.

Since they were rudely interrupted by invading Nazis, the pair decide on a simpler ceremony just to make it legally binding. Felicity points out that Diggle is ordained and Barry wastes no time messing with his day (because it’s a crossover tradition at this point) so, amongst the scenic park and Diggle’s puke wafting in the air, Barry and Iris get married. And then Felicitiy ruins the moment by spontaneously deciding to marry Oliver despite spending the last four hours not wanting to FUCK THIS IS WHY NO ONE LIKES YOU FELICITY FUCK! But yes, the crossover ends with the big two ships of Flarrow tying the knot and it’s all hunky-dory. So what is my final verdict on Crisis on Earth-X?

I loved it! Strong character dynamics, lots of action, lore-building and genuine fun makes for a fantastic four-hour superhero movie that even DC’s big budget outings can’t match. If I had to nitpick then I’d have to say that a lot of the ropey CGI, The Ray’s lack of development, alongside Kid Flash’s absence and Felicity being Felicity are some of the weakest parts of this crossover but the rest more than makes up for it.

I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did and be sure to let me know your favourite moments down in the comments but next week we see the return of Amunet Black as Barry and Cailtin are both trapped in desperate situations in Don’t Run.

I’m not even kidding; as good as last year’s Invasion crossover was cool, this year’s kicks off it’s two-night spectacular in style with Supergirl and Arrow, even if the casts are so meshed that you can’t even really tell which episode is which.

They don’t bury the lead either as we open on Earth-X itself, with crimson, lightning filled skies that bring to mind the Dark Multiverse worlds from the recent DC Comics event, Dark Nights: Metal. Black and crimson banners fill the skyline along with strange architecture and zeppelins. Oh yeah, we’re in Nazi Country.

A resistance warehouse is attacked and decimated by one lone archer, showing that Earth X’s Dark Arrow is not to be trifled with and he proves that by taking on that Earth’s James Olsen aka Guardian, in a way more beat-up patriotic version of his suit. He unfortunately dies but assures DA that there are more like him, nicely hinting at the upcoming animated Freedom Fighters: The Ray, which serves as a prequel to this crossover.

We catch-up with our main heroes as they’re all discussing the upcoming wedding, with nice location titles using the font of each respective series. It’s a neat little sequence, overall and serves as an introduction to the majority of the players for these first two parts.

During the build-up to the event, we get quite a lot of information dumped on us for those who may not watch every show and to show how all these disparate groups interact and it’s nice to see Barry catch up with Ollie and Kara again. They built up a real bond over the past couple of years and it’s paid off here as Ollie is best man and Kara does a beautiful rendition of Runnin’ Home To You, an original song from the musical team-up, Duet.

Kara’s adoptive sister, Alex, and Sara Lance hook-up the night before the wedding! Alex, rebounding from a recent break-up, and Sara, a notorious puss-hound, make for some nice, awkward comic relief but given how funny this collective cast is, there’s plenty to go around…

Like Mick! Dominic Purcell is frequently the funniest cast member on Legends of Tomorrow and is used to decent effect here, partnering up with Caitlin, most likely as a Snart surrogate. Get the whole fire and ice motif rocking again. They even have a go at Dark Arrow before being jobbed out (along with the rest of Team Arrow).

Back to the wedding where Nazis invade! It makes sense in hindsight since nearly every CW hero is gathered together but this gives the show the ample opportunity to have everyone show off what they do best and it gives one notable absence a real highlight…

While Kid Flash won’t be partaking in the event proper, Wally does get a really slick moment that made me smile and then made me sad because he’s amongst the three other black heroes that are sadly missing from this team-up.

OH! I should make mention of another odd attendant besides the assemblage of heroes and the Nazi gate-grashers. This odd little moment between Grant Gustin and a rather excitable Jessica Parker-Kennedy who is playing an unnamed character but my Spidey-Sense is tingling and I think she’s going to be important. There’s two theories I can offer but I’ll keep them under my hat for now.

Now, I guess I should talk about some of our villains and while Dark Arrow and Overgirl are just married versions of Ollie and Kara (gross, I know), they do make a menacing power couple and there’s a fair amount of affection between the two. The real odd-balls are Metallo, with some of the ropiest CGI this poor stretched production could muster and Eobard Thawne. Our Eobard Thawne. Wearing Wells’ face. I know they make mention of time shenanigans but this is ridiculous. I know they’re only doing the Wells-face again because they’re burning through their budget like no tomorrow and Tom Cavanaugh is up for literally anything but it’s still super weird.

Not as weird as Tommy Merlyn being Prometheus though! Holy shit! This was a swerve and a half and I applaud the writing team for bringing Colin Donnell back to Arrow after 5 seasons of his character being dead! Though I will admit that I didn’t recognise him immediately and only marked out when I heard his name.

I know there’s still a lot I haven’t covered and I’m already pushing 800 words but rest assured, I loved every second of the Supergirl and Arrow parts of this crossover and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s episodes when we’ll see Overgirl try to steal Kara’s heart and the rest of our heroes try to escape from Earth-X alive! Are you enjoying this year’s event so far? Let me know your favourite moment in the comments and I’ll catch you guys tomorrow for The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow!

It’s a brand new day and a brand new crossover between the The Flash and Supergirl and it’s a musical too! Suffice to say that this episode was highly anticipated would be an understatement! So what do I think?

It was a’ight. Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way, this isn’t a fantastic musical episode. It’s a good showcase of each actor’s singing chops but is more akin to an episode of Glee (shocker) than the brilliantly crafted likes of Once More With Feeling, Dr Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog or even the origin of this episode’s villain: The Mayhem of The Music Meister. Speaking of which…

Darren Criss; alumni of the aforementioned Glee, along with both Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist, is not very good in this role. He’s not very charming, steals powers for some reason, he has one song and even that isn’t original. Considering the history of the character and the actor’s inherent charm and talent, I would have loved to have seen Neil Patrick Harris reprise his role as Music Meister. Cool effect on the hypnotic eyes though.

Barry and Kara being trapped in a musical, being forced to play out the plot was pretty entertaining though, barring the 11th hour deus ex machina save and they both give an exceptional performance. Grant’s lip-syncing could use a little work but Melissa is on top form. Their duet, the cutely named original song “Superfriends”, has a lot of humour and energy to it and I enjoyed it.

On back-up vocals are Victor Garber, Jeremy Jordan, John Barrowman, Jesse L. Martin and Carlos Valdes and all of them belt out their performances and elevate their respective songs, even if they are just covers.

In the B-Plot, we get an all too brief team-up between Kid Flash, Vibe and Martian Manhunter and it’s a shame that there wasn’t more interaction time since this is J’onn’s first time on Earth-One.

The curtain call comes far too quickly on this episode, with more focus on talking than singing with the Music Meister exiting stage right. Barry and Kara’s respective relationship problems being solved in a rather simple manner, things being simple in a musical being a running gag in this episode.

While it’s not outstanding, it is a fun diversion to the main plot of each show and gives most of the actors the chance to stretch their lungs. Keeping the theme of magical mayhem, next week promises to reach out and grab ya with Abra Kadabra!

But I kinda got what I should have. The ongoing problem, as I’ve stated before, with these crossovers is that they are always severely limited by a TV budget and that sadly rears its ugly head in the final part of what has been an otherwise stellar crossover event.

Hell, the fact that four shows can interweave a narrative on consecutive nights in the week is accomplishment enough but when it came to the big punch up at the end, it kind of fizzles out.

Logically, I knew it would but in my heart I secretly wanted this to turn into an Avengers moment. Which leads me to wonder how the CW expects to get away with letting Kara can call them ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’. Kiiiiiinda Marvel’s schtick, DC. Stay in your lane.

But for what it was, it was awe-inspiring to see the S-shield, lightning bolt, green quiver and assorted other gimmicks, weapons and powers stand shoulder to shoulder. It’s the kind of thing I watch Super Sentai and Kamen Rider for, the big-ass group shot and, oddly, that’s what this fight reminds me of. Just a mindless brawl with the assembled heroes to satisfy those who care about that sort of thing.

What these shows really excel at during crossovers are character moments and humour and this certainly delivers in spades. The ensemble cats of Legends had been relatively quiet in the preceding episodes but here they get the spotlight for some genuinely funny bits.

Like Steel debuting his goofy costume that makes no sense in terms of his power set and is just there to reference the comics!

Or that sly Superman Returns nod we all hoped would be in there!

If there’s one genuine misstep for me, it’s the resolution for Diggle and Cisco in terms of the Flashpoint Fuckery. I don’t feel it’s really earned. Cisco’s especially because he’s with the Legends when he fucks with time and we all know that the Legends get a mulligan on any time shenanigans. But like the shows said: it’s illegal to hate Barry Allen.

But when’s all said and done, we got a Justice League on TV that doesn’t look terrible and with a diverse and dynamic roster who are all genuinely likeable so I can only clap my hands at this momentous miniseries for bringing us something that is very much in the spirit of DC Comics.

We get the promise that this certainly won’t be the last time these characters interacts and that’s a great thing because the more this group of shows manage to one-up the movies, the more money will be thrown at them and that can only be a good thing.

I don’t think that’s hyperbole because while this episode is pulling double duty as the penultimate episode of the crossover and as Arrow’s 100th episode; it pulls it off with aplomb. It’s very much an episode of two halves though so I’ll kick off with the B-plot that continues tying into the Heroes vs. Aliens plot.

While Oliver and Company (nice little reference there, Cisco!) are missing, Team Arrow, and Cisco, rushes to find them by chasing down a piece of tech they need that was recently stolen by one Laura Washington. Not a character I recognise but has more than a passing resemblance to Cyborgirl —  a villainous distaff counterpart to the Teen Titan, Cyborg.

Something they make a big deal out of is Wild Dog’s aversion to metas and aliens, which I find odd because Ragman is essentially a meta though it could be argued he’s just enhanced by the mystical rags soooo… I dunno, it’s resolved by the end of the episode but I figured it was worth mentioning as character growth for Rene.

The most interesting part of the episode is with Ollie, Sara, Thea, Diggle and Ray; all of whom are trapped in a shared hallucination, a seeming perfect world for them. It’s all very For The Man Who Has Everything, a seminal Superman story from Alan Moore, and I love it! It’s so much like that story that I expected the Black Mercy to be involved, much like it was on the Supergirl episode that also homaged that story.

It’s interesting how each person’s ideal life is adapted into this shared dream. Ollie and Thea obviously want their family back (nicely foreshadowed by Ollie’s speech to Barry last episode) but Ollie and Sara also want Laurel back. Ray is engaged to Felicity, who is helping Diggle who is The Hood.

That was an odd branching path until I really thought about it and Diggle wants to be punished/redeemed for what he did to his brother and who does he know that pisses and moans and acts like a grumpy edgelord all the time because he makes piss-poor decisions? Ollie as Green Arrow. It’s funny in it’s own little way.

Flash Fa—Wait, am I allowed to do this for non-Flash shows? Screw it! Arrow Admin: Tommy Merlyn is mentioned explicitly as being absent because he’s a doctor in Chicago. This is a reference to the scheduling conflict Colin Donnell had filming Chicago Med.

Just like For The Man Who Has Everything, eventually our heroes have to break out and it’s a lot less breaking the world and more breaking hearts. There is a nice bit of catharsis for our heroes though, as they face down the projections of those responsible for their traumas and deal with them each in a darkly ironic fashion.

Ollie has Deathstroke, Sara has Darhk, Thea and Merlyn, Diggle and a Ghost representing his brother and Ray with a Deathstroke soldier like the one who killed his fiancée, Anna.

They escape on a stolen Dominator fighter and are picked up by the Waverider and ends on a menacing shot of the Dominator mothership on a direct course with Earth.

This episode is fascinating from a character perspective and does a decent job of continuing the crossover plot line so I’m pretty happy with it but be sure to come back tomorrow as Legends of Tomorrow tags in for the final part of Invasion!