REVIEW: ARROW - SEASON 8, EP. 8: "Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 4"
Welcome back! Our winter break is over, and that means we get to dive back into the action, as the fate of the Arrowverse hangs in the balance. When we last left our heroes, the Seven Paragons (which now has Lex Luthor replacing Earth 96's Superman), have been transported to the Vanishing Point--a place outside of time itself--after Earth 1 had been destroyed, as well as everyone else in the multiverse. It is here that these heroes (plus Lex), must now make a final stand against the Anti-Monitor and his plan to reshape the multiverse in his anti-matter image.
We take a step back in time to a planet called Maltus, which turns out to be the home of Mar Nouv. We are 10,000 years in the past, and Novu and his wife are working on their machine to go back in time to study the universe. He gets suited up in what will be his outfit the rest of the way. He transports to the Vanishing Point. He's amazed by what he sees, until something goes wrong, and he's transported to the anti-matter universe. There, he meets his opposite---the Anti-Monitor.
We return to the present day Vanishing Point, where Ryan Choi is chroniciling the events since being transported there to his wife. He discusses each of the remaining paragons - Sarah feels like her destiny is over, Supergirl has no hope, Lex is a jerk, Batwoman trains for what seems to be nothing, Martian Manhunter meditates, and Flash has disappeared into the Speed Force, and has been missing for awhile. He and Lex have been trying to use the machinery around them to try and find a way to escape the Vanishing Point, and back into the universe to try and save it. Lex feels Choi isn't much help (that Luthor ego working overtime), and gets frustrated. But they do finish it, and Supergirl offers up Lex as the guinea pig to test it. When they go to test it, nothing happens except a malfunction. What they worked on failed. Out of nowhere, Barry returns, having been in the Speed Force the last few months, to try and find an escape route for them, but to no avail. He'd been gone for months, but just couldn't break through. He's tired, but is determined to keep trying, despite Sara, Kara, and the others trying to get him to rest.
We then switch to Purgatory, where Oliver is learning the use of his new powers as the Spectre from its previous host, Jim Corrigan. Corrigan is training him to be able to face off against the Anti-Monitor, and "light the spark". We then see him appear at the Vanishing Point just as Barry is about to take off again. Despite the fact the rest feel Barry will kill himself if he enters the Speed Force again, Oliver tells them that it is the only way out. The Spectre tells them that they must not only go Maltus 10,000 years into the past in order to stop Novu from creating the Anti-Monitor, but to also go to the antimatter universe and stop the Anti-Monitor himself, and begin the universe again. Barry asks the Spectre how he can do that if he can't get through the Speed Force, and the Spectre grants Barry the ability to travel beyond time and space, using their memories to take the others to their destinations.
Flash drops Supergirl, Lex, and Choi off on Maltus to find Novu and stop him from entering the void. Lex, however, double crosses them by blasting them with energy he granted himself when he rewrote the Book of Destiny. Lex decides he's going to take over the universe by doing what the Monitor did. Flash re-enters the Speed Force, only to meet up with the Spectre again, this time using the memories of his, Ollie's, and their friends in order to locate the others and get them to the dawn of time.
Flash winds up at STAR Labs, only to run into another Flash from an alternate universe---who shouldn't exist. Both realize they're both named Barry Allen. This Flash then disappears, saying that he told "Vic" that this was possible. Flash moves onto his next memory to find his friends.
Kate finds herself at Palmertech, where Ray and Ollie are having an argument about him being the Green Arrow. As Ollie begins to walk away from the argument, he spots Kate, and wonders what she's doing there. We jump to the other scene in time from the Dominator invasion where we see Ollie and kara arguing about her joining the fight when J'Onn shows up, to which Kara asks what he's doing there.
Back on Maltus, Ryan awakes and goes to Supergirl. They try to find out where Lex is, and Supergirl has him hold on as she goes to fly them to his location. We check back in with Flash, who has now wound up in the Elseworlds memory, where he finds Lois and Superman, who comment on his new uniform, but he seeks to ask Ollie a question. He asks Ollie what he meant by making a sacrifice for him and Kara, and Ollie replies that it's a sort of "Devil's Bargain" he made with the Monitor, and that he would do it again. He then orders Barry to find the rest of their friends.
We jump back into the past, where we see Diggle and Laurel weeping over the body of the then-dead Sarah. Flash then shows up, to which this Laurel and Diggle have no memory of him, and he then zaps Sarah back to life. She instantly knows Barry, and they take off.
Novu is about to step into the void, as we saw at the beginning of the episode, but Lex is there to stop him, only to try and bargain with him in order to get what he wants. Barry has rounded up most everyone else, except J'Onn, whom he grabs from the Invasion memory. The last one is Kate, who is trying to quell the Ray/Ollie squabble when Flash grabs her and takes off.
Lex has just about convinced Novu to let him go with him, while fixing the machine, when Supergirl busts in, and tells him NOT to trust Lex. She orders Ryan to get him clear, while her and Lex fight. Ryan then tries to convince Novu that what he's about to do will spark a threat that will destroy the universe and beyond. Supergirl succeeds in taking down Lex, telling him how he betrayed Lena, and left her with a scarred name. Lex tries to throw it back, but it doesn't work. Ryan says he believes he got through to Novu, Flash grabs the rest of them, and they head into the dawn of time. The Anti-Monitor shows up with his shadowdemons, and the battle begins. Spectre then shows up, and tells them to hold the line, while he gets ready to reset the universe. The Anti-Monitor tells Spectre he will fell, but the Spectre feels otherwise, and they engage in battle. The Spectre informs the Anti-Monitor that he has failed this universe. The paragons are not sure what they can do to help, when Lex says that using the last pages of the Book of Destiny, with them as the focal point, will feed the energy into the Spectre to defeat the Anti-Monitor, and reset the universe...hence, "fanning the flame", as Oliver was once told to do by Corrigan. There's an explosion of power, and the Anti-Monitor seems to be destroyed, but it leaves the Spectre mortally wounded. But the universe has been restarted, and begins to take shape, as Sarah and Barry are by Ollie's side. He asks Barry if he remembers what he told him, and Barry nods 'yes' - that dying was the easy part. Moving on...living...that's the test. Sarah has Barry look up and see the universe taking shape, while saying their final goodbyes to Oliver. Oliver finally dies...having redeemed himself---and saved the universe.
The end....and the beginning.
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This episode was good, though maybe a tad rushed. As compared to the comic series, this version takes it's own shape from here in order to fit THIS continuity's vision. I figured they would "go off script" for this crossover, and they did. And while we had some nice cameos, we didn't really get any this episode. We DID get the origin of the Monitor--though it is A LOT different from the comics. We only got a limited time with Oliver as The Spectre for this episode, and then he was gone. Though, to be honest, I DON'T feel Oliver as The Spectre is gone forever. While is final, physical form is finally gone, the Spectre was NEVER a "physical" being. A cosmic being, a spiritual being perhaps, but it only used a physical body to take form to the human world. Jim Corrigan was dead when we meet him in this crossover. He handed the power over to Ollie, so I feel that---while Ollie's physical body is gone---HE as The Spectre is NOT. I expect him to show up in a huge crossover event, or in some story that warrents his presence. It will be a nice way for Stephen Amell to come back to the Arrowverse for a "visit". But...or all intents and purposes...Oliver Queen's story is done. It's been told, and it's over.
We got to see a scene at the beginning where Supergirl is carrying the leftover cape of the Superman of Earth 96. That's about as close as we got to the Supergirl "death" cover from CRISIS #7. Barry apparently had been gone "for months" in the Speed Force, so quite some time passed between the time the paragons landed in the Vanishing Point, to when Barry reappeared. So, we get Ryan Choi's perspective on things as he catches us up with what's been going on since they arrived. Had to laugh when we saw the origin of the Monitor, that the suit he put on (which would end up being his suit from there on out), he comments to his wife that it feels "silly and bulky" as an inside joke to the super suits these actors have to wear sometimes.
The one thing that REALLY stood out to me was the budding friendship between Barry and Sarah. With Oliver finally gone, Barry doesn't have that "BFF" kind of person now. It USED to be Kara, but she's gotten to form a closer bond with Kate Kane during this crossover. So, we have the female version of the "World's Finest" team up that used to be Batman/Superman. While Kara and Kate's chemistry continues to grow, it kind of left Barry out in the cold, so-to-speak. But him and Sarah having more of a bond---because of Ollie---is VERY promising. Sarah is pretty much the female Ollie, so that chemistry that Barry and Ollie had is still there, you just switch out Ollie for Sarah. I like where that's going.
Lex was still Lex...not a surprise. I swear, Jon Cryer has found the perfect notes to play for this character. He checks all the boxes for who and what Lex is supposed to be. Intelligent, maniacal, self serving, egotistical, sinister, and always seems one step ahead of Kara. he just GETS Lex Luthor---and has been BRILLIANT with him. We also get to see some of the bravery exhibited by Ryan Choi, as he's been cast into this battle with a bunch of superheroes, but he manages to inspire them, as much as they inspire him. I thought it was funny when he and Supergirl were going after Lex, and he'd been amazed about being on an alien planet, and Supergirl asks him if he ever flew on an alien planet, to which he replied "no", and she had to do the "Up, up, and away" bit.
Who here, by the way, had their jaw hit the proverbial floor when Ezra Miller popped up as the Flash from the DCEU?! I was NOT expecting THAT! I guess DC found one more thing to tie into the Arrowverse, and this was big. Albeit, the interaction between both was, well, kinda dorky, but it did show that DC was willing to tie into the movie franchise, and keep a small connection with it. I also found it interesting when the DCEU Flash, just before disappearing, mentioned that he told Vic he could do this---meaning traverse time and move into the Speed Force. I wonder...as many of YOU do, no doubt...if this will tie into the Flashpoint plot they're rumored to be tinkering with as the plot for The Flash movie in the works.
Each of these shows had a specific focus on their title characters throughout their crossover episodes. Batwoman focused on just her, while Supergirl had the majority of her cast, Flash had it's cast...Arrow had a strong focus on Ollie mainly, while the cast of the show was shown more in bits and pieces. I've no doubt Legends will have more of the team in the final chapter. But safe to say, they've done a fairly decent job of making sure everyone was accounted for. I just feel that with the finish line close at hand, they're speeding things up a little more, and maybe the story suffered a tad for it. But I still enjoyed it, and hope you did too.
The final chapter is coming up on a special episode of Legends, as it is NOT the season premiere. They wanted to make sure they told CRISIS across ALL of its shows, and Legends will deal with the fallout of CRISIS when it premieres in a couple of weeks.
That's it for this particular episode. Make sure you subscribe, comment, and pass the good word around...I'd be grateful, that's for sure!
One Chapter to go....and two more episodes left of our Emerald Archer's story.
Until next time...keep your sights on the bullseye!
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