Legends Of Tomorrow – “Crisis On Earth-X Part 4” Review

Most of the colorful cast of the Arrowverse. Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.

This Article Contains Spoilers for All Parts of “Crisis On Earth-X”, As Well As Events Prior

“Who needs an army when you have Legends?”

Man oh man. The big finale of Crisis on Earth-X gave us a lot to digest.  Let’s start with the biggest event, the one that impacts Legends the most. In a heated conflict on Earth-X, Professor Stein is shot multiple times as he pulls the lever that can send everyone back home to Earth-1. This heroic act leads to the death of a Legend. Before we go any further, if you haven’t read the first three parts, or you want a refresher, you can check out part 1 right here, part 2 here, and part 3 here! 

While not surprising, Professor Stein’s death was highly emotional. Both Victor Garber and Franz Drameh did an incredible job in their final farewell scene, landing heavy emotional gut punches into the audience. I really do give props to the show’s creative team that they stuck with such a tragic end to a beloved character. I’m also very pleased that they allowed the finale of this massive crossover to breathe and have moments to wallow in this tragic event—even if it was a bit jarring when everyone needed to get back to saving the day. If anything, I wish that Stein had one more scene with Barry Allen for closure, seeing as he started off on The Flash from the beginning.

Pictured (L-R): Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash, Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein and Franz Drameh as Jefferson “Jax” Jackson. Photo courtesy of Flash TV News.

Now let’s move to happier thoughts…was this episode not just filled with some of the coolest team-up moments that the CW has ever offered us? From the Avengers styled circular shot against Metallo, to the incredible underpass final battle, Part 4 alone was filled with moments to die for. My personal favorite was the moment I realized everything had gone slow motion, and then we see Flash and Thawne duke it out before everything speeds back up again and they vanish. Or how about Mr. Terrific throwing one of his T-Balls with Ray seated on top? So many to choose from.

Even Ray—who was suspiciously absent with most of the Legends for the first three parts—had probably one of his best moments. Just as Thawne is about to cut into Kara, his knife hits a surprise road block: The Atom. Jumping up to full-size, Ray knocks aside Thawne as he saves Supergirl. We even got a cool embiggening hand move! Not only was it a great moment for Ray, but also for the rest of the team as everyone joined in against the Earth-X crew.

Now my favorite Arrowverse villain is, and likely always will be, Eobard Thawne AKA Reverse Flash. So you could guess my excitement when they revealed that he wasn’t an Earth-X counter part, but in fact the same one we knew from Earth-1. That’s the thing about Thawne…no matter what happens, Thawne is a thorn in Barry’s side that simply can never go away. I was annoyed at his fate at the end of last season, so seeing him back up and running was great. Even better was that the episode provided plenty of great scenes between Thawne and Barry, including their last one where Barry lets him retreat instead of killing him. While logically Barry should have tried to subdue him, I’m simply happy there’s still a Reverse Flash running around on the loose.

Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary (left) and Wentworth Miller as Citizen Cold/Leo – X (right). Photo courtesy of Flash TV News.

The crossover also introduced us to two new faces in the form of The Ray and Citizen Cold (AKA Captain Cold from Earth-X). They were both great additions to the mix, and it was great seeing a brand new hero in The Ray. It’s a shame that they decided he should go back to Earth-X. There’s no real logical reason that he would have returned and not simply just stayed on Earth-1 (his original home). I guess he’s needed there for his upcoming animated show? We did get to keep our new Captain Cold though. I will never forgive the Arrowverse for killing off the original far too soon, and never attempting to give us a proper Rogues group under his lead, but I guess it will be good to see more of this Leo interacting with the team. As the end of episode hinted, I think it will provide us with some great Mick moments at the least.

When it comes to the wedding, I’m happy that Barry and Iris actually got married by the end of it all. They work great as a couple, and I’m glad we got a fun Diggle moment that the rest of the crossover denied us.  However, I feel like it came at an awkward time, right after a deeply sad funeral for a close friend. Not only that, but everyone else left. They could have kept some of the Legends around, or even Kara. More than that…the whole duo wedding. I guess it’s a cute idea? However it would have worked better with a different couple. Oliver and Felicity don’t work together. Yes, time may have helped them a bit, but they aren’t Barry and Iris. They likely never will be. Arrow screwed the pooch on Green Arrow and Black Canary (multiple times), and will likely never be able to fix it. If anything, I think the moment should simply have been a quiet one with only Barry and Iris, something they truly deserve.

The emotional resonance of Professor Stein’s death, combined with the massive scale of all of our favorite characters teaming up, really elevated this crossover (and it’s finale) to new heights. Even if there were slight road bumps along the way, I can easily say that Crisis on Earth-X provided us with the best crossover yet. It’ll be hard to come anywhere close next year, but I’m sure they have something up their sleeves.

The team ready to get back into action. Photo courtesy of DC Legends TV.

Bonus Notes:

• They should never have announced Victor Garber’s departure from the show. They really had no reason to, and leaving as a huge surprise would be have been big.
• Thanks to the well done Firestorm story and it’s subsequent build-up in episodes prior, Stein’s death was all that much more impactful.
• It’s great that Zari got an outfit, but it came at a very jarring point.
• Anyone else wishing that their “Doomsday Device” was actually Doomsday? I guess it was cool to see the doppelgänger Waverider though.
• Did you guys catch that Nazi throwing grenades at a single child? Nazi’s are rough man.
• If Overgirl blew up into a supernova because she was dying, is this something we should worry about with our own Kara? No one seemed bothered to question that.
• Thanks to Jesse Schedeen over at IGN, I can’t get the idea of introducing Overman out of my head. While I enjoyed what we got, that would have made the final stretch at least three times better. Missed opportunity.
• Next year can we have Martian Manhunter? Maybe even Superman? I’m getting greedy now aren’t I?

What did you guys think about the episode?  Make sure to leave your thoughts down below!

You can catch new episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow when they air on The CW network every Tuesday at 9pm EST