The Flash – “Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part Three” Review

Please Keep In Mind That This Article Contains Potential Spoilers For “Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part Three” and Events That Occurred Prior

The Crisis continues for The Flash, as the conflict grows even bigger for our cast of characters. As this was The Flash’s hour, most of the spotlight was on our familiar group of faces. Even Ralph was able to make it this time—even though he really wasn’t given anything substantial to do. Here’s to hoping he gets something cool before the event is over. Even bigger than Ralph’s attendance though, was Vibe randomly getting his powers back. It was all really awkward, and clearly done out of regrets of having taken them away in the first place. It really reinforces my original viewpoint that the entire storyline regarding Vibe’s power loss was unnecessary, and forced.

Alas, here we are. Vibe’s calling was to bring Barry to the weapon powering the anti-matter wave. This led us directly to another Speedster: The Flash of Earth-90. It’s always a pleasure to see John Wesley Shipp on the show, and even better to see all of the meaningful interactions that he was given. His disappearance in the last crossover was explained perfectly, giving us the reasoning for his current predicament. Sadly we couldn’t have him forever—as he made the sacrifice play in order to destroy the machine. Now I didn’t watch the original Flash show with Shipp starring, but I can’t imagine that tug on the heart strings that the flashback to his Iris had for those that did. I mean, even for those that never watched it, it was still a heart wrenching moment.  

This sacrifice is what Barry thought was his destiny. This was what everything has been leading to—although it wasn’t. Barry was spared! That didn’t make his goodbyes any less emotional however, or lessen the stakes. The moment the situation was introduced, I didn’t think this would be the vanishing that has been prophesied. I will be a little disappointed if something else doesn’t come up. For now though, Barry lives to be with Iris another day—sorta. 

All of this talk about The Flashes, and I haven’t even touched upon our new arrival. Black Lightning has finally made his Arrowverse debate! It’s about time. When his show premiered, his absence from the Arrowverse was a glaring omission. But now he’s here, and experiencing the fun with us (I really enjoyed his Superman comment). For Jefferson as a character though, he really got thrown into the deep end. I mean his entire family and home are just gone. It’s good that the weight of all that wasn’t simply forgotten in all the fun that is introducing a new character into the sandbox. It’s also great that his presence wasn’t just a shoe-in. He was pivotal to stopping the machine with Barry and the others—even if it didn’t make much difference in the end.

Alongside all of that, we still had Pariah. Once our ally Nash Wells, and now prisoner to the Anti-Monitor in the form of Pariah. I do like the fact that he was tricked into servitude by the Anti-Monitor, and that the Monitor we know had nothing to do with it. It was nice to get some answers to his peculiar predicament. Though I do question the choice on the Anti-Monitor’s end. Why give someone all of this power, and keep them nearby at all times, yet still let them retain the free will to use that power to thwart the evil plan. Seems like a pretty big flaw in our big bag’s logic. Speaking of, the Anti-Monitor finally came into play—and into direct confrontation with the team. In fact, he wiped out all of existence and crushed the remaining team members. I do wish though that instead of being in the form of Lyla, that we had gotten to see his true form in action. I really don’t see why that didn’t happen.

The Anti-Monitor wasn’t the only thorn in our team’s side. I’ve never gotten a chance to express this while reviewing The Flash (for obvious reasons), but Jon Cryer’s Lex Luther is not a favorite of mine. I’m sure it’s largely due to the mostly abysmal writing present in Supergirl—but nonetheless, he isn’t my favorite. I have however quite enjoyed his role in this Crisis event. There is something quite enjoyable about the fact that Lex simply sharpied over the Book of Destiny and screwed everyone over. Silly? Yes, extraordinarily so. But a very Lex Luther thing to do. 

Speaking of the Book of Destiny, Supergirl had her plate full in trying not to be reckless in rebuilding her world with it. It was a smart move for the writers to make, and it presented an interesting dilemma for the character. Even more than that, they were able to use it as an excuse (along with the groundwork laid during Part Two) to set up a BvS type subplot. It was very minimal for sure, but it was fun to see it unfold—not to mention what it may hold for future storylines. I do question Kara letting Kate keep the kryptonite. It doesn’t really line up with how she handles that same predicament in her solo adventures. 

Now in Part Two we were introduced to the idea of the Paragons, but we were only shown a select few. Well this week the rest of them were revealed, with the most surprising being the inclusion of average joe Ryan Choi. What I didn’t know while I was originally watching, is that Ryan Choi in the comics is the next person to take on the identity of The Atom. So that’s clearly what they are building towards.  It’s an exciting notion in its own right, to see a future big character’s origin start in such a big event. For those that didn’t know about that while watching, Choi’s storyline in the episode was rather awkward. Besides his existence alone, there wasn’t enough intrigue or mystery surrounding the character to keep the audience too interested. I think they should have revealed a little more about his role in everything, and that could have helped ease his introduction into the ever expansive Crisis event.

Last but not least (damn this event has a lot going on), there was the Oliver storyline. Which started off with a terrific Lucifer cameo that I’m sure fans of the show absolutely loved. Thanks to good ol’ Luci, the team was given a way to retrieve Oliver from purgatory. The problem? He didn’t come back. Instead, the Arrowverse gave us a big curveball by introducing The Spectre. Jim Corrigan—the current host of the supernatural entity—showed his face at the last moment. He spoke of a higher purpose, and Oliver’s destiny. It was enough to keep Oliver from running back home. It’s always good when one of the CW shows dares to have a defeat. Especially in this case, as it would have felt a little cheap to get Oliver back so quickly given how built up his death was. Instead though, it seems that we will almost certainly be getting an Oliver Queen who will embody the entity of The Spectre. Which is a pretty big deal for the lore of this universe, and the shows themselves. 

The third part of the huge Crisis On Infinite Earth event was the strongest installment yet. Not only did the scope increase exponentially with the introduction of characters like Black Lightning and Ryan Choi, but even with that increase it maintained focus. It never lost its footing. Now with everyone stranded at the Vanishing, Lex in tow, they are left to make their final stand against the Anti-Monitor to undue what he has done. I really don’t have any idea where the story will go from here. One things for sure though: this crossover is easily going down as one of the best yet.

 

Bonus Notes:

• The destruction of Earth-2 was finally referenced and explained! Our characters finally got just the briefest of moments to mourn the loss of Harry and Jesse.
• Brandon Routh’s Kingdom Come Superman has been an absolute pleasure to witness. It almost makes me wish he was a mainstay on the shows going forward. His moment after losing another earth and sliding out of the portal was easily a highlight. Routh clearly is enjoying being able to embody this character once again. 
• Reading up on some on some missed Easter eggs, I learned that the information that The Monitor gets is from The Tome of The Guardians. As in the Guardians that lead over the Green Lanterns. I’ll never get enough Lantern Easter eggs! 
• I feel very strongly that Supergirl should have been the Paragon of Love, and Flash the Paragon of Hope. I mean Flash is destined to have the Blue Ring one day! 
• Really nice callback to Barry and Iris’ musical proposal upon their reunion.
• We don’t see Batwoman’s suit so well lit very often, which is a shame because it shows off just how damn good the costume looks. It’s detailing and design is fantastic, and easily ranks as one of the best Arrowverse designs. 

 

 

 

Special Note: We’ve had to resort to taking direct screenshots of the episode ourselves and/or repeated and unrelated Flash images due to the CW Network failing to provide adequate photos for proper coverage. 

 

You can catch The Flash as it airs on The CW on Tuesdays at 9pm EST!