DC/CW CROSSOVER - CRISIS ON EARTH-X

“There is a fifty-third Earth…Earth-X.”

As Superhero TV shows go, the CW’s are some of the better ones out there. They’re fun. Mostly light hearted and usually an enjoyable watch. The other up-side of them is that every year we get a big four-show crossover story. Last year’s ‘Invasion’ was OK, but only two of the four shows really committed to the cause. This year’s ‘Crisis on Earth-X’, however, is slightly different. From the start each of the four shows devoted themselves fully to telling this story, and it’s a bloody good one at that.

The plot follows a fairly simple story: Someone out in the depths of the Multiverse, there’s a parallel Earth where the Nazis won World War 2. All in all, it’s a pretty horrific place. The Nazis of that world, and the doppelgangers of the heroes that lead them, come to Earth-1 looking for trouble. See, simple.

What took me by surprise the most is that even if some of the crossover was a bit cheesy, it was actually a lot of fun to watch. The story was very well written and definitely stands out as perhaps the best that any of the shows have delivered. It’s pacing is a bit slow to start with but once the plot gets rolling and the end of the first episode it doesn’t really begin to slow down until the fourth, during which the death of one of the team was handled very, very well. Each of the four episodes had its own mini arc, but the story on the whole fit very nicely into the framework it was given. It wasn’t rushed, but neither was it hellishly boring to watch.

Of course, the novelty of these big crossover episodes is seeing all of the DCTV heroes suit up and stand together, and this year didn’t disappoint.

While a good majority of them are held back until the climatic battle during the fourth episode, each was given a good amount of screen time for the character they were playing. That being said, there were long stretches were The Flash seemed to just be sitting around doing not very much.

The other novelty of this crossover that we once again got to see Tom Cavanagh’s portrayal of the Reverse Flash.

Seeing as the character has a perfectly difficult timeline to keep track of, it was odd to begin with having him back in the role, but all was explained sooner or later and, beyond anything else, it was just nice to see him back in the suit. The charisma he brings to the role is what helped make The Flash’s first season so good, and it was nice to be reminded of that.

All in all, this year’s four-way crossover was a lot of fun, and a definite improvement over last year’s. The story was a lot of fun and was delivered very nicely, despite the focus sometimes straying from where it should’ve been. The cameos by characters in vastly different roles than we’re used to seeing them was also a huge win for the crossover, as it’s just one of those small things that helped keep it fresh, and give the villainous Earth-X a very different feel. The cast on the whole did a good job, as they usually do, and the death of one of the Legends was handled with a great amount more care than I was expecting, which is nice given the characters importance to the show. It’s crossovers like these that show the best parts of these types of shows, and Crisis on Earth-X did just that: Show that that can tell great stories, and have a lot of fun doing it.