TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 03 Episode 08: Invasion!

Now THIS is a crossover ladies and gentlemen! And while “Invasion!” wasn’t perfect, it did do a lot to advance not only the crossover, but all the individual shows as well.

Funnily enough, in the course of one hour (give or take) they did a lot of the standard elements of the crossover event genre. Including some they’ve done in previous DCTV crossovers. The fun meetup, the truth that breaks the team, the hero vs. hero fighting, and the making up at the end. Now while this may hamper some crossovers, Invasion was good to get this out of the way. As it was used to not only build the team up, but show why the Dominators were a threat to be feared.

Let’s get this out of the way, how the team was brought together was very believable. Especially once Barry knew that he couldn’t wait for the Dominators to make a move. I mean, come on, how many alien movies have we all seen that would’ve let us at least be ready for an attack, am I right? Furthermore, his reasoning for getting Kara was perfect. Get their own alien to fight the invading ones. Not to mention she’s easily the most powerful being he’s ever met, so why not stack the deck?

Then, seeing the near ENTIRE DCTV hero (and Mick) lineup together was uber fun. From Kara bouncing from person to person, to them all finding out about the Dominators, to them all “trying” to beat Kara in a “practice battle”, it was good fun.

Now, onto the main threat. The Dominators predicting the movements of the heroes, and subsequently brainwashing them was very believable. After all, they had been on Earth before. And who knows, maybe it was the JSA that pushed them back in 1951, so they might’ve expected the “World’s Greatest Heroes” to arrive when the president was kidnapped. And again, it was resolved, so now there’s likely not going to be any more hero fighting…maybe.

I was also impressed by the balancing of the three “main Earth” shows and how they got a focus in “Invasion”. From Arrow and Spartan fighting Vigilante, to Wally rebelling against the others to try and be Kid Flash, Martin learning about his daughter, and of course the  team (and by extension us) finding out about the voice message from Barry in the future and learning about Flashpoint and its repercussions on their lives.

What really made it poignant was that the Legends team were the most angry, as they had the ability to change the timeline too, but choose not to. And Diggle finding out about baby Sara was particularly heartbreaking.

That being said, for Cisco to demand that Barry tell them all as they were about to STOP AN ALIEN INVASION…then the others agreeing to do the mission without Barry was a little forced. I mean, was Oliver really the only one who saw the flaw in that plan? Now yes, it served the plot, as Ollie and Barry were the only heroes not brainwashed, but…it still felt off.

Then of course, there’s the Wally subplot. While at its core, it’s understandable what he’s feeling. He’s still coming off as a whining baby. I mean, how many times can he proclaim “no one wants me to have powers” before he gets it through his head that it’s not the case? They don’t mind him having powers, they don’t like how eager he is to get into the game. Barry had to work his way up to do stuff, and even then, he failed as much as he succeeded in season 01 in many ways. Wally isn’t getting that, or doesn’t care. And just when you think he gets the picture after being nearly killed by Supergirl…he gets HR to mentor him…what could go wrong? EVERYTHING!!!!!

I want to be sure to note the action for this episode. The hero fighting was top notch, and aside from a few quirks, it was really well done. Seeing Flash Vs. Supergirl was cool. As was Arrow taking on Spartan, Speedy, and White Canary all at once. I can’t wait to see how this episode gets topped.

On the fun side. Seeing DCTV Trinity of Oliver, Barry, and Kara together was all kinds of epic. Oh, and Barry apparently owns the Hall of Justice? When did that happen?!?!?!?

“Invasion!” was a true great start to the crossover event. And with the perfect cliffhanger to lend to the Arrow episode, things are no doubt going to heat up.