TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Elseworlds Part 1!

And so it begins, the 5th annual DCTV crossover. In some ways, this one is going to be a bit smaller scale, and in others, it’s a multiversal threat. Elseworlds Part 1 was very much a setup episode, not just for the crossover, but for things to come.

To that end, it wasn’t the deepest of episodes, mainly because most of the episode was focused on Oliver and Barry swapping lives and trying to convince others that it was actually them and not each other like all of them thought. To their credit, the team made it believable, and even fairly played how the other would react to the situation. Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin really did good with portraying their characters in what must be one of the oddest circumstances that they could’ve been in.

Furthermore, going to Kara to help prove their reality was actually brilliant, and connected to lore, as this is the similar to what happened with Flashpoint when Earth-2 Wells and Jesse Quick remembered the truth.

The elongated scene for Superman and Lois Lane was interesting, as you almost have to wonder what the point of it was outside of establishing Lois as a character on this universe. It was adorable though, and Tyler Brechlin makes a good Superman no doubt.

All the fun Easter Eggs and references to the various shows and their histories was very well done. Like the arrows in the back from the first crossover, to the red skies, to the various things that they’ve said and done over the years in order to prove each other the truth, it was good stuff. And it truly did make this episode worth it.

Bringing in Amazo could’ve been disastrous, especially since it wasn’t connected to Dr. Ivo personally. But, using the lore with Mirukuru and other facts made it not only believable, it was actually a very accurate representation of the character from the comics, and having them all work together (Superman included) to take down Amazo (complete with Barry saying “You have failed this city”) was really cool.

That being said, they did take things a little far at times. The back-and-forth about Barry and Oliver’s past and how their personalities defined their powers was a bit much. Especially since we saw them use their powers rather well in the previous scenes. Also, while seeing the Monitor in action was cool, we got almost no context of his plan, and as for Dr. John Deegan, while I appreciate the desire to make him sympathetic…it’s unclear why no one was listening to him. He was literally about to explain his work when the woman doctor insulted him and they all left. I would’ve liked a little more meat on that bone.

Which brings us to the other problem right now…did he ONLY switch Barry and Oliver? Because that’s the opposite of “Think Big” like the Monitor mentioned. Yes, we have red skies and weird lightning, but all we saw that was different was Barry and Oliver’s identities, hopefully we get more on what changed very soon. Especially since now we get to go to Gotham and meet Batwoman!

In the end, “Elseworlds Part 1” was a good enough start to the crossover. It established most things, and left room for the final two episode of the crossover to carry the weight. We’ll have to see though if it does.