TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Crisis On Infinite Earths Two-Part Finale!

January 15th, 2020 by Todd Black Comments

I mean…is there ANYTHING that can be said that would feel adequate to all that happened in the two hours of television tonight that was “Crisis On Infinite Earths Part 4 & 5”? Because honestly? It doesn’t feel that way. Between the cameos, the teases of what’s to come, and the honoring of what came before, “Crisis On Infinite Earths” did what any major crossover should, go out in style.

Don’t get me wrong, these final two episodes were FAR from perfect, and I know that as a whole this crossover will have some major nitpicks, including some I’ll spell out a little later. But as a whole? This was a fun crossover.

So when we left everyone last month in episode 3, the Paragons had been left at the Vanishing Point in hopes of fighting back in some way against the Anti-Monitor and saving the now destroyed Multiverse. Quite poetically, not unlike how we’ve waited over a month for the finale, the Paragons were trapped for months in the Vanishing Point as they waited for a way to get out. Which they did via Oliver Queen/Specter.

Which led to a really cool bit of going across the Speed Force and honoring many of the major moments of the heroes that have come before. From the first meeting of Oliver and Barry, to the first true death of Sara, the conflicts between some of the members, and more. It was not only cool to see those things again, but to see them in a very “cinematic” scope. Including…

YES!!! IT HAPPENED! FLASHFLASH HAPPENED!!!!

*ahem*

Yes, Ezra Miller crossed over from the DECU to the DCTV universe and met his counterpart in Grant Gustin. He teased this possibility YEARS ago when he got hired to be Flash in the DCEU, and now that his movie is coming in 2021, it’s all the more important that this cameo happened. So awesome.

Anyway, with the heroes reunited, Oliver as Specter took on the Anti-Monitor and fought for the rebirth of the universe, and they did it! The Multiverse was saved! Game over, right? Not quite.

In arguably the biggest surprise, episode five dealt with the fallout of Crisis (instead of leaving it to the other episodes which in hindsight was the right move). And as predicted, Oliver, Barry, Kara and Jefferson’s Earths are now one. So crossovers don’t need an extrapolater…for now.

Seeing them react to everyone being on the same Earth was really cool, and seeing the extended family of the Legends, Team Flash, Arrow and even Black Lightning come together to fight against the Anti-Monitor was fun. Brief, but fun.

And at the end, seeing ALL the DC Comics universe come together for one more epic slideshow (including a tease that the NEW Earth-2 is the Justice Society of America from the upcoming Stargirl sereis!) was run. Green Lantern is still alive, Brandon Routh’s Superman world is alive, Swamp Thing, Titans, Doom Patrol, they’re all here. They’re all alive! They’re in this one beautiful Multiverse that we can treasure forever and ever amen.

As if ALL of that wasn’t enough, honoring Oliver like they did in the soon-to-be Hall of Justice was beautiful. Punctuated by the reveal of the Justice League table at which Flash, Supergirl, Superman, Black Lightning, White Canary, Batwoman, and J’onn Jozz now sit, with an empty table for Oliver in his memory.

Seriously, this is what geek heaven is about. And while it may seem sacrilege,  if you wanted ANY proof that Crisis on Infinite Earths could top Avengers: Endgame “Avengers Assemble” moment…that was it. Yeah, I said it!

Oh, and that tease at the end? If you didn’t Google it already, that was Gleek…friend and pet of the Wonder Twins. Oh yeah, it’s happening.

Ok…now…onto the backlash. For those hoping for an epic Anti-Monitor/Specter clash in the event? You’re not getting that in the way you wanted. For you hoping that Oliver would glow green with power and battle Specter as a monolith (as a reference to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths comic), you won’t get that. And I’m sure many will agree that the Anti-Monitor as a villain was very underwhelming at times. He even did a speech that was very reminiscent of Thanos with his talk about destiny and being “immeasurable” and all that.

He was threatening in his own way, but not in all the ways you’d think that would matter. Also, there were times in the final episode where it was clear that the “new world” wouldn’t have all of its mysteries solved. Like the “Lex Luthor is the best person on the planet” thing that will no doubt continue in Supergirl. Or the atonement of Nash Wells, and of course, the continued journey of Ryan Choi (who will be the next Atom potentially). Oh, and don’t forget the fate of Mia, William, Conner and the future timeline.

Also, there was some weird editing at times that made it seem like Ruby Rose wasn’t there in certain shots (which know at points was true because filming this crossover was murder on the cast).

But in the end, none of these faults truly matter. There was a goal of this crossover. To honor EVERYTHING that had come before. To welcome in the new heroes like Black Lightning and Batwoman and bring together the worlds that had been apart for many years now.

“Crisis On Infinite Earths” may not have ended the way many fans wanted to, but it did end the way it needed to. With a true honoring of Arrow, the DC movies from past and present, and teasing a bright future with new star(girl) and all that may come next. We won’t get a crossover of this scale likely ever again. So let’s appreciate what we got, and remember that it took a lot of people a lot of time to make this work.

We are in your debt.

Oh, and one more thing. If you didn’t get the “Marv” cameo? That’s the guy who helped MAKE Crisis On Infinite Earths. Both the comic…and the TV crossover. Thank you Mr. Wolfman, for everything.

Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!