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Supergirl: Elseworlds, Part 3

"I like you better in blue."

Best crossover ever, and by that, I mean all three parts. I absolutely loved it.

Except I was never quite sure what "the Monitor" was up to. Was he good or bad? (Or possibly just petulant?) Was making Oliver lighter and less of an antihero the point of all this? It doesn't seem like enough of a change to warrant all of that world-twisting mayhem. Maybe I just didn't track the Monitor's motivation that well. Feel free to explain it to me. (Seriously! What did I miss?)

At any rate, it was still mostly about Oliver and Barry, even in Part 3. I'm going to pass over them wearing those idiotic Trigger Twins outfits with the stupid kerchiefs that made them look like minions in the sixties Batman series and focus on how clever it was that the two of them found and recruited the criminal and somewhat hilarious version of Cisco so that they could breach over to Earth 38 and retrieve the real Superman. Later, Oliver confronted the Monitor and managed somehow to save Barry and Kara from sacrificing themselves to slow time. In the end, Oliver was practically grinning. Perhaps he's, oh, twenty percent lighter?

(Did Oliver make some sort of deal with the Monitor to save Kara and Barry?)

Kara did get a strong subplot of her own, which was appropriate considering that it's her show and all, and I liked that it was about her relationship with Alex – even though it wasn't actually her own Alex. Kara managed to break through to the other Alex, a subordinate of Deegan a.k.a. SuperDick and still in the closet, with great love, childhood memories, and a Japanese pinky swear. Lovely.

I also really enjoyed all of the different versions of our characters – Killer Frost as a minion in a chignon, Jimmy as "Superman's worst pal," Gary from Legends as a bartender – although the alternative version of Cisco was my favorite. (Cisco is a favorite of mine, anyway.) I love seeing cast members from multiple shows interacting, too; it's big gobs of fun. Especially when Brainy showed up to take down Amazo and rip out his motherboard.


But for me, the best thing about Part 3 was Tyler Hoechlin, both as Superman and Deegan/Superman. What a terrific villain he made. Superman's powers really are frightening, and Hoechlin in black made it work. I mean, I know this three-parter was intended to introduce Batwoman, and I didn't hate her, but I think Hoechlin doing double duty in the finale put her in the shade. I don't always like big fight scenes, but Superman and Deegan, both Tyler Hoechlin, throwing each other around and crashing through an office building? It reminded me of the Christopher Reeve movies in the best possible way.

(I also really liked how the buildings in the background kept changing color and shape to signify changes in reality. Nicely done.)

I was less happy with the coda back at the Smallville farm when Lois revealed that she was pregnant (what about alien DNA combined with human? The improbability drives me nuts) and Clark squeezed a lump of coal into a diamond and proposed. And now Clark and Lois are leaving semi-permanently for Argo? Yes, it moves Clark offstage so that Kara can be Earth's hero all by herself for awhile, which is good plotwise for Supergirl as a series, but at this point, I want The CW to give Tyler Hoechlin his own Superman show. Pretty please?

Bits:

— Deegan did the saga sell.

— At one point, a woman saw Deegan as black-clad Superman and screamed "Bizarro!"

— What was Lois carrying? Thor's hammer? BTW, I did like Lois better this time.

— Clark mentioned his mother. Ma Kent is still around, although we didn't see her.

— I enjoyed Barry and Oliver talking about not getting drunk and being hungry all the time. And Flashtime. And not hugging.

— Deegan ended up in Arkham, so I assume we'll see him again.

— In this week's hair report, what on earth did Cisco do with his hair?

— Coming in Fall 2019: "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Like we didn't wait long enough for "Elseworlds?" Now we have to wait a year? Does that mean all three shows have been unofficially renewed? Is that when we'll find out if Oliver made a deal with the Monitor?

— That was the midseason blitz, people. The Flash returns January 15, Supergirl on January 20, and Arrow January 21.

Quotes:

The Monitor: "Survival will only be found by knowing your true self, or this world will be doomed. Like all the others."
Barry: "Well, that was very glass half empty."

Gary: "I'm just a huge fan of your criminal history. You guys are my heroes! Well, not heroes. Legends."
Har har har.

Killer Frost: "Truth, justice and the American way? More like me, myself and I."

Kara: "So this is kind of becoming an annual thing, huh?"
Barry: "God, I hope not."

As I said, I loved all three parts. Four out of four books of destiny, which I kept thinking should have the word "Vampyr" on it,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

8 comments:

  1. They could not get close to the monitor.._the being coming next year is likely the Anti- monitor who is way more powerful. Looked like Oliver sacrificed himself for Barry and Kara who coincedentally die during the crisis in the comics..On the Flash they have been teasing this event since season 1 with the future newspaper headline. Looks like the plan got moved forward by 5 years. Likely something to do with Nora and reverse flash. I thought the episode was great not as amazing as the other two but not by much. They really should not miss the chance to merge the universe into one. They could even be really ambitious and merge the big thre shows together and just have a Justice league show .

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  2. Billie, the Monitor appeared to be testing different universes looking for one whose heroes have what it will take to fight the being who's coming(presumably the Anti-Monitor if they're doing Crisis On Infinite Earths). I really wish they hadn't made the Monitor SUCH a jerk, allowing worlds like Earth-90 to be demolished and its heroes massacred puts him waaaaaay too far on the villain side of the scale.

    One of the big consequences of C.O.I.E. was the collapse of DC's multiverse into a single Earth(until they decided to go back to a multiverse again, I'm not sure where things stand in the comics now. I suppose if I wait a year it'll change again). If they do Crisis in the Arrowverse shows and don't collapse them into a single universe I will be terribly disappointed. It would even be a good time to fold Black Lightning in, even if they don't have plans for those characters to cross over with the other shows. What I'd REALLY love is if they had more nods to other tv adaptations of DC comics, like in this crossover when they put John Wesley Shipp back in his old Flash costume(easily one of the highlights of Elseworlds)

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  3. Thanks, Patrick -- and Anonymous. My lack of comic book knowledge is occasionally a problem when it comes to reviewing shows like this one.

    Well, they did give us Smallville!

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  4. I really hope that they switch it up and make crisis the flash season finale next year. These crossovers always seem to fit best with the flash show as a whole, and to get a really good payoff for the newspaper tease would be great. Im most excited to see if the comment about johns ring goes anywhere, mostly because i desperately want to see red lantern kara. Look it up.

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  5. I feel like Supergirl got pushed aside this crossover — For a show about a woman superhero a lot of time was given to Superman. (Maybe it’s their way of giving the character a proper send-off for a long while?) I still feel like Kara was cheated of her place as a centerpiece of her own show.

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  6. Now I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression that the women was calling Earth 38 Superman Bizzaro since Deegan was the one who remade this Earth with himself as the main Superman.

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  7. Hi adreanaline,

    I agree about Supergirl getting pushed to the side but I think that is a function of it not being her world. If everything I've read about Crisis of Infinite Earths is true that may get resolved next year.

    My fingers are officially crossed.

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  8. This is a disappointing final to the crossover. There are just too many plot holes.

    It's nice we got double superman here and I love Tyler Hoechlin in both roles. Although it's weird for Deegan to give up his own body? Doesn't it feel weird for him to look into a mirror, really? But it's very unsatisfying that real superman couldn't win a one on one fight with the fake superman. I mean, it's not what we'd expect of Superman.

    And Barry should be able to phase himself out of fake superman's hold. Even if failing that, he shouldn't try to talk Oliver out of shooting fake superman. That's just stupid and creates unnecessary problems down the line.

    The idea for Barry and Kara to slow down time is very Superman I, and it's even less believable here.

    There are enjoyable instances, like criminal boss Cisco, and the scene Oliver and Barry having a drink together at the end, but these are far and few between. Supergirl characters showing up on Earth 1 feels weird, like they are not supposed to be there.

    And Kara was given too little to do. It is supposed to be her show.

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