It has begun! The 4 (more like 3) night crossover has really begun! I’m not counting Supergirl since we only got a 2 minute scene, if that, at the end of the episode. And it seems like they actually meant crossover, and not a Flash episode featuring the other DC shows. This episode did not just cover Flash plot points but also Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow plot points.
The episode does a great job of balancing many different characters. Almost all of the characters have something to do and even though some take supporting roles, they don’t feel neglected, except for Mick. Mick got a bit lost and was not really there aside from a couple of funny moments with Kara. But the rest of the character got their moments at one point or another or did a great job as supporting characters. There were so many funny interactions but also many poignant ones. I believe it’s in crossovers where we see the best of some characters, especially Oliver Queen. It’s always great seeing Oliver interact with Barry, we get to see a lighter side to him, but seeing Oliver help Barry lead and also seeing him spread wisdom to other members of the pseudo Justice League. And Cisco and Felicity have the best chemistry, bouncing off of each other. I do wish we could have gotten a bit more of Kara in this episode. Melissa Benoist and Grant Gustin have such great chemistry so I wish we could have had a bit more Flash and Supergirl interaction but I’m excited to see more of Kara’s interactions with the other members of the team.
As stated above this was the beginning of a true crossover, in the sense that storylines for multiple shows were covered, and in some cases resolved. We find out who the woman in Martin Stein’s visions are and it turns out to be his daughter, whose existence is a result of Flashpoint. We also get to hear the full recording of the message that future Barry sends to Rip. We learn that, in the recording, Barry is warning them to not trust his past self because of what he has done to alter the timeline and how it has affected everyone’s lives. This is, obviously, not the end of that storyline because it’s not 100% clear why past (present?) Barry is untrustworthy. Diggle is also informed about his daughter Sara who is now his son John Jr. This creates tension in the team when Cisco forces Barry to tell everyone, and further shows Barry the consequences of meddling with time, which Sara very sternly reminds him about. It was a great idea to tie the Legends plotlines into the Flash like they did. It makes perfect sense that the effects of the different timeline wouldn’t be immediate on the Legends because they are time travelers, and it was very smart of them to make Barry the reasons for Martin’s changing memories and not the legends themselves. It reinforces the fact that this is one big universe and that everything is connected.
As this was still a Flash episode we did get a bit of a Flash storyline. It focuses on Wally and his continued desire to help and be a superhero. Joe and Iris are still reluctant but Wally feels he is ready. The episode does not spend a lot of time on this storyline but it was enough time to make me freak out when Wally helps save the day. And when he called himself Kid Flash? Oh gosh I nerded out so hard. But that moment convinced HR, who Wally had asked to train him earlier in the episode, to agree and begin training Wally. Maybe it will help convince the rest of Team Flash that Wally is ready.
There was a lot of set up in this episode, about half of it was Barry bringing the team together, which is understandable. It would be a bit weird to do the set up in Supergirl, when the crisis isn’t taking place on her earth. But still there was A LOT of set up and it almost took the excitement of the crossover away from me. But the back half of the episode was full of action. Because of the Dominator’s mind control we kind of got to see fights that we, or at least I, have always wanted to see and some that we (I) did not know we wanted to see until they happened. We got to finally see a Barry and Kara race, of sorts, where I think we finally resolved that Barry is slightly faster than Kara. But I’m sure some people will chalk that up to the mind control. We also get to see Sara and Oliver fight each other which, I believe, has not happened yet. We’ve seen them fight together but I don’t think they’ve ever fought one another so it was cool to finally see that, two of the best fighters in the Arrowverse fighting one another.And, again, it was cool to see wally get his small moment in the spotlight. There was a point where Firestorm, Atom, and Heatwave seemed to disappear but Wally did knock down 3 people who I could not really make out on my TV so they might have been it. But the action that we got was fantastic. Now that we’ve seen the team fight each other I’m excited to see them fight together.
Now I have to mention the music. One of my favorite things about crossovers is the music that we get out of them and the mixture of themes. Blake Neely really knows how to score the different shows and knows how to perfectly capture the feel of the shows and characters in his music, specifically the Flash and Supergirl soundtracks. There were a couple times where one theme would seamlessly flow into another and others where the 4 themes would, somehow, be perfectly combined. And that logo at the top of the episode? Beautiful.
This crossover week is off to a fantastic start and I’m so unbelievably excited to see where it goes.
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