First Thoughts on 'Crisis on Earth-X' (DC Television Crossover)
Can I just say how amazing it is that this sort of thing actually exists? As someone who doesn't read comic books (and has no idea where to start), getting to follow all of these different shows with these 'event' episodes like this is just incredibly exciting. It's easy to get bored of TV shows after a while, but following each respective DC show all seems worthwhile to get these cross-over events. I was much more excited for this story than I am for any of the individual shows' finales. This is what I look forward to with each season, and it's just a lovely experience getting such a big event like this every year now.
Is Crisis on Earth-X perfect then? Not by a long shot. It's over-stuffed, cluttered, awkwardly-paced and a bit tonally all-over-the-place, but that's to be expected with this kind of thing. The point isn't to tell this amazing, deep, thoughtful story, but to watch an extended Saturday morning cartoon in which all of your favourite super-heroes team-up and fight Nazis. It's amazing this is as good as it is, and after last year's slightly messy Invasion and 2015's sorely disappointing...um...what was that crossover called again? Not sure they ever gave it a specific name.
The element that surprisingly wasn't sacrificed though was the villains. Now, thanks in part to current events and also recent history, having Nazis as villains makes for pretty simply character motivations and conflicts, but what surprised me more than anything was that our villains had actual characters. Dark Arrow and Overgirl's relationship is actually interesting to watch. These aren't two heartless characters, these are characters who genuinely love each other, and genuinely believe in their ideologies. Reverse-Flash's return was a little underwhelming though, having seen the character so often now. His big return feels squandered as an "oh no, not you again" as opposed to "OMG the Reverse-Flash" That being said, a pre-established villain saves some time on the development front.
As for our heroes, one can't help but feel a little disappointed at the irregular appearances of characters. There's so many in this cross-over that its difficult to track who's where and doing what at what point in the story. This was always going to happen, but its very clear who are leads are and who are supporting cast are. Barry seems to take a noticeable step-back this year, being a clear main protagonist, but the focus mainly falls on Oliver, Kara, Jax and Martin (the latter two being particularly prevalent given the ending of this story). Oliver very much becomes the leader of our Justice League, while Kara gets to face-off against her evil doppelganger, an element that's only been explored in her solo series once. It's nice to see, and Melissa Benoist pulls off both characters with ease. Stephen Amell, however, I felt could've done more to portray the differences between the two Oliver's. Sure, there's subtle things, but I felt the two acted too similarly at points, especially when facing off against one another. I think Amell's a really good actor though, and this story proves that elsewhere.
We also get to meet The Ray (Russell Tovey) and Earth-X Leo Snart, who serve as fun additions to the ensemble. I feel like with so many characters, these additional heroes weren't necessarily needed, but Tovey's role felt like an introduction for a future spin-off series. As it happens, such a spin-off series is in development....but the teaser trailer released contradicts most of this cross-over, which is a little confusing. Besides, I'd rather watch a live-action miniseries with The Ray, even if it was just a one-off, it seems like an interesting idea.
Getting back to Crisis on Earth-X though, I will say that the pacing is quite awkward at points. Part 1 amounts to simply Barry and Iris' wedding, Part 2 just features characters sitting around exposition-dumping and its not really until Part 3 that the story gets going on Earth-X, and then we immediately leave Earth-X at the start of Part 4, have the big battle and then rush through the resolution. Even the final fight which I really enjoyed felt a little too short. There was never a strong conflict between Oliver and Dark Arrow, or at least too little emphasis on it, for their showdown to really feel special. Also, Barry racing Eobard Thawne once again felt like an opportunity to show how far Barry's come since the first season of The Flash, but it felt limited to chasing and Barry deciding not to kill Eobard. It lacked any real dramatic weight. That being said, Supergirl vs Overgirl was pretty darn cool for its limited budget, and I particularly liked the "General, would you care to step outside" homage (from Superman II, I believe).
There's also a surprising amount of emphasis placed on Alex in this crossover, which feels...wrong, somehow. Her dynamic with Sara felt like it was supposed to go somewhere but didn't, and given that characters like Atom, Wally and Cisco received very little screen-time overall, that just felt like an over-extended plot point that never really developed at all. Also, we didn't get to see much of Martian Manhunter, which is always a shame.
My final criticism of the crossover though is the ending. Only once everyone has gone home do Barry and Iris tie the knot finally....which seems a bit of an odd thing to do after everyone has literally only just left. I'm sure everyone could and would have stuck around for the actual wedding! And then, for whatever reason, Felicity decides to ruin this moment further by marrying Oliver at the same time...because rubbing in how badly Barry and Iris' wedding plans went is exactly what her as a good friend does. Um...could they not just film one more scene at the Church from Part 1? I mean, everyone was there on-set, so they could have just filmed the wedding at the end there, right? Also, did Felicity and Oliver need to get married there-and-then? Couldn't they just get engaged and marry in Arrow's mid-season finale? Am I missing something here?
I'd really like to watch Crisis on Earth-X again at some point. I watched it in two sittings, and wish I'd seen it in one, just so I could get the flow of the narrative. This doesn't always work - it didn't really work in Invasion last year - but for this event, I think it would lend a sense of perspective. As for next year's crossover...will there be a crossover? My assumption is yes, but comparing this year's ratings to last year's, there's a noticeable drop: Invasion reached a peak of 4.15 million viewers in the US, while Crisis on Earth-X reached only as high as 2.82 million, and as low as 2.52 million. This is also lower than both Flash vs Arrow and Heroes Join Forces (as the Legends of Tomorrow prequel crossover is titled on Wikipedia). Considering how expensive these events must be, it doesn't bode too well in the long-run for these shows. Each is facing declining ratings, and a cancellation for one or maybe even two shows seems possible (I'm looking at you, Arrow and Legends).
This piece is going on too long...
So, to conclude: Crisis on Earth-X is a really fun crossover event, with clear potential for more interesting and developed storytelling that never fully develops with the sheer scope of the various characters involved. It's not as good as Flash vs Arrow, but I'd say it was more satisfying than Invasion, and much, much better than Heroes Join Forces. Simple fun, nothing more.
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