The CW has devoted one episode
each of five of their inter-connected DC superhero series (and arguably one
more) to tell the overarching story of their most daring crossover yet, “Crisis
on Infinite Earths.” The stakes have never been higher, with a grand gathering
of superheroes trying to stop the Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) from wiping
out the multi-verse, alternate Earth by alternate Earth, with the Antimatter
Wave. And amid some of the coolest DC cameo appearances yet, the third chapter
of the “Crisis” wallops viewers with the plot swerve wherein the hero alliance fails,
only midway through the crossover run!
That part bears explaining,
courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. One
driving plot element of The CW’s “Crisis” storyline was how it was already
foreshadowed since the first season of “The Flash” that the titular hero (Grant
Gustin) would sacrifice himself to prevent the destruction of the multiverse.
On part 3 of this crossover in “Flash” season 6 Barry/Flash travels with his
team including a repowered Cisco/Vibe (Ramon Valdes) to Earth-90 where
Wells/Pariah (Tom Cavanagh) noted was an antimatter generator. The surprise is
that the power source is another Flash, from Earth-90. That is an awesome cameo
by John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry/Flash in the (rather old) 1990 CBS TV
adaptation.
To stop the antimatter generator,
a Flash would need to make it run backwards, and Earth-1 Barry is resigned to
do it, considering that his foretold sacrificial act. The big twist is that
Earth-90 Barry is just as ready to make a sacrifice as he is, stealing Earth-1
Barry’s speed and doing the reverse generator run even though it means his
death. What really sells this scene is the archival footage add-on of the 1990
show with Shipp and his leading lady Amanda Pays as Star Labs tech Tina McGee.
Before that however, the allied Monitor
(also Garrett) has helped identify most of the other Paragons: Barry obviously,
then J’onn J’onnz of “Supergirl” (David Harewood), and Ryan Choi (Osric Chau)
who created Barry’s future suit from season 5. Choi is then secured by a team
of Iris (Candace Patton), Ralph/Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer) and Ray (Russell
Tovy). On the Arrow front, the associates of the late archer (Stephen Amell)
have not given up trying to restore him, so they – Mia (Katherine McNamara), Diggle/Spartan
(David Ramsey) and Constantine (Matt Ryan) travel to Earth-666, the setting of
Fox channel’s DC series “Lucifer.”
So we get this episode’s awesome
cameo 2, where Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) directs the team to Purgatory in
their search for Oliver’s soul. Even upon finding him, another soul named Jim Corrigan
(Stephen Lobo) stops them from leaving, as Oliver’s soul was destined to become
a trans-dimensional reality warping entity called the Spectre, something Oliver
agrees to. Again, Team Arrow’s quest gets the kibosh. But that is only the
start of the hero alliance’s problems because the Anti-Monitor has successfully
turned Lyla/Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson) against the Monitor, allowing the
Antimatter Wave to continue and erase the multi-verse anyway.
How does the “Crisis” story continue
when the setting is gone? The Monitor sacrifices himself to allow Pariah to
send the Seven Paragons of Flash, Kara/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), Kate/Batwoman
(Ruby Rose), J’onn, Sara/White Canary (Caity Lotz), Choi, and Earth-96 Superman
(Brandon Routh) to a place beyond the multi-versal constraints of space and time:
The Vanishing Point. Unfortunately everyone else in the big group is erased
from existence. Even worse, Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) uses a purloined page of the
Book of Destiny to kill Superman-96 and replace him as Paragon. How are they
going to win when already they lost?
The CW certainly has changed the
DC TV multi-verse in such an extreme degree for “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
And that is no idle boast seeing as the multi-verse is no more! The “Flash”
season 6 episode even has one more deep cameo from the lead stars of the short-lived
2002 “Birds of Prey” series from The WB as yet another Earth destroyed by
Antimatter. And “Black Lightning” star Cress Williams really works his brief
scene with the antimatter generator as a hurting hero who lost his world, but
still tries to help out by powering the generator while the two Flashes sort
things out.
While it would be prime to get
the story moving from this bleak circumstance, The CW’s superhero shows are on
the holiday break, with the “Crisis” not picking up until next year, with “Arrow”
season 8 episode 8 airing the penultimate chapter of this crossover so epic,
The CW hinted there will not be another one so soon in 2020.
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