"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

DC TV Universe: “Crisis on Infinite Earths” (2019-2020)


Circling back around to this now that Oscar season is over and I’m not filling up the blog with movie reviews. Every year, the CW hypes their Arrowverse crossover, and every year, I get super psyched (even though, for every golden moment, there’s usually some sloppy chaos too.) And this year’s crossover was the biggest of all. It not only spanned episodes of five different shows and featured a major guest from another, it also teased the coming of future DC shows on the CW plate and, just generally, served as a love letter to every adaptation of every DC property out there. While I can’t deny that there’s plenty of messiness and nonsense, god help me if I didn’t love it anyway (spoilers.)

One or more Earths has a major catastrophe requiring the assistance of a whole posse of costumed heroes precisely once a year, conveniently for television ratings. This time around, though, it’s not just one or more Earths. It’s every Earth. The entire multiverse is under threat by the Anti-Monitor, a shady megalomaniac from an anti-matter dimension who’s ready to destroy everything. Our heroes (and I mean all our heroes) get a hand in the fight for the future of the multiverse, going on an Earth-hopping mission to stop the Anti-Monitor.

We’ll start with some of the annoyances so I can move onto the fun stuff. As is pretty usual, there’s some top-notch ridiculous plotting on display here. While it’s always fun to see everyone interacting, these crossovers are rarely done in such a way that don’t ultimately feel overstuffed, and this one is bursting at the seams even before you get to all the Easter eggs. And yet, for such a multiverse-ending, all-hands-on-deck Crisis-with-a-Capital-OH-MY-GOD!!!, the story also feels weirdly small at times. The most major fights feel pretty unimpressive, and plenty of characters disappear for the majority of the proceedings with nary a mention (I know all the shows’ supporting cast have small roles, but I’m most biased toward the Supergirl characters, and I definitely had these thoughts at various points: “How do you make J’onn a Paragon and then give him like two minutes of screentime?”, “I know Alex is happily in a relationship, but come on, she can’t even meet Kate Kane?”, and, when Ray was working on something technically-complicated in a crunch and rejoiced at the arrival of Cisco, “Gee, it’s not like a Twelfth-Level Intellect would come in handy or anything!”) Also, my time with the Moffat era of Doctor Who has soured me on the notion of a character getting their “definite irrevocable ending,” being brought back two episodes later, and then getting their “definite irrevocable final ending for real this time!” another two episodes later; just put all your effort into one good death scene instead of diluting the effect with diminishing returns.

But all that said, I still had a wonderful time. I loved the further development of the brief bond we saw between Kara and Kate in last year’s crossover, with Kara helping to ease Kate into all the alternate-reality-and-aliens shenanigans going on and the two of them helping one another as things got really heavy. Barry-Jefferson was a surprise connection, but it was totally great and I’d love to see them together more in the future (let’s be honest, Freedland could totally use the occasional assist from another hero in a Black Lightning / Flash crossover.) The chance to see Brandon Routh play Superman again (not in a mediocre movie, and more importantly, without the gross Bryan Singer baggage!) was great, and as much as I continue to love Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsy Tulloch as the Arrowverse’s official Superman and Lois, Routh just killed it as an alternate-Earth Superman who’s been through some serious shit. Lex Luthor was his usual Magnificent Bastard self, and I really enjoyed the debut of Ryan Choi, an unsuspecting (albeit brilliant) human who’s swept up in all the apocalyptic goings-on.

And of course, the cameos. This is a crossover that went far beyond the bounds of the Arrowverse, taking full advantage of the multiverse to bring in nods to countless DC properties. There was Burt Ward, there with the “Holy crimson skies of death!” There was a Smallville Earth, a Birds of Prey TV-show Earth, the return of the 90s Flash Earth, a Tim Burton Batman Earth, and an Earth where all the DC Universe (the streaming service) original shows exist. There was Kevin Conroy playing Batman in live action for the first time. There was freakin’ Ezra Miller’s Flash!! I’m fully aware that this crossover is like 70% pure fan service, but it works because, as much as it panders, it’s also done with clear love and affection for the wide reach of everything DC.

I will say, though, one thing the crossover didn’t deliver? A scene of Jefferson finding out that Barry was raised in a Black family and no one ever mentions it. I most definitely needed his reaction to that information, which is clearly another reason why we need a Black Lightning / Flash crossover! At least now that Supergirl and Black Lightning merged with all the Earth-one-based shows into a singular Earth, it can theoretically be easier to do more small two-show crossovers in between the larger events. Come on, CW – make it so!

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