Following the destruction of the multi-verse, the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” finale leaves the seven Paragons — Lex included — stuck at the Vanishing Point for months on end with one only one goal: save the universe.
The “Crisis on Infinite Earths” finale (the Arrow episode being part 4 and Legends of Tomorrow being part 5) brought the crisis of the multi-verse to an end as one character made the ultimate sacrifice, many Earths were merged, and our heroes adapted to their new lives… but not without remembering everything that came before.
The heroes regained their memories quite quickly, thankfully, and the rest of the characters, and their new lives, are in question because we’ve already seen at least one drastic change to the timeline: Lex Luthor is a hero on Earth-Prime.
What else could be different? Guess we’ll have to wait and see when the shows begin airing regularly. But first, let’s break down all of the incredible moments this finale held.
‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ finale review
Of the five episodes, the last hour taking place on Legends was my favorite, but not because it held the end of the crossover. Because, at heart, it felt like the crossovers that the Arrow-verse needs to have in the future. Fun, ridiculous things, like fighting Beebo, occasionally paired with the emotional stakes of losing a team member in some fashion.
The heroes coming together to fight Beebo and the Anti-Monitor without Oliver felt earned, special, and was a tease of what smaller crossovers should be like. Overall, I’m a bit disappointed with this crossover. Yes, it was a huge one, and it really is hard to please everyone, but I just feel like there were certain aspects that could have been executed better.
For instance, during the fight scene between the heroes and the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time, it was impossible to understand what the Anti-Monitor or the heroes were saying. I even rewatched the scene and couldn’t hear everything, and in the middle of such an important scene, that’s quite a disappointment.
The story, as well, just didn’t really flow very well. Too much time was wasted in the beginning — particularly around Oliver’s first death and everything that happened during the “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two” episode — that could have been cut altogether, and the crossover shortened to just four episodes and telling the same exact story.
How is this the crisis teased on ‘The Flash’?
One of the most confusing factors of this story, to me, is that this story and the crossover were absolutely nothing like the crisis we’ve been teased for five years on The Flash. No red skies during the fight, Flash didn’t disappear, Reverse Flash didn’t even make an appearance… everything we thought would happen, didn’t.
This is obviously a common tactic in television to “surprise” the audience, but personally, I’d rather see a well-done story than one fumbled for the sake of shock value.
What we actually got during “Crisis on Infinite Earths” seemed like this crossover hadn’t been planned, like, at all. Perhaps it’s to do with the change to make it all about Oliver instead of Barry. Regardless, for both Barry and Oliver, this crossover wasn’t a good enough follow through on a years-long story or a proper send-off, respectively.
Sara Lance: Leader of the ‘Arrow’-verse
Perhaps my favorite bit to come out of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” finale is Sara Lance taking charge as the leader of the Arrow-verse team following Oliver’s death. As the leading hero who has been with him the longest, it only made sense that she would step up and lead everyone on without him.
It’s truly a testament to how far Sara has come that she’s able to stand up as a hero after all of the loss she’s experienced.
She’s now lost Laurel, Quentin, and Oliver, three of the closest people in her life, yet she’s still the remarkable and powerful White Canary, leading the universe to safety.
From murdered assassin to glowing hero, it’s safe to say that very few people have changed and grown as much as Sara has in the Arrow-verse.
However, Sara and Oliver’s similarities make this an easy choice, but also a very safe choice. Sara can lead the Arrow-verse through future crossovers in such a similar way to Oliver that it’s not a risk by any means.
She’s already the leader of her own team, and she’s struggled with darkness just like Oliver. She can make the same calls he did, while Barry and Kara are ruled by their hearts and seeing the good inside of others much more often.
Despite my excitement for Sara to take on this role as leader of the Arrow-verse, it also just feels like another missed opportunity to take a risk. Like, why not have Sara and Kara be co-leaders of the Arrow-verse? That would be a really fun dynamic to see more of what could be similar, yet very different from the Oliver and Barry dynamic.
The (second) death of Oliver Queen
After seven and a half years, the story of Oliver Queen is over… Well, almost over. There are still two episodes of Arrow, but as far as we know, he’s dead. (I wouldn’t be surprised if he was revealed to be alive to live in a different dimension as his happily ever after.)
I guess, if Oliver had to die to finish his story, that wasn’t a bad way to do it. It all just felt a little impersonal to his character, in my opinion, and didn’t really honor Oliver’s legacy.
It feels like a slap in the face to have watched Arrow since 2012 and rooted for Oliver to find his light and his happy ending, just for his life to end like this. He doesn’t even get to spend his life with his two children and wife.
I honestly don’t know how any of the Arrow-verse writers were fine with Oliver’s story ending like this because I’m certainly not. Feels kind of disrespectful to the fans as well, who have been waiting for Oliver’s vigilantism to lead him to happiness, which never fully came.
The changes following the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ finale
Honestly, the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” finale ended in the most predictable way possible. Oliver’s dead, the heroes are together on one Earth, and that’s about it. Aside from Oliver’s death, there are really no long-lasting changes introduced so far, Barry’s disappearance was a moot point all along (as expected), and everyone is going back to their lives relatively unharmed. Sure, Lex Luthor being the “best guy” on Earth-Prime is disconcerting, but it’s not like it’ll last.
Following this all-around lackluster crossover, I’m looking forward to seeing how The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, and Batwoman are impacted by the merging of Earths. Fingers crossed for some fun crossover content between only two shows at a time.
The regular schedule begins with Batwoman on Sunday, January 19 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW!
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