After discovering four of the Paragons, “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” follows this enormous band of superheroes as their search continues, but with Anti-Monitor’s plans about to reach fruition, how will they stop him?
Wow, “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” is quite the way to begin the month-long hiatus before the remainder of the crossover airs and the Arrow-verse shows begin, on their own, once again.
The episode ended on quite the shocking note: all of the universes being destroyed and the Paragons, and being the only seven people left and sent to the Vanishing Point outside of time and space. With only two episodes left, the remaining characters are going to have to scramble to save the multi-verse (or, at the very least, Earth-1).
(Be sure to read our “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One” and “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two” reviews before diving into this one!)
‘Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three’ review
To be completely honest, I have mixed feelings about “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” and how the crossover is progressing. On the one hand, I love it, I loved the episode, and I’m so excited to see the rest. On the other, I feel like this event was almost too hyped up, and it’s now falling flat. The story of the crossover so far, really isn’t that interesting.
What’s saving the show is seeing all of these heroes together, but even then, they’re all off doing their own thing. Kate and Kara’s friendship blossoming is beautiful (and is one of my favorite aspects of the crossover), and I love seeing the dynamic they have. I also appreciate that Sara Lance is getting a bigger role than she normally does, and I’ve particularly been fond of her scenes with Kate and Kara, like when they were pouring out a drink for Oliver after his death.
What really isn’t working in my opinion is the Oliver-centric story. Killing him off during the first episode of the crossover could have been surprising and a good twist if the story had dropped it there and had the heroes keep fighting to save the multi-verse in his honor.
However, this entire plot about bringing him back to life has been unnecessary and a waste of time. There were plenty of other ways to turn Oliver into the Spectre to help save the day, but making this crossover more about him than actually fighting to save the multi-verse has been a major fail.
Every Earth in the multi-verse is destroyed and since the heroes were too busy working to save one man, they weren’t even actively trying to save the billions of others that were at risk.
Overall, I’m disappointed by the story aspect of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” so far. It’s felt more like a story centered on resurrecting Oliver, whose story is ending in one way or another in January, rather than the biggest comic book event portrayed on television.
Kate and Kara
“Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” does an incredible job, once again, of exploring the burgeoning friendship between Kate and Kara (that will, in the future, be the friendship to rival that of Oliver and Barry).
Like any two characters, one with darkness (Oliver/Kate) and one with light (Barry/Kara), there are some kinks to work out, and they aren’t always going to get along. Even though Kate is a new hero in the universe, I think the writers are really doing an impressive job with her.
Being the Paragon of Courage is no mistake; Kate standing up to Kara, as she was going to try to bring back the multi-verse with the Book of Destiny, took guts.
Kara is without a doubt stronger than Kate and could take her in a fight, but Kate still faced off against her in that brief confrontation. It’s beautiful to see how Kara and Kate compliment each other because it really is like nothing else we’ve seen from these crossover friendships.
If there’s anything that “Crisis On Infinite Earths” has gotten right, it’s this relationship.
Black Lightning and The Flash(es)
“Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” finally delivered and introduced Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning to the rest of the Arrow-verse, which has been long overdue. In particular, I’m already quite fond of the relationship that Barry and Jefferson began to share as they bonded over their responsibilities and losses.
For those who aren’t aware, at the end of the latest Black Lightning episode, Jefferson’s entire Earth and family were wiped away by the anti-matter wave after red skies appeared and cause his daughter’s powers to go haywire.
Jefferson was saved by Pariah right before the anti-matter hit him, which is moments before he appeared on this episode. It really shows how much of a hero Jefferson is that just moments after losing his family and learning of the entire multi-verse, he stepped up to help save the day.
Any way, back to Barry and Jefferson, their bond already being cemented is quite intriguing, and I hope it will lead to some interesting crossovers between these two in the future. Talking about their lost family, their fathers in particular, was heartbreaking, but it really showcases how much these two (and many others in the Arrow-verse) have lost, either before or during their time as heroes.
As for Earth-90’s Barry, his end was so devastating, but so well done. The glimpse at his love, Tina, as he faded from existence was brutal, but it’s so incredibly heartwarming that he was willing to die for our Barry.
Whether this means Barry is out of the woods, I don’t think so. There are still two episodes left for him to die, and just because he assumed that’s when he was supposed to vanish, doesn’t mean it’s correct. The Monitor could have always foreseen Earth-90’s Flash dying too.
Whatever the case, I hope “Crisis on Infinite Earths” lives up to what we were promised and have been promised since The Flash began. Skies of red, the Reverse Flash, Barry’s disappearance, all of these are supposed to be a part of Barry’s story, and the direction of this crossover has been shifted entirely to be Oliver’s final story. It’s not surprising, considering Oliver is treated like a god by the writers, but it’s really disrespectful to every Flash fan. Even the article written by Iris doesn’t make sense considering what we’ve seen from this crossover.
As part of Barry’s origin story, this should have been about him all along, and I’m really disappointed that the writers have made it about Oliver. It doesn’t matter why they did it; the point is that they did. Moving this event up isn’t something that needed to happen to send Oliver off. He could have had a story that was completely his own, which would have been more respectful to his character as well.
‘Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three’ final thoughts
“Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” was certainly a game-changer I didn’t see coming. Losing Earth-1 never seemed like an option to me, someone who isn’t familiar with the comic book story, but now they’ve done it. The multi-verse no longer exists. The Monitor has been defeated. All that remains are our heroes: Kara Danvers, Sara Lance, Kate Kane, J’onn J’onnz, Barry Allen, Ryan Choi, and…. Lex Luthor?
Honestly, I’m so sick of this bald-headed man ruining things for the heroes. We don’t even have a Superman show yet, but we have to deal with Lex Luthor already and it’s exhausting.
That said, it’s very in-character for Lex to do something like changing one of the Paragons to be himself in the Book of Destiny, and being the Paragon of Truth does make a bit of sense for Lex. Maybe it’s not the same truth, but Lex is very confident in his truth, like his stance that aliens are terrible and need to be eradicated from the world. Whatever. I hope Lena destroys him during his guest arc on Supergirl season 5.
Additionally, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like that the crossover wastes time on introducing new heroes on a bigger scale, like Ryan Choi or Mia Smoak (who technically counts since her time in the crossover is being used to set up the upcoming Arrow spin-off).
There are so many other heroes that have already been introduced who don’t get screen time (like the rest of the Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow casts) that could have been a Paragon instead of a random Superman and Ryan Choi.
With only two episodes left, I hope the crossover finishes on a decent, cohesive story that utilizes all of the heroes in the Arrow-verse and provides a decent ending for Oliver Queen (since that’s what the crossover’s goal clearly is) and a satisfying resolution for The Flash to put this to rest after five years.
The “Crisis on Infinite Earths” two-hour finale airs Tuesday, January 14 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW!
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.