TV Review: "Crisis on Infinite Earths" Parts 1-3

Crisis on Infinite Earths is quite the most ambitious crossover yet attempted for the CW's Arrowverse series. As a reminder, Arrow began as a grounded take on the superhero Green Arrow. But the second season of the series saw police detective Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) go to Starling City and meet the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). The next season would see The Flash debut, becoming a hit with audiences. The two shows would cross over frequently despite differing tones. During the following season, the TV series Supergirl would debut and cross over with The Flash, which was exploring the concept of the multiverse. (Supergirl's earth would be an alternate world from the one where Oliver and Barry served as heroes.) Then, Legends of Tomorrow debuted, seeing characters from the first two shows become time travelers. The four shows would cross over for a major story each year. The CW would add Black Lightning to its lineup, but Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) would have adventures in a world seemingly separate from the rest of the "Arrowverse" as it had become called. Last year's crossover "Elseworlds" introduced Batwoman (Ruby Rose) who would begin her own show the next season.

Crisis had been teased since the first season of The Flash, as the comic event it was based on saw the end of the multiverse, beginning DC Comics continuity anew. It would also see the deaths of Barry Allen and Supergirl. Barry's disappearance during the Crisis was hinted at from the start, with the Crisis originally dated for 2024, the show seemingly hoping to run for ten seasons. However, the events of the fifth season of The Flash saw the Crisis move back to 2019.

Arrow has been leading to Crisis by having Oliver do tasks for the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) and his adult children are sent back in time to help him. The Flash has seen Barry learn that in order to save the world, he will have to die and his team begins preparing for a world without him, including Ralph, of course. So, Crisis will seemingly pick up where last week's Arrow and The Flash left off, with red skies dawning on Earth-1.

The first three episodes of Crisis aired this week, with over a month break until the last two air next month back to back on January 14.

In the Supergirl episode, the multiverse faces red skies. Argo City is destroyed, with Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson) rescuing Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) at the last moment. Heroes band together on Supergirl's Earth-38 as a mass evacuation is staged before its destruction. As the heroes strive to buy enough time, one of them makes the ultimate sacrifice.

The story continued on Batwoman as the Monitor tasked the heroes to find the Paragons of Courage and Truth, sending them to different earths to meet alternate incarnations of Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Superman (Tom Welling and Brandon Routh). Meanwhile, Oliver's daughter Mia (Katherine McNamara) and Sara (Caity Lotz) enlist the aid of John Constantine (Matt Ryan) in finding a Lazarus Pit.

Finally, The Flash saw many of the supporting casts of the shows, including Team Flash (including Ralph), join the heroes as they find the final paragon, Ryan Choi (Osric Chau). Cisco (Carlos Valdes) has his Vibe powers restored by the Monitor as he helps Barry and Pariah (Tom Cavanagh) find the Anti-Monitor's weapon, running into the Flash of Earth-90 (John Wesley Shipp) and Black Lightning.

Things end on a grim cliffhanger, which fans will be speculating on for over a month as Parts 4 and 5 won't be airing until January 14, 2020.

So, I think I'm a bit overdue to get another comic blog out.

For viewers in the US, all episodes of Crisis on Infinite Earths will be available on the CW website and app for free viewing for a limited time, along with bonus materials. The respective episodes of Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow will be on Netflix along with the rest of their seasons after they complete their seasons. Batwoman will be streaming on HBO Max, the yet to debut WarnerMedia-owned subscription streaming service. The individual episodes will be available for purchase on digital vendors. Physical editions of each season are expected to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray. There is no word as to if there will be a special release of the event.

Viewers outside of the US will likely have a harder time following the event as the shows have many different licensing agreements.