Jessie Robertson reviews part 1 of The CW’s DC crossover event Elseworlds…
Finally!!!
Part 1 is here and I’ve been looking forward to this for a while; let’s look at what was good and not so good
The Good:
– The two openings (the one we’ve seen prior on last week’s episodes and where Deegan gets this mysterious book) are so comic book-y, you can’t help but like them.
– The Iris-Oliver reveal is way better than the Diggle-Barry reveal because it just plays so much better with the lore; we know Iris kinda crushes on Oliver, and that her cooking is less than par; they play with that here and it rewards long time fans of this universe.
– You’re either in for the meta-talk here or you’re not; some of it works for me; Barry’s line to Oliver about calling Iris your “lightning rod” works. Oliver telling Barry he tries to avoid the word “sorry” works. Oliver showing up in a Flash outfit grumbling “You have failed this city” is groan inducing.
– Barry is having fun with this Arrow opportunity because of course he is; “Did you freakin see that?” after taking out a whole group of thugs, playing on the Salmon ladder, etc.
– At certain points of this episode, I’m just giddy for the references: Kent Farm!!! Amazo!!! Just when I thought there were no more huge reveals we would ever get in this universe, here we go!
– “Are you puffing out your chest?” Barry to Oliver when meeting Superman – “Yes” Oliver admits it!
– The battle with Amazo is pretty good, if not short. Just seeing Superman working with these heroes we’ve been watching for years now was so much fun and rewarding.
– The drawing was cool; and a nice tease for part II
The Not as Good Depending on Your Point of View:
– The Barry-Oliver debate with superpowers. So, this was the crux of the episode: these two heroes, thrust into each other’s roles, into each other’s lives even, and having to accept they are different and need to play these roles they are stuck in for the time being. There was something so obvious to any longtime fan I didn’t quite understand the point of it. WE KNOW THEY ARE DIFFERENT PEOPLE! I wasn’t getting the point of that being hammered into our heads. Is it so they better understand each other and why their certain attitudes work for them? That storypoint is losing me in it’s relevance; maybe that is yet to come. They’re power battle felt like it was getting personal and a bit nasty and I wasn’t really a fan.
– This episode is meta- meaning, they are referencing things the viewer would know or say, but the characters in the show shouldn’t. Ralph mentions “It’s not even Tuesday” their normal time. Lots of references to Barry leaning on his team, while he throws a dagger of Felicity practically invented quarterbacking, etc.
– I didn’t think their imitations of each other were that particularly strong either. That may seem like a picky criticism but if this crossover is hinged on them being able to tap into those other halves of themselves, I think it needs to be stronger.
– Is it just me or is that not the Lois Lane you envisioned? She’s kinda mean to the scientist guy and I don’t know, when I watch her performance, it’s quirky, yeah, but not quite what I pictured.
Okay, that’s Part 1. I’m going 8.5/10 – the crossovers kinda start slow and present the problem (except last year’s was nuts!) and they’ve gotten the recoup at a far away location scene over already so I’m expecting it to pick up. Any crossover featuring the excellent Tyler Hoechlin as Superman is a big step up though. Be back tomorrow with Part 2!
Jessie Robertson
