Martin Carr reviews the eighth episode of Supergirl season 3…
As a rule the crossover episodes are worth watching. Everyone comes together for a preordained event which conveniently ties each show into a singular location then away we go. Needless to say the same thing happens this time round but for some reason it failed to engage me. This maybe because I am not familiarity with the other shows but that aside even the most hardened fan must have noticed how much failed to happen.
Now there is room for incidental music within these shows and it comes with the territory, but ‘Crisis on Earth-X Part 1’ used more than its fair share of filler which was disappointing. Not having followed The Flash that closely my interest in the sub-plot was minimal even if those involved gave it their best college try. There were plot moments that would have been exciting had I known half as much as everyone else it seems. Bringing together Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and The Flash is normally dynamite television, but it felt rushed in spite of itself. Too much hen party slash best man window dressing took too long before anything vaguely happened. Now I appreciate that this is four part story, but being stuck with the setup section left Supergirl fans little to smile about.
Fights were few and far between and looking moody on rooftops just doesn’t cut it in the villainy stakes. Each central protagonist worked hard with the screen time they had but failed to really get enough that it made a difference. Thankfully there was less singing this time round except for the mandatory wedding opportunity, but even so ‘Crisis on Earth-X Part I’ was too saccharine sweet for me. Now I am not out to slate the crossover because there is definitely going to be more plot, action and everything else in subsequent parts but this just left me cold.
Stand out moments came from small asides, dynamic fight sequences which could have been longer, interaction between new and old characters as well as decent comedic timing. My problem again is that none of this detracted from the lag elsewhere. My feeling is that there was simply too many leads in a show which needed to diversify too much. In trying to give everyone their fair bite of the cherry they ignored the audience. Having said that I suspect that whichever show you started with the end result would have been similar. Lots of great characters being consistently short-changed for the sake of structure and screen time. Because let’s be honest one hundred sixty minutes of television is a lot to fill.
Martin Carr – Follow me on Twitter
Originally published November 29, 2017. Updated November 29, 2022.
