I'm mighty impressed with how well The CW has been building up Crisis on Infinite Earths. Especially on Arrow's end. And now that the inevitable end has inched that much closer, did the first episode of the great Crisis live up to expectations? To some extent, yes it did. But with a mega-crossover come some pretty glaring issues that may hinder it otherwise. Hear me out now.
The scope of this event is pretty large. You have several big heroes and cameos left and right, a big battle and huge CGI structures. That's all well and good for what the budget of the creators can gather. Yes, the space reapers that go poof in one hit feel cheap and the action doesn't always stay consistently in focus, but having several costumes and gadgets in use at the same time still works very well. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely enjoyed the action and adored the brief, couple second appearances of fan-favourite stars and characters from across the DC Universe and beyond. It really shows how thoughtful the writers and producers are in giving good fan service.
While there is plenty of hearty drama to go around between several core characters, I did feel as if Barry (Grant Gustin) was underused here. In a way, so was Oliver (Stephen Amell), but we will get to that shortly. There is still this back and forth with trusting the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) that just shouldn't be there. Moreover the constant jumps between characters and earths means you quickly loose the dramatic impact of certain conversations. There are strong ones and those weakened by the editing. It's really up to you how to digest them.
That's where episode one of this massive event falters. It's not that delicately paced and struggles to find breathing room for everyone and everything. Which is why I felt that the shocking death of Oliver was a little unjustified. Promo images and other sources indicate he will be around for another few rounds. Yeah, yeah dropping your bow and running into a horde of galactic space demons while uttering a battle cry is cool, but you don't see 50% of it. And it's not the fitting farewell the character deserves. Is it heroic? Absolutely. Was Ollie's farewell emotional? Yeah. Would it serve the story well for Ollie to bite it so quickly? No, not at all. If it's a bait, I hope they find a way to resolve it with logical consistency. If not, then well, way to go wasting a hero's sacrifice. I'm conflicted, because Arrow has made it clear that "there are no more stories about the Green Arrow to tell". Surely this isn't the end. I guess they are underlining this statement by pulling this card, but not like this. Not like this.
It's honestly just cool to see all these colourful, lovable characters band together in the midst of a crisis. And not just any crisis, this is THE ONE. If its narrative structure is to be taken out of the equation, is a DC fans dream come true for so many reasons. "Part 1" of this epic crossover event may not hit all the right notes with action or emotion, but it makes some bold moves, has awesome cameos and sets up an exciting conflict. Really, this episode didn't work for me 100% because of the way it ended. I just didn't like the fact that the writers would bait us with such a weird ending, let alone a bait involving the one and only Green Arrow.
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