Arrow 6.08: Crisis on Earth-X: Part II
Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, Wendy Mericle, and Ben Sokolowski
James Bamford
Middle chapters of a large story are always
difficult to review. There's no true starting point, and there's no end either.
The impression is not complete because the story is not complete. That's very
much true of this episode of Arrow.
What I do find interesting to see here is the different styles at work, and
clashing together in one episode.
Part One of Crisis
on Earth-X wasn't an episode of Supergirl
so much as an episode of The Flash
with the characters of Supergirl and Alex Danvers making extended cameos. The
feeling doesn't really extend here, as the characters of Arrow are more involved with the ongoing storyline. I can't be sure
what was going on with the coordination between four different shows with four
different ongoing plotlines was like during production of the crossover, but I
wonder if the writers and production staff of Arrow perhaps took a look at Supergirl,
and decided they didn't want to do what they did. Part One of Crisis on Earth-X was purely setup, and
it's then Arrow's job (as well as The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow) to carry the baton to the finish line. So Part Two immediately declares itself a
full-fledged Arrow episode by
revealing that the captured Prometheus in the STAR Labs Pipeline is not Adrian
Chase, but rather Tommy Merlyn! He's alive after five years! Only, he's not
really Tommy. At least, he's not the Tommy that Oliver and Felicity knew way
back when.
We find out more and more about what life is
like on Earth-X, something that was in very short supply in Part One. It's a
hard and horrific place (which Harry undersold), one where the Nazis, by virtue
of their developing the atomic bomb before the Americans do, win World War II,
and literally take over the entire world. Supers like Prometheus and Dark Arrow
and Overgirl and the Reverse Flash are in the upper echelon of the current
Reich, and they've hatched an ambitious plan to try and take over Earth-1. This
is wading more into the overall plot of Crisis
on Earth-X, which involves the mirror supervillains trying to acquire some
sort of mysterious prism that holds the key to the "Earth-Xers"
taking over Earth-1.
The key difference between Part One and Part
Two here, is that this episode takes some time out to check in on where every
character is mentally. Felicity (loudly) blurted out in Barry and Iris'
rehearsal dinner that she "didn't want to marry (Oliver)," and so
both characters are left to deal with the aftermath of that statement. Their
discussion after Dark Tommy committed suicide (which somehow mentally affects
this Oliver) is smart, and understated, even though it's very emotionally
charged. The Oliver of Arrow's sixth
season is in a much more mature mental space than he was in earlier seasons,
and he knows what he wants. But so does Felicity, and it boils down to sticking
to her perspective, which is one that is afraid of taking the next step in
their relationship.
That fear is rooted in legitimate concerns, as
the last time they got engaged, Felicity got shot and couldn't walk for a time.
Apparently, the Flashpoint timeline created by Barry didn't affect that event
in both of their lives. The problem with this exploration of the hated Olicity
relationship is that the writers don't know where to go with the relationship's
status. All of that intimate talk between the two of them results in both of
them being in the same place at the end. Both Felicity and Oliver discuss their
feelings and mentality with others, apart from each other, but those
discussions don't really bear much fruit, either.
So then, what's left? The action, much like the
wedding action sequence at the end of Part One, at least still works. Also like
Part One, the cheap television special effects sometimes bog down the
proceedings. Arrow made filming
action and stunt fight sequences their bread and butter throughout five
seasons' time, and there are a couple of fights that play to that same spirit
(a fight in a dark-lit warehouse is filmed in one take inside and back from
four people simultaneously), but it does sometimes get stale. It's funny for
both Oliver and Kara to get thrown by the fact that Dark Arrow and Overgirl are
married to each other, something that I suspected from the very beginning of
this episode, but never really had such an impression during Part One. And the
Dark Arrow's plan to split up the fighting forces between STAR Labs and the
portal to Earth-X is nicely structured to get to the next part of the
crossover.
But it's not a natural endpoint to the story.
It's yet another cliffhanger, although this one was better than Part One.
Felicity and Iris (plus an unconscious Cisco) are trapped at STAR Labs with
Dark Arrow, while everyone else, including some of the members of Team Arrow,
are now stuck in Earth-X. Presumably, the majority of Part Three, nominally The Flash's turn for Crisis on Earth-X, will take place in
Earth-X, and that means we'll get to learn even more about the world and its characters.
But like Supergirl before it, I think
these crossover episodes are shortchanging the characters we've spent years
getting to know all about. That doesn't really sit well with me, even as I've
been enjoying much of the crossover event.
- The reveal of Tommy under that Prometheus mask was quite effective
- The fight sequences were great once again
- STAR Labs' poor security haunts them once again, as Dark Arrow and the Nazis just strolls onto the grounds with no resistance