Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover

I finally watched the latest CW Superhero Crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. I say 'finally' because I had to wait a month between the first three episode and the final two, which I wasn't too crazy about. But, overall, I enjoyed this one a lot. Here are the highlights:

One of the best moments for me was seeing the meeting of the Flashes. Grant Gustin's TV Flash met Ezra Miller's Cinematic Flash, and it was completely unexpected--it caught me completely off guard--and I loved it. I'm hoping we'll still see a Flash movie with Miller in the lead.

I also loved the cameo from Marv Wolfman, who wrote the original Crisis comics series back in the 1980s. Marv also co-wrote one of the episodes of the Crisis crossover.

Another thing I really liked was how Crisis deepened the friendship between Batwoman and Supergirl. There was even a scene where Kate was hanging out in Kara's apartment! I hope we see more team ups with these two in the future. And Ruby/Kate looks great in the Bat costume sans the cowl, BTW.

And, speaking of Batwoman, I'm also happy to hear that it has been renewed for a second season! More Kate! More Batwoman! Yay!

The DC Crossover

I saw the latest DC Arrow-verse Crossover (on the CW streaming app, available on the Roku), which unites the heroes of Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl into one big event. Although I was surprised to see that the Legends of Tomorrow weren't involved this time, in a way it made sense, because this year's crossover was a more stripped-down affair that involved Oliver Queen and Barry Allen switching lives. Oliver wakes up to find out he's the Flash, and Barry finds out he's the Green Arrow. Supergirl still stays Supergirl.

I really enjoyed this Crossover. The fact that it lacked the more somber aspects of the last two Crossovers made it a more fun romp, with our heroes first battling the super-powered android Amazo, and then searching for clues in Gotham City, where they meet Batwoman. Ruby Rose was perfect casting as Kate Kane/Batwoman, and I hope we see her again soon. There were even some nice Easter Eggs for Batman fans (like having some of the action take place on "Nolan and Burton" streets). All in all, it was a fun, exciting excursion, which leads into an even more epic Crossover Event next year. Can't wait to see it.

Crisis on Earth X

I saw the first two episodes of the annual crossover of the CW DC superhero TV shows, where our heroes get invaded by Nazis! They're attacked by the villains--all dark side versions of themselves--from Earth X, which was subjugated by Nazi Germany, who won the Second World War. Somebody on the writing staff must be a big fan of The Man In The High Castle (at one point, Felicity even gives a shout out to this series).

Overall, I liked this one better than last year's team-up, which had badly created CG aliens as the villains. There's something to be said for having real flesh and blood villains right there on screen. And there even was a really nice scene between Sara Lance and Alex Danvers, who had a memorable one night stand. I've often wondered what would happen if these two ever got together, and thanks to the first episode, they did. Bravo!

At the end of the the second episode there's a bondage scene, but it's with both men and women (spoiler: our heroes get captured by the baddies), and they just have their hands tied behind their backs (and no gags). All in all, it's been fun so so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the second half of the saga.

The Flash/Supergirl musical

I have to admit I'm not a big fan of musicals. The idea of people breaking into song in movies always seemed silly to me (I've no desire to see La la Land for this reason). But, having said that, I enjoyed "Once More, With Feeling," the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I enjoyed it so much I even bought the soundtrack album.

Side note: If you haven't seen this episode of Buffy, you should seek it out. The music is a mixture of contemporary rock, pop music, and old-school Broadway musicals. And all of the songs serve to advance the story, as well as reveal the characters' inner feelings. And it's also very funny in spots, too.

So I was willing to give this new musical a shot. It offered another team-up between The Flash and Supergirl, which I was eager to see. And both actors have singing experience from being on Glee (a show that I avoided like the plague, because, you know...it was a musical).

But, having now seen it, I have to say that while it was cute overall--there are some funny moments here and there, and the chemistry between Grant Gustin (Flash) and Melissa Benoist (Supergirl) is great, as always--it didn't grab me like the Buffy musical episode did. Unlike Buffy, which created all-new music, the music in the Flash/Supergirl show was a mixture of old and new songs, and it just left me cold.

While the show did resolve some personal issues for the main characters, it would have been nice to see them solve these problems on their own, without resorting to a hackneyed plot device like this.

Oh well, they can't hit every episode out of the ballpark, I guess. I'm still a huge fan of both shows, and look forward to seeing more (non-musical) episodes from them.

The Flash "Dead Or Alive" review

Warning, possible spoilers if you haven't seen the episode. About a month ago, I talked about the arrival of a new character named Gypsy on The Flash. Gypsy was supposed to be based on a superhero in the DC Comics universe, a young woman who usually went barefoot.

Well, having seen the episode, I can say that, unlike her comics' version, this Gypsy (played by Jessica Camacho) definitely wasn't barefoot--and I really wasn't expecting her to be, anyway. But what was surprising was how much they changed the character.

In the episode, she's a bounty hunter from Earth 19 (this is a parallel Earth in another universe, but why would the people from that planet call it number 19? The population of a planet would consider their home to be number one, the prime place in all universes, right? But I digress) who comes to take back HR Wells (Tom Cavanagh) for execution (traveling to parallel worlds is against the law on Earth 19).

When Cisco (Carlos Valdes) decides to fight for Wells, this creates a battle supreme across several parallel Earths--including Supergirl's, where Cisco and Gypsy wind up slugging it out in Jimmy Olsen's office in a great scene. Neither Supergirl nor Olsen are there to see this, but Olsen's secretary, poor Miss Teschmacher (Andrea Brooks), witnesses everything while hiding behind a desk. This was a really fun and inspired scene.

Despite the massive changes to Gypsy, I still enjoyed this episode very much. The Flash always manages to bring a sense of fun to the superhero proceedings, and this ep doesn't disappoint in that regard.

Gypsy is coming to The Flash

Interesting news coming out of the superhero TV series The Flash: a new superhero will be added to the cast when the series comes back from its winter hiatus on January 24th. Her name is Gypsy, and she's actually been around since the 1980's, having been created in the comics by Gerry Conway and Chuck Patton. Armed with the ability to blend in with her surroundings, making herself invisible, Gypsy was a part of the Justice League: Detroit story line.

But what struck my fancy with the character was the fact that she was always barefoot. Gypsy was the only female character to go shoeless in the comics (I believe Marvel's She-Hulk also went barefoot, but not all of the time). Of course it would be nice if the actress who plays her on The Flash also went barefoot, but I'm not counting on it.

Still, whether Gypsy wears shoes or not, The Flash is an extremely fun TV show. It airs Tuesdays at 8:00 pm on the CW network. If you haven't already, check it out.