This is a brief review of last night’s episode of The Flash that is part of a four-night crossover event on the CW featuring Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and The Legends of Tomorrow. I will have a full review of the crossover week after it concludes on Thursday so be sure to check back for more.
The CW’s Arrowverse crossover week kicked off on Monday with a new episode of Supergirl. However, this week was also the show’s midseason finale so things didn’t tie into the crossover event until the end. Because of this, the “Heroes vs. Aliens”didn’t heat up until Tuesday’s new episode of The Flash. The multi-night affair features Flash, the Green Arrow, Supergirl, and the Legends of Tomorrow.
“Invasion!â€, as the title suggests, is based off the DC comic series, and follows the CW-verse crew as they fight off an alien invasion. The aliens, also known as the Dominators, crash landed in Central City but their true intentions are still unknown. What we do know, though, is they have mind control capabilities which they used to control all the heroes except Barry and Oliver. This forced them into a pretty epic battle against each other with the Flash and the Green Arrow ultimately freeing the others from Alien control.
This was a great (first) episode of the saga. It not only brought together a great cast of characters, but it also didn’t waste any time getting into the action. Sure, they may have spent a little too much time focused on the superheroes’ training, but once things got going it never let up. The episode also left us wondering the fate of our favorite heroes, as Oliver, Ray, Diggle, and Sara were all abducted by the mysterious green men. This year’s crossover looks to be a good one and I’m excited to see how things progress on tonight’s episode of Arrow.
Just because Team Flash is busy battling aliens doesn’t mean the show didn’t focus on what it’s been building on all season. Flashpoint continues to haunt Barry as we now see it has affected more than just Team Flash. This week Diggle learned he originally had a daughter and Stein now has a daughter he never knew about. Add this to Cisco’s continued anger over his brother and Barry’s trust amongst the heroes fading, so much so that they started to doubt his leadership. I remember writing at the beginning of the season that the fallout from Flashpoint seemed to be too brief, but it’s nice to see it now having a greater impact than originally imagined. One of Barry’s biggest assets is his likeability and seeing that challenged will add a whole new dynamic to the show. It will be interesting to see how Barry responds to one of the biggest challenges he’s had to face. I just hope the show doesn’t take an easy route to mending these strained relationships.
Probably the worst part of the episode, though, was the integration of Wally and his newfound powers. Last week we saw Wally finally get his “Kid Flash”speed and of course Joe and, Iris, in particular, don’t want him jumping into superhero mode. The show tried desperately to keep him relevant during the crossover so of course, they created a situation where he was forced to go against his families wishes and jump into battle. As expected, though, he got injured and became utterly useless. This whole scenario was just too predictable and cliché for my liking and I don’t think it added anything to the crossover story or Team Flash’s story.
In general, though, the first real episode of the CW-verse crossover was good. It had a mix of drama and action and seeing so many superheroes on the same screen was enjoyable. Most of the focus was on the CW’s two strongest superheroes, Arrow and The Flash (as it should be), but the others still felt like a necessary part of the story. Between the rising superhero drama, the continued problems amongst Team Flash, and the fantastic battle scene, the Invasion crossover is off to a strong start.
You can catch the next chapter on tonight’s episode of Arrow, 8|7c on the CW
Score: 8/10
