If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Barry and Iris’s wedding brings the gang together, but things go awry when villains from Earth-X attack the ceremony. All of the superheroes join forces to take on their most formidable villains yet. Earth’s mightiest heroes Green Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash and White Canary lead their teams into battle to save the world. (TVGuide)
Writer: Todd Helbing
Director: Dermott Downs
Rating: TV-PG
Running Time: 43 minutes
Tonight’s episode of The Flash marked the second night and third episode of the epic “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover. After a group of rogue Nazis crashed Iris and Barry’s wedding, the entire gang teamed up together to face the enemies of Earth-X. A showdown and few revelations later, the team learns that the unwelcome visitors consist of Kara, Oliver, and Eobard Thawnes’ (Tom Cavanagh) evil doppelgangers determined to kidnap good Kara and make use of her heart to save evil Kara. The gang is torn apart and Oliver, Barry, Alex, Sara, Martin, and Jefferson are all taken to Earth-X.
Finding themselves in the midst of Earth-X’s Nazi regime, the group frantically tried to figure a way out of the situation, since their powers were dampened due to the electronic collars put on them.
Meanwhile, back in Earth-1, Wells, Cisco, Caitlin, and the others were trapped in the anti-meta human cells. Iris and Felicity managed to stay hidden from the chaos of it all and were absolute badasses in this episode. This was AMAZING to witness as they took down Nazi soldiers, and came up with a plan to try and save everyone else.
Unfortunately, the evil versions of Oliver, Kara, and Eobard were working quickly to take out Kara’s heart to save her evil duplicate. Benoist and Amell tapped into their inner villains so flawlessly during this crossover and were absolutely phenomenal.
Things got crazy when back on Earth-X we meet Quentin’s doppelganger, aka a Nazi Reich officer. He makes the decision to execute the group (along with their new friend, Ray (Russell Tovey), but is stopped by…CAPTAIN COLD/SNART just in the nick of time. The group is taken to their headquarters where they learn that they were brought to Earth-X via a breach, which they must go through to get back home. However, things got complicated when they learn of General Schott, aka Winn of Earth-X’s plan to blow up the facility to keep the evil doppelgangers from returning.
With a lot of convincing from Snart (a very nice version, btw) and Ray (who are in a romantic relationship!), Winn decides to give them a short window to infiltrate the facility before he blows it up. Unfortunately, the facility is surrounded by power dampeners, leaving the group with just one option, to trick the guards by pretending Oliver is his evil doppelganger.
Back on Earth-1, Felicity and Iris continue to be badass, as Felicity figures out a way to shut down the power so Thawne is unable to do the surgery on Kara. The girls didn’t get very far after rescuing her as Metallo got in the way, preventing them from escaping.
Oliver’s ruse of being the Fuhrer didn’t trick Quentin who cracked him by telling him to murder Earth-X’s Felicity. Thus began the episode’s roller-coaster fighting scenes (which were FAR superior to Justice League btw). Amongst the chaos, General Schott decides to blow up the facility by sending Red Tornado to wreak havoc. We quickly connect that Ray is THE Ray, who joins Barry to try and stop the Red Tornado. Despite an epic throwdown, the two are unable to stop him before he reaches the facility.
Back in S.T.A.R. Labs, Felicity was being threatened by Thawne, who wanted her to turn on the power. Inches from her heart, Thawne was prepared to kill her but Kara insisted that Felicity give the codes, and let Kara sacrifice herself to save everyone else.
The tension continued to increase ten-fold as Snart and Oliver attempted to keep the breach open while the duo of Firestorm worked to turn on the power manually. Jefferson and Stein decide to split in order to get the job done; Jefferson would hotwire the power on and Stein would hit the switch. This didn’t bode well as the Nazi officers showed up, trying to shoot them down. In what was a gut-wrenching end to the episode, we realize Stein has been shot. Whether or not he made it was to be seen in the final episode of the crossover.
This episode was an excellent continuation of the cross-over and was essentially the heart of it. Everything from the fight scenes to the plot development was executed perfectly, keeping viewers engaged and invested in the fate of all our favorite superheroes. This episode/crossover surpassed expectations and proved to be much better than last year’s cross-over. Furthermore, it is important to note out how daring and brave the writing has been taking on such delicate topics and applying it to this superhero world. This episode, specifically, brought to light many of the truths and realities of our past and present, and unapologetically presented another LGBTQ romance into the mix (which was great!) So a huge kudos to the writers, directors, and actors involved for taking on such a task and bringing it front and center, while keeping things nerdy.
Score: 7.5/10
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