Invasion!

Having four shows set in a shared universe and on the same channel meant a crossover was inevitable. It was certainly ambitious, especially on a TV network budget, but I’m glad to say they were able to pull it off.

With a diverse range of characters from DC comics, the crossover is essentially a Justice League movie. They even have their own Hall of Justice! The plot was fairly simple; aliens come to Earth and to combat them, the Flash brings all his allies together. It’s always nice to see a vibrant and energetic adventure, especially considering that Snyder’s upcoming Justice League movie is expected to have his usual dark and gritty style.

As in any superhero team up, the real fun is seeing the different characters interact and watching their personalities clash. Whether it was Cisco and Felicity geeking out over a time ship, Supergirl and Heatwave’s brief but hilarious interactions, or Flash and Arrow drinking together and bonding over their experiences, there was never a dull moment. One critique was taking the focus off Supergirl in the later act of story. I hope that, later down in the road, the producers make a smaller scale crossover, just to see more banter between the heroes.

A problem with crossovers is that they usually put the heroes’ individual stories aside to focus on the larger picture. While the invasion was the major feature here, the episodes were still written to allow some individuality in each of them. Arrow’s episode in particular barely featured the crossover, instead telling the usual story of the hero being placed in a perfect life scenario. The episode worked better for it, with some tear jerking scenes and a great look at seeing how far the characters of Arrow had come.

The overarching invasion storyline starts off a little slow but kicks into gear in the final act. The aliens are actually given motivations and aren’t just portrayed as stereotypical bad guys, as is usually the case. The action sequences were on point and impressive during the climactic scenes, with dozens of heroes and aliens fighting while Flash and Supergirl raced across the Earth. Just seeing a massive line-up of DC icons standing together was thrilling, in and of itself. Though there might have been a few hiccups along the way, the crossover ultimately made great use of the premise and exceeded all expectations. The only thing you’ll be wondering once you’ve watched it is when the next one will be.