Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 3: Lessons in loss and hope
In its final installment until January, Crisis on Infinite Earths delivers more action, surprising cameos, and gut-wrenching sacrifices.
During “Part One” and “Part Two,” Crisis on Infinite Earths took fans of The CW’s many DC television series on a roller coaster of action and emotions. And “Part Three” was no different in that regard. As the antimatter wave continues to wreak havoc on the multiverse, the heroes search for the remaining Paragons. And “Part Three” delivers some surprising moments even by crossover standards. (Was anyone else expecting that Lucifer cameo?)
“Part Three” opens with Ashley Scott’s Huntress from Birds of Prey making an appearance just long enough to watch Earth-103 fall victim to the antimatter wave, becoming the latest casualty on the list of planets destroyed during the crisis. We then return to our heroes on Earth-1 as they discuss their next move — and happily find out that Kara’s loved ones escaped Earth-38 before it disappeared. (Does anyone stay dead in this crossover?)
A trip to purgatory
Arrow favorite John Diggle returns during this episode to help Sara, Constantine, and Mia find Oliver’s soul — requiring a trip to purgatory to do so. They require assistance from Lucifer and a quick trip to Earth-666 (who else laughed out loud at this?) to return his soul to his body, but it’s not long before they lose Ollie once more.
Constantine’s Jim Corrigan arrives as soon as Oliver has gotten his memories back, telling him that he’s a spectre, and that Ollie’s greater purpose is to save the multiverse. With that kind of pressure, it’s no surprise that Ollie decides to remain behind with him — but at least he gets a proper goodbye with Diggle (and another sad goodbye between him and Mia).
Courage vs. hope
As the other heroes struggle on different planets, Kara grapples with whether or not she should open The Book of Destiny on the ship. Kate feels that it’s too much of a risk, and steps up to prevent her from making a mistake — giving us another great interaction between these two fierce women, albeit a much tenser one than usual. On the bright side, Kara later thanks Kate for stopping her, and the two bond about hope and courage. These moments are becoming the backbone of this crossover, and they’re making us really want more mashups between Batwoman and Supergirl.
Farewell, Flash
After Ray’s machine reveals the remaining three Paragons to the group, half of them set off in search of Ryan Choi, a physics professor who’s best known from the DC comics (though we know little about his Arrowverse iteration just yet). Meanwhile, Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco attempt to stop the machine generating the antimatter wave with the help of Pariah. Unfortunately, they discover that John Wesley Shipp‘s Flash from Earth-90 is powering the machine, and by removing him, they risk annihilating all the remaining worlds in the multiverse at once.
Jefferson Piece keeps the machine’s effects at bay until the two Flashes determines how to stop its effects. And for a moment, Barry sacrificing himself feels like a real possibility. (We even get some sad farewells with his friends and Iris.) At the last moment, though, the other Flash volunteers to die in Barry’s place — and Cisco helps him fulfill that promise, rendering the prediction about his own destiny true in the process. It’s sad to see Earth-90’s Flash go, but boy, are we glad it wasn’t our Flash.
Shock ending
It’s clear that something is awry at the end of “Part Three,” when Harbinger shows up and is united with Diggle and the others. The last time we saw her, she was being asked to help the Anti-Monitor, and it’s soon revealed that she’s actually the Anti-Monitor pretending to be Harbinger. Anti-Monitor really wants to face off with The Monitor, so he destroys Earth-1. Thankfully, Pariah steps in and transports the Paragons to The Vanishing Point before they’re killed — but wow, talk about a twist ending.
And that wasn’t the only surprise before the screen went black. Lex Luthor reveals that he’s rewritten history at the very end of “Part Three,” seemingly taking Brandon Routh’s Superman out in the process. With that, the third installment comes to a close — leaving fans to wonder what could possibly go wrong next when Crisis on Infinite Earths returns in January.
Next. Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 2: The seven Paragons. dark