Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 2. Before I begin, this is going to be SPOILER HEAVY, So if you haven’t watched the newest episode of Batwoman yet, save this page, go watch it and then come back and read this.
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You ready? Good.
Holy crap. Part two brought in some insane moments. We are told early on that there are paradons who can save the universes and defeat the Anti-Monitor. Of course, this pisses off Barry and Kara still see Oliver as having sacrificed his life for nothing. The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) splits up the teams and gives everyone a misson… almost.
https://youtu.be/grDBkZw-85s
-Team 1: Paradon of Tragedy. Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) form Earth 38 and Iris have to find a Kryptonian who has suffered much tragedy. Along the way we see Clark (Tom Welling) and Lois (Erica Durance) from Smallville and find out that Superman has given up his powers to be a family man (homage to Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow). We find out that the Kryptonian they are searching for is the Kingdom Come Superman and Brandon Routh does an amazing job of playing both Ray Palmer and Clark Kent.
-Team 2: Paradon of Courage. This falls on Kate and Kara to find the ‘Bat of the Future’ on Earth 99. Here we get to see Kevin Conroy’s Bruce Wayne with a horrible secret. While we were hoping for him to be the Kingdom Come Batman, he seemed to almost be a Zack Snyder Bruce Wayne in that he never trusted Superman. We also see that Wayne has killed all his villains and Superman, Godfather-style. Turns out the Paradon of Courage is Batwoman.
-Team 3: Pardon of… While not part of the Monitor’s plan, Barry, Mia and Sara Lance decide to get Constantine (Matt Ryan) and put Oliver in the one remaining Lazarus Pit in existence with some awful side effects. (Side Effects might include headaches, loss of a soul, death, and dry mouth). Finally, we saw Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson) being teleported to now work for the Anti-Monitor, so what the hell is going on there?!
I had a few favorite moments, but seeing Conroy physically play Batman was still awesome. Then there was hearing the John William’s theme as Routh goes from Clark to Superman. Also seeing Earth 78’s Rory be such a great baby sitter really added a nice little touch to it. Also, seeing Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) trying to kill all the Supermen and Welling’s Clark knocking him out was a great scene. Also, it was a little telling that we don’t see Smallville destroyed. The red skies of death never descend upon them.
It’s entirely easy to see where JaDarrel was coming from in his review of Crisis, Part 1. The moments that we get with these great Easter Eggs seem to go by way too quickly. I don’t want to say that this is being rushed, but with 5-ish hours, you could maybe linger on another Earth for more than 4 minutes. That all being said, it’s not hard to completely geek-out over everything I’m watching and really cannot wait to see what happens in the rest of the crossover. Minus a rushed scene and some CGI that for an event like this should have had a tad bit more time, this was an absolute fantastic episode. 4.5/5 Bibles.
-Robert Bexar