"Elseworlds, Pt. 3" – Supergirl S04E09 Review

It's a Supergirl episode, right?

We got a few bits of Supergirl, sure. But it seemed to be more about Oliver. And Superman. And a bit of Elseworlds. And then we find out at the end the whole thing is basically "Prelude to Crisis". There were some fun parts along the way, but it lacked the mass crossover appeal of the previous two crossovers. That, and at the end of the day Doctor John was pretty weak sauce. And the guy who is supposedly the next big bad guy for Crisis was introduced pretty vaguely.

But what does this all mean? Let's find out. As per Pt. 2 on Arrow, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) find themselves on a changed Earth-1. They're the Trigger Twins, and somehow when a black-clad "Superman" (Tyler Hoechlin) flies down, Oliver almost instantly realizes it's really Deegan in a new form. They escape by appealing to his ego: Oliver shoots down a crane and tells Deegan to either rescue the civilians or stop them. Deegan decides to rescue the civilians, although he'll show no such concern for them later.

In the new reality Deegan has created by "thinking big", STAR Labs, ARGUS, and the DEO have apparently merged into the Central City STAR Labs facility. So we have Diggle (David Ramsey) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) working together as... umm, STARGUSDEO agents. But they all work for Deegan/Superman, and as we'll find out later, they're basically there to prop up Deegan's ego and applaud when he shows up. Which reminds me of the Black Mirror episode "USS Callister", now that I think of it.

Kara (Melissa Benoist) is locked up a pipeline cell, her powers suppressed. And Deegan helpfully boasts to her that she doesn't exist according to the Book of Destiny, the uber-artifact the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) gave Deegan and lets him rewrite reality. Since she exists on Earth-38 instead of Earth-1, the Book doesn't register her existence on Earth-1. So... where did Deegan get the idea for a "Superman" who looks just like the Earth-38 Superman? It would have been more entertaining to see Jeremy Davies, the actor playing Deegan, playing Deegan-as-Superman.

Barry and Oliver have a go-nowhere conversation with the Monitor, and then track down Cisco (Carlos Valdez). There's a pointless cameo by Adam Tsekhman, playing a reality-altered version of his bumbling Time Bureau agent Gary on DC's Legends. Cisco is now a crime boss, and Barry knew he would be a crime boss because Deegan rewrote reality to be the opposite of what it originally was. Wait: Caitlin is a STARGUSDEO agent, and Cisco is a crook. But they were both good guys in the original Earth-1 reality. And where are Wild Dog, and Mr. Terrific, and Black Canary, and Laurel? Laurel is from another Earth as well: why didn't they bring her in on this at some point because she presumably would have known who the real Oliver and Barry were, just like Supergirl did. Also there's Sherloque on The Flash. If they're already on Earth-1 when it changes, do they get changed along with everyone else? What happened to Laurel and Sherloque in the new reality?

But no time for questions: we've got a crisis to put on! In Supergirl's only Supergirl-ish contribution to her own show's episode, she appeals to Alex (Chyler Leigh), who is also a STARGUSDEO agent. This is a somewhat different Alex (who exists on Earth-1?), but apparently her life is close enough to Supergirl's that something the Earth-38 Alex told to Supergirl also happened to the altered reality Earth-1 Alex. Alex gets Supergirl out of her cell.

Meanwhile, Barry and Oliver have convinced crime boss Cisco to vibe across dimensions, and take them to Earth-38. They arrive at the Fortress of Solitude, and the Earth-38 Clark/Superman goes with them to bail Kara out. The trio arrive in time for Oliver to fight Diggle and Caitlin. Superman fights Super-Deegan (Super-gan?), and Kara and Barry find the Book. Clark has (somehow) seen similar books before, so they get the book to him and he rewrites reality. Oliver is back to being Green Arrow and takes out Diggle and Caitlin. Barry gets his speed back.

Super-gan gets the Book and uses it to go to town rewriting reality. Reality runs wild, and Barry and Kara come up with a plan to superspeed around the planet in opposite directions, slowing it down and slowing down time. Which homages Superman: The Movie, but doesn't make any more sense here than it did there, However, the effort will kill them. Oliver finds the Monitor and makes an off-screen deal with him to spare his friends' lives. The Monitor warns that there'll be a price, but we don't find out what it is. Yet.

Oh, and Brainiac-5 (Jesse Rath) and J'onn J'onzz (David Harewood) show up to lend a helping hand. Super-gan summons AMAZO from Pt. 1. Why he summons something that already failed to beat Superman, I don't know. Brainiac-5 goes to fight it, and again, Jesse Rath is the best part of any given Supergirl episode that he's in, as he thanks them for bringing him along for some fun, figuratively cracks his knuckles, and fights... a robot with the strength of Superman. Somehow Brainy wins and removes its motherboard. Which I supposed could be explained in the comic books, but it's all done off-screen here so it's a bit puzzling.

Kara and Barry end up not tearing themselves apart superspeeding. Superman gets the book from Super-gan, who reverts to his Deegan form but is also kinda skull-like. Which parallels the comic book version of Deegan, Dr. John Dee aka Dr. Destiny.

In the end, Kara and her bunkies go back to Earth-38. We find out Lois is pregnant (with Clark's child, pervs!) so Supes is retiring, and he proposes to Lois. Oliver and Barry go to a bar to drink, and Oliver ominously makes a toast to appreciating what they have as long as they can. Which doesn't sound at all ominous.

Batwoman (Ruby Rose) calls Oliver and tells him Deegan is locked up at Arkham and has a new friend. It's Psycho Pirate (Bob Frazer), who wears a golden mask but we have no idea what he does with it. And if it has super-powers like the comic book version, why do they let him wear it in Arkham? Psycho is muttering about worlds living and dying to a comatose Deagan, and the director shock-cuts to a Crisis in Fall 2019 board.

Cassandra Jean Amell is credited, presumably as Nora Fries. Either I missed her or her scenes were cut at the last minute. Or she was someone else. Claudia Yuen plays a young woman during the Superman/Super-gan fight who gets to shout "Bizarro!" when she sees the two Supermen. Given the pointlessness of the role, I suspect Ms. Yuen won a contest for a walk-on role.

Overall, "Elseworlds" was an okay crossover. It had a lot of earth-shattering disasters and revelations. Gustin, Amell, and Benoist all had good chemistry with each other, but then they always have. There really wasn't much opportunity for them to interact in Pt. 3. Barry and Oliver were mostly off on their own little adventure, dealing with evil Cisco who has evil Jimmy (Mehcad Brooks) as a sidekick, "Superman's Worst Pal" as he declares.

Deegan's plan didn't make a lick of sense: we never did find out the reason for the life-swap between Barry and Oliver. Deegan's plan in Pt. 3 makes more sense: he makes himself into Super-gan, turns Barry and Oliver into criminals, and imprisons Supergirl. I get that he wasn't thinking big enough in parts 1 and 2, but he didn't seem to be doing anything then.

Everyone was good acting-wise. Even if they tended to get swamped by the sound and fury. But that's how the last parts of the crossovers typically go. We got Gustin being nerdy and anal-retentive (like correcting Deegan's pronunciation of "super man"), Amell being dark and brooding, and Oliver learning a valuable life lesson: the crossover mostly develops Oliver, Benoist being all emotive and aw-shucks appealing, and Valdes really getting into his "Evil Cisco" bit. Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois gets a little more to do this time, but her interaction with Clark seems like even more fan service. They have a kid! They get married! Of course they do.

The whole thing really boiled down to Tyler Hoechlin as Superman and Super-gan. Not only does Hoechlin get to play evil, but Superman recognizes the Book and knows how to use it. Without him, the entire thing would have ended in tears. Hoechlin is... okay as Superman. But I don't tune in to watch a special guest star save the majority of the day.

No sign of Katie McGrath, Nicole Amber Maines, Amber Parker-Jones, or Sam Witwer. Pity. I would have liked to seen or heard Agent Liberty in the new reality: you'd think he'd end up as President or something. A reaction of Superman to a "good" Luthor would also have been nice. Instead we got another cameo from David Ramsey as Diggle. And a scene between Caitlin and Alex where Caitlin flirts with Alex. I think. They seem to be trying to keep it subtle, but then a minute later Kara is telling Alex that she's a lesbian. Why did they play coy with it if they're going to blatantly discuss it a minute later?

So basically this year's crossover (yes, they gaslight it being an annual event) was a prelude to next year's Crisis. Which will apparently take place in the fall rather than December. It should be... interesting, given that in the comics, Flash and Supergirl died during the Crisis. Here, it looks like they'll live but Green Arrow will die. Although whether Oliver actually dies will depend on what they have planned on Arrow, I suppose. Oliver died in the comics, too, eventually, but hopefully they're not going to try and replicate that weird series of events. Although Kevin Smith wrote a lot of that plot, and he's worked on The Flash and Supergirl but not Arrow yet.

But for now it's back to business with everyone returning to their own shows, and the CWVerse going on hiatus until mid-January. So we'll see you then for more reviewing when they return.

And that brings to a close my extended crossover review: not only my usual Supergirl, but The Flash and Arrow as well. At least, until Fall 2019.

But the above is just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?

-----

Meanwhile, it's off to watch and review Black Lighthing. And then Supernatural. And then a sweet sweet break for about a month other then relatively minor stuff like Titans. But as I noted elsewhere, TV, like crime, never rests. And that sorta-quote might give you an idea of what I plan to review for Christmas. If nothing else, it'll be Christmas-y.