There’s a school of thought (one that I subscribe to) that the most ‘true’ aspect of Superman’s character is who he is when he’s in Smallville, around friends and family from whom he has nothing to hide. What I found really interesting here was how they decided to introduce Lois and Clark while in Smallville. Tyler Hoechlin continues to impress as Superman and Clark Kent, too. I’ll be curious to see if the next two Elseworlds chapters can say as much about their respective spotlight characters as this one did, even with everything else going on.Īnd really, the fact that at the heart of it, this still managed to feel like an episode of The Flash despite featuring Supergirl, Superman, and a villain from (and other nods to) Crisis On Infinite Earths is a tremendous feat of its own. Considering that it’s just over five years to the day that Barry was first introduced on Arrow, this was a great way to show just how far both of these characters have come.
But Elseworlds Part 1 puts the focus on (and celebrates) why Oliver and Barry are so different. Both Invasion and Crisis On Earth-X, while great, were traditional ‘maximum amount of superheroes team up to inflict damage on an enemy we can understand’ stories. It’s also kind of a statement of intent for how these are going to go. It’s a neat trick, and they genuinely pulled it off. For a few seconds, I was as confused as Team Flash, even though I had been watching from the opening seconds. Both Arrow and The Flash have been running for so long now that a disturbance this great makes you realise just how used to the flow of these shows you are. Just as Cisco, Ralph, and Caitlin were having trouble figuring things out, it’s a little disorienting to the audience, too. The scene where Barry and Oliver are trying to explain things to Team Flash was genuinely confusing, but in a good way. I’m glad it’s finding both humorous fun and poignant ways to use it as we head towards the 100th episode.What I found even more impressive about the early acts was how effectively they played that concept with The Flash supporting cast. The Flash is now in its fifth season, which means the show’s accumulated history is one of its greatest strengths it has.