The CW
The CW has made quite a bit of noise with their four night superhero crossover event, and so far the term “crossover” can be used very loosely. The event began with the Supergirl episode “Medusa”, if you want to call that last two minutes of the episode the beginning of the crossover, and continued with The Flash, which also included the scene from Supergirl. Technically, the crossover really began with The Flash as an alien invasion united all of the DC/CW superheroes. And the episode ended with five of that group being abducted.
It’s no coincidence that the give abductees are or were cast members of Arrow, which took the opportunity to use the event to also craft an interesting story marking that show’s 100th episode — two events for the price of one. Unfortunately, it gave very little forward movement to the alien invasion storyline with only The Flash and Supergirl interacting with Felicity and the nerd squad at Oliver Queen’s Arrow headquarters. And then they shoehorned in some women with alien tech attached to her arm that really, really seemed superfluous to the invasion plot, but they had to get Flash and Supergirl in there somehow (while completely ignoring most of the Legends of Tomorrow cast).
And things are also confusing with the new timeline created by The Flash. We know Diggle’s daughter has become a son in this new timeline, but what has changed for Oliver? His parents and Laurel are all still dead, but the abduction of he and his friends, including Thea, Diggle, Sara and Ray Palmer, and connecting them to some alien technology that allowed them to experience a shared memory of a world where their lives are decidedly different was a nice way to honor the show’s 100 episode legacy.
The CW
In this “world” Laurel is still alive, as are Robert and Moira Queen. Queen Industries still exists, and Oliver never got on that boat. All he really has to worry about now is his impending nuptuals. For Diggle, he is now “The Hood” and neither he nor Felicity know Oliver other than a spoiled rich kid. Laurel’s father is still a cop, but not an alcoholic, and he actually seems to like Oliver. Sara is happy to see her sister, and Ray is engaged to Felicity.
But there is a glitch in the system and first Oliver begins to experience brief memory flashes of his actual past, as does Diggle and then the others. They all begin to realize none of this is real and that escaping is paramount to their survival. But Thea is the lone hold out. She doesn’t care that this isn’t real. She wants to stay in a place where her parents are still alive. Ollie even agrees to let her stay, which was a nice spin on the situation. But as the others tried to leave the Queen mansion, they were confronted by their nemeses including Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk, Deathstroke, members of H.I.V.E. and a Mirakuru soldier.
The CW
Thea came to her senses and joined the group in a very impressive and satisfying scene of all out hand-to-hand combat. No superpowers needed. And in this battle royale, our heroes got to vanquish their enemies, something they have not been able to do in the real world. It was especially satisfying for Sara to “kill” Darhk the same way he killed Laurel, Thea also got to “kill” Merlyn (her real father) as he had killed Moira, Oliver shoots Deathstroke in the eye with an arrow as he did on the island, Ray took on the soldier who killed his real fiancee, and Diggle took on the H.I.V.E. soldier which his brother became. In the final moments before returning to reality, Oliver saw all those he’d lost in one way or another, including Roy (Colton Haynes) and Tommy (in a nice bit of CGI trickery), giving him a lot to ponder moving forward … and that’s on top of the knowledge that Barry changed the timeline.
The episode ended with the story finally getting back to the alien invasion as a massive ship is seen heading straight for earth, and Nate Heywood saved the abductees after Cisco and Felicity determined their location in space. All of the elements should come together properly in the conclusion on Legend of Tomorrow.
Points of note in this episode:
- The episode opened with Oliver running through the woods as he has at the start of every season, but this time it was on the Queen estate.
- Thea’s wedding gift to Oliver was a hozen like the one he had given her in the first season.
- At the police station, Oliver sees the drawings, articles and photos of The Hood — the same ones as seen in season one.
- In the Arrow cave, Oliver says, “My name is Oliver Queen,” a reference to the opening of every episode of Arrow. After revealing himself, Diggle says, “No one can no my secret,” also a line Oliver spoke in the pilot.
- At the rehearsal dinner, Thea is disappointed Tommy isn’t there and Malcolm metions he’s busy working long hours as a doctor in Chicago, a sly referene to actor Colin Donnell’s new gig on NBC’s Chicago Med.
- Cisco uses Oliver’s original crossbow to vibe the abductees’ location.
- The non-existent building Smoak Technologies was the key point for the group to exit their matrix, but fans of Legends of Tomorrow will remember the building in the episode “Star City 2046”. There is also a Merlyn Global Group building in this matrix version of Starling City.
On the conclusion of “Heroes v Aliens” on Legends of Tomorrow:
The CW
Share this post
