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The CW's Arroverse Crossover 2017 - Crisis on Earth X - Part 1 So it's the tail end of November in 2017 and the CW's fourth Arrowverse crossover has been aired. For those of you that may not know, the Arrowverse is the name that has been given to the collection of TV shows on The CW network based upon the characters and stories DC Comics. The first of these series' was Arrow based upon the life of The Green Arrow or otherwise known as rich playboy Oliver Queen (portrayed by actor Stephen Amell). The show grew very quickly and was very popular with viewers that the makers behind the series then introduced The Flash where we follow the adventures of the scarlet speedster that is Barry Allen (Grant Gustin). Shortly after we were introduced to the Legends of Tomorrow and most recently Supergirl (Melissa Benoist). Since we saw Arrow introduced back in 2012, the fandom for these TV shows have grown hugely and not only with comic book lovers who may already be familiar with these characters but people that have also grown to love these heroes and villains because of these popular shows.

Like the graphic novels from DC have shown us, these characters often cross each others paths. This is where the idea of the 'Crossover' comes in. Not only is it easier for the audience to follow, but its also a chance to build excitement for a big TV event.

So lets get into this year's two night crossover event. Here's my brief synopsis of the story:

So its the day of Barry (Grant Gustin) awaits and Iris' (Candice Patton) wedding and the whole gang have been invited to share their joy. Supergirl/ Kara (Melissa Benoist) and her sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) use Cisco's (Carlos Valdes) portal device to visit earth one for the event. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and girlfriend Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) are arriving from Star City and the Legends are literally travelling through time on the wave rider from England 1183AD to reach Central City. A nervous Barry Allen/The Flash at the altar in a church for his beautiful bride. Iris West walks into the church with her father Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) on her arm as Kara sings the bride's beautiful entrance song. Everyone stands to welcome Iris into the church. It is a perfect scene with the perfect atmosphere. Or it was briefly. We then see the wedding invaded by Nazi soldiers and overlords. Que mass panic, gunfire and punches thrown by our heroes. Can they save the day and defeat these evil villains?

Review

The first crossover episode to air was Supergirl. We are briefly introduced to 'Earth X' where we see a world exactly the same as ours (earth one) but with one crucial difference. The Nazis won the war. With red skies, concentration camps and Nazi soldiers with heavy artillery as far as the eye can see, Earth X really isn't the place to be.

We first see each of the heroes/vigilantes all undertaking their usual action against crime. The flash is taking on King Shark in the streets of Central City while Fiancee Iris is on the comms at Star Labs discussing their upcoming nuptials expressing her concern about the catering company and the fact that not everyone has RSVP'd. While still in action Barry then asks "Who hasn't RSVP'd?" then comes a new scene straight to Star City where the Green Arrow/Oliver Queen is tackling some ninjas. The same scenario is happening. Felicity is at their Arrow base communicating with Oliver about Barry and Iris' wedding. Oliver relays to Miss Smoak that this isn't the best time to discuss the matter and that he's "a little busy" followed by and "of course" they are going. Then we are taken to Nottingham, England 1183AD where the Legends are doing what they do best, trying to clean up the mess that they have made as a result of interfering with the timeline. Again the heroes discuss whether they are attending the Allen-West wedding before returning to the wave rider (their ship). And lastly we see Kara/Supergirl in National City engaging in a fight with a Dominator. The Dominators are an alien race that were the main focus of the 2016 crossover 'Invasion'. The writers put in a clever sarcastic one liner for Kara as she easily defeats this unsightly creature as she says "these guys are so last year". After these initial scenes Kara is still shown to be battling with her emotions while talking to her sister Alex about how she's feeling about her recent break up with former boyfriend Mon-El (Chris Wood). Next, the girls from each series are sharing a scene in a beauty parlour all having a variety of treatments to prepare for the wedding, something that you would expect to happen while preparing for the big day. The girls share feelings and chatter amongst themselves about their relationships. The focus quickly turns to Felicity as Iris asks her if her and Oliver are "next to walk down the isle". to which a flustered Felicity tries her best to tell her friends all of the reasons why her and Oliver won't be getting married anytime soon before then grabbing her glass of bubbly. Similar to the girls, Barry and Oliver are across town at a tailor shop getting their tuxedos measured and fitted, they too share their feelings about their relationships, Barry is concerned about reciting his vows and then asks Oliver about his future with girlfriend Felicity. Much like Miss Smoak, Oliver kind of glides over it by saying he's not sure its right due to their lifestyles. Clearly neither of them are too sure about their future together as a couple. One of the big background stories for this crossover is that of Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garbor) and Jefferson Jackson's/Jax (Franz Drameh) impending split as Firestorm. In Legends of Tomorrow it has been known for a while now that Martin has decided that he is ready to leave the team and the wave rider to go into retirement, especially as he is recently a grandfather to daughter Lily's (Christina Brucato) son Ronnie (named after Ronnie Raymond formerly of Firestorm before the character was killed off in an earlier series) who of course Stein had a strong connection to. This episode of Suprgirl shows Stein and Jefferson working alongside Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) and Harrison 'Harry' Wells (Tom Cavanagh) from Earth two working on a formula to try to separate the firestorm matrix in order for both men of this hero to live their lives freely without having to be connected to each other. Stein also has a quiet conversation with Caitlin on her own to remember Ronnie, one half of firestorm with Stein before Jax was introduced and also Caitlin's late husband.

The night before the wedding is Barry and Iris' rehearsal dinner at local coffee shop 'CC Jitters'. All of our heroes spend the evening in each other's company with drinks in hand and participating in general chatter. Like Kara, her sister Alex is also trying to come to terms with the end of her relationship with her former Fiancee Maggie (Floriana Lima). The couple's relationship was highly focused upon in the Supergirl series as they introduced the gay couple. Bringing the show into the new world much like Arrow had explored with previously with character Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Nyssa al Ghul. During the evening Alex confides in legend Sarah Lace, formerly known as 'The Canary' during her days as an assassin for the League of Assassins which was run by well known Batman villain Ra's al Ghul. Sarah is also the sister of Dinah Laurel Lance (Black Canary) and she is now known as The White Canary while she time travels with her team of Legends on the wave rider. Alex and Sara instantly click, as most people would have expected with both ladies preferring the company of women as their partners. As the night goes on not only do we see Oliver quietly propose to Felicity once again which is met by a rather loud and abrupt rejection, but Sarah and Alex are also seen getting rather steamy outside in an alley way, which to be honest was fairly predictable.

Towards the end of Supergirl's episode the long awaited wedding day arrives. Everyone is seen entering the church ready for the ceremony to begin. First at the front of the building is Kara quickly followed by her rather hungover sister Alex looking a little worse for wear. Who should then turn up? Miss Lance looking perfectly bright to meet a rather giggly and nervous Alex to discuss their night together in front of Kara. After a very awkward and quick how do you do Sara then heads into the church. Alex is left humiliated in front of her laughing sister and explaining she feels terrible for having a one night stand with Sarah after her recent break up. This then leaves her character feeling ashamed and confused about her feelings towards ex Maggie.

Mick Rory's (Dominic Purcell) entrance to the church was rather amusing, a woman greets him at the door, who I can only assume is some kind of wedding planner for Barry and Iris. With a beaming smile she says to him "welcome to the West-Allen wedding, can I show you to your seat? Are you here for the bride or the groom?" His response was very humorous. "Well, considering I've tried to kill the groom a couple of times, it's probably best I sit on the bride's side" This refers to the past altercations that his character has had with The Flash during Rory's days as the villain Heatwave. It shows how much his character has grown even though he isn't one of the front runners. Before the wedding begins Barry is approached by a young woman who is serving drinks to everyone in the church. She offer's him a beverage in an attempt to calm his wedding day nerves. She seems to have a big interest in Barry as she expresses that she is "really excited" to be there. and continuing to talk in a nervous tone she tells him that "this is going to be one for the ages" and that she's glad that she "got to see it". The woman leaves a confused Barry Allen questioning if they had met before. She tells him that she's "a complete and total stranger" while holding onto his arm in a familiar manner before then saying to him "just remember to say I do" and walking away. This is the only time that this woman is seen in the entire crossover which leaves us wondering just who she might be and why was it so important for her to be there for that little scene? Will we be seeing this woman again in future episodes of The Flash? There are many fan theories out there indicating that this young woman may be a time travelling Dawn Allen, the daughter of Barry and Iris Allen. This in my opinion would be quite an ideal theory, not only does the character look similar to Iris and is softly spoken like her but she also focused on how important it was for Barry to say " I do". So if this is Dawn Allen we know that she was born after the couple were married. We shall have to wait and see.

So we now get to the crucial part of the episode. Barry and Iris' wedding begins. The beautiful bride walks in with her arm linked with her father Joe as they enter the church and walk down the aisle. Kara is singing and everything is ideal. Now the fun starts. The wedding was soon invaded by Nazi invaders everywhere surrounding everyone in the building and firing their weapons from all angles.

This is where our heroes come out in full force to fight alongside each other to defeat the villains who are being led by a masked archer and a flying female character (also masked) all dressed in black. Barry quickly rescues as many people as he can by getting them out of the building, Caitlin is encouraged by Cisco to bring out her "mean roomate" as he refers to Killer Frost (Caitlin's not so nice alter ego), Rory is quick to pull out his fire-powered weapon after a sneaky eye to Caitlin once she had transformed, Sarah and Alex both rip their dresses to be able to engage in combat with soldiers, Kara is taken to the church's rooftop by the flying woman in the mask, and the masked archer is firing arrows only for one of them to be intercepted by Oliver as it heads towards Wells. Unfortunately we only see a small glimpse of Wally/Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) and Cisco in battle, but what stood out for me was Cisco and Oliver working together as Mr Ramon opens a breach for Oliver to be able to go up to the next tier of the church to get to the masked archer. I thought it was quite impressive as it's not something we've seen the Green Arrow do before. The battle ends with an injured masked woman lying on the ground and the archer calling for his team to retreat in order to save the injured woman and get out of the building. Luckily our heroes did manage to capture one of the Nazis and imprison him in a meta vault at Star Labs. The captured soldier looks like a rather familiar character we have seen before. It is then revealed at the end of the episode that the captured man is indeed Earth X's Prometheus. Prometheus is a villain that featured heavily in season 5 of Arrow. So is this Earth X's Adrian Chase? Is he someone else?

At the end of the episode it is officially revealed that the main villains are actually Oliver and Kara's Earth X doppelgangers. They are known as Dark Arrow and Overgirl. As if we didn't realise it wasn't them. As the reveal happens we see them conversing on a rooftop somewhere in Central City with none other than Eobard Thawne or more commonly known as Reverse Flash from Earth 1 (despite the character being killed off a while ago). These speedsters never seem to stay down for long.

As an overview of part 1, it did take a little while to get into it, but I can understand that there needs to be a build up of back stories for something like this. It was great to see most of the characters dealing with their own demons in one way or another. The final scenes probably overshadowed the others as it was the big fight scene with all of the heroes coming together as a team. Nonetheless I really enjoyed this episode anyway. Bring on Part 2 on Arrow!