The Flash: Elseworlds, Part 1

December 9, 2018 6:21 PM - Season 5, Episode 9

Barry Allen and Oliver Queen wake up one morning to find they've swapped lives with each other. When Team Flash doesn't believe them, they travel to Smallville on Earth-38 where they end up meeting Kara's cousin, Clark Kent, and intrepid reporter Lois Lane.

EW recap: 'Elseworlds, Part 1' is topsy-turvy fun

TV Line - 5 Best Moments From 'Elseworlds' Part 1 — Plus: How Will Oliver's Darkness Affect Barry?

posted by oh yeah! (16 comments total)

Damn, I LOVE the crossovers.

Of course Oliver thinks everything is Barry's fault: "Oh Barry, what have you done this time?"

That was the first time in ages I've actually laughed at something that has happened on the Flash (as opposed to say, Legends). And the laughs kept coming.

Even though I wasn't really a fan of Smallville and have only seen the odd episode here or there, I loved the use of the theme to introduce the Kent farm. Lois seemed like a good match for Clark, which is necessary for those two characters to work.

I do feel like it was a bit of a cheap trick for Oliver to be able to recognize the Wayne tower, when it wasn't made clear to the viewers in the shot with the Monitor and Deegan.

I'm not really sure how much sense it makes for a Monitor to try to muck up reality. It also seems a shame that they already used the Crisis title, because they seem to be giving us full blown Crisis, including its red skies, but I'm perfectly willing to go along with the ride and put aside any comic-book based assumptions (or at least try to) for the remained of the week.

Wheeee!! This is going to be so much fun.
posted by sardonyx at 9:09 PM on December 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

Plus we finally got the sanitation question about the pipeline prison addressed. It was about time.
posted by sardonyx at 9:13 PM on December 9, 2018 [7 favorites]

I really liked Bitsie Tulloch's Lois Lane -- it felt very Margot Kidder-ish. I heard a rumor that CW (or, the DC streaming service, I guess) is maybe going to do a Superman series, seems like she and Tyler Hoechlin could pull it off.

Anyway, loved all the comedy of this first episode, looking forward to tonight's part 2.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:30 AM on December 10, 2018 [3 favorites]

These shows always bring their A-game to the crossovers and this episode was no exception. So many great callbacks and mythology gags. Loved the use of Amazo. Loved the explanation for toilets in the pipeline jail. Loved Oliver trying to figure out how to use Barry's speed. Loved it all. Very excited to see these characters interact with Gotham City strangeness in the next part.
posted by Servo5678 at 4:32 AM on December 10, 2018 [3 favorites]

I love this Superman and Lois so much I want a show about them. *gasp* Tyler is a delight in the role and I'm enjoying Bitsie/Elizabeth (she changed it?) too.

Barry and Oliver together being such personality opposites is comedy gold. The chest puffing? The arrows? Growly "You have failed this city?" Bwah.

Note that Oliver doesn't have all his scars and tats but I...guess Barry does? They obscured that.

No concerns about Felicity waking up with Barry? Remember how Felicity and Barry kinda dated? Oliver should be far more freaked than Barry right now on that score.

AND NOW WE KNOW WHERE THE TOILETS ARE.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:31 AM on December 10, 2018 [5 favorites]

A Superman show with this Lois and Clark is definitely something I think would work. Mind you, as much as I sympathize with Lois wanting to report on her trip to Argo City, I think I'm with Clark on this one. It's not the best decision if they want to protect his identity, at least from his co-workers. I mean the co-incidence of both Lois and Clark taking vacation time (or being off somehow) from the Planet while Lois is with Superman on Argo is just the teeniest, tiniest bit suspicious.

There was some grumbling over in the AV Club's comment section, along with lots of hand waving to explain why nobody (especially Oliver) commented on past history with Ivo and and the name Amazo, but I was willing to look past that and just focus on all of the fun.

I do like the fact that a Flash screw-up, this time by Oliver, is what set off Amazo. It seems like no matter who wields the Speed Force, they're bound to mess up.
posted by sardonyx at 8:46 AM on December 10, 2018 [3 favorites]

Speaking of overlooking issues, you can't tell me Barry is the first one to unscrew that toilet plate. I mean he's had geniuses and evil masterminds locked up in the pipeline for ages, and the show wants us to believe nobody has been bored enough to play around with the plumbing looking for an escape route.
posted by sardonyx at 8:49 AM on December 10, 2018

Maybe they secure the potty better for hostile prisoners rather than confused ones?
posted by Karmakaze at 9:13 AM on December 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

Just because there are toilets in the pipeline doesn't mean that Team Flash tells the prisoners about them...
posted by Servo5678 at 10:18 AM on December 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

I absolutely loved this. I wasn't sure the writers would be able to top what they did with "Crisis on Earth-X". Oliver doing comedy while Barry does drama? Stephen and Grant both managed to pull it off beautifully.

One thing stood out to me, though - in the opener they show John Wesley Shipp's Flash on Earth-90 with the Monitor. Wasn't it explained in "Crisis on Earth-X" that there are 52 Earths (plus Earth-X, making 53)? If that's the case, then we have a continuity error or something is missing.
posted by Roger Pittman at 11:16 AM on December 10, 2018

It seems like no matter who wields the Speed Force, they're bound to mess up.
Otherwise speedsters are too overpowered. It's like the old Superman problems, where they'd have Superman forget about some of his powers to keep the story from ending too quickly.
posted by Karmakaze at 12:19 PM on December 10, 2018

I think you've got the answer in your question, Roger Pittman. Either there are more than 52 Earths, which there are if we count Earth X as the 53rd, and we don't know the upper limit of exactly how many Earths exist or the Earths aren't known in purely numerical fashion (Earth X), so they can be called whatever the writers want, hence Earth-90.

As a comics reader, I feel really, really dumb about not picking up on the reason why Earth-38 has that name. Just as Earth-90 is such because that's when the John Wesley Shipp version of the Flash debuted (1990), Earth-38 is named for the year Superman was created (1938). I have no idea how I missed that all these years.
posted by sardonyx at 1:16 PM on December 10, 2018 [4 favorites]

that was fun! i enjoyed smiling Oliver and serious Barry. although it was silly that Barry had to say the line as he fired the arrow, but it helped create a character development that led to the nice moment of Iris asking him to not actually become Oliver.
posted by numaner at 2:21 PM on December 10, 2018

In Barry’s defense, I think he just wanted to say the line. How often does he get the chance to use it legitimately? Hell, I work in an office and have been waiting seven years for the opportunity to use it myself.
posted by Servo5678 at 4:02 PM on December 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

I loved this. I don't watch Arrow regularly (uh, by which I mean not at all, outside of crossovers), but it was great to see them learning from each other.

Lois is amazing. There is not a more Lois thing to say than "one giant leap for Lois Lane's career". Loved her rooting for Barry to deck Oliver!

Barry is hilarious. "The ... super cousin?" and "... are you puffing out your chest?"

Loved the Smallville throwback with the song!

And then, as someone who grew up with Christopher Reeve as Superman, I basically burst into happy tears when Cisco asked Clark who he was and he answered "a friend". Nice throwback to the 1978 movie!

There were so many perfect little things about this, and it was so much lighter in tone than the last crossover. I really enjoyed the first night.
posted by juliebug at 8:35 PM on December 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

I completely just realized they didn't have Nora in this episode. I'm chalking it up to the reality switcheroo, since no one in the episode mentioned her either.
posted by numaner at 4:27 PM on December 11, 2018