The Flash: Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3

November 28, 2017 7:54 PM - Season 4, Episode 8

Barry and Iris' wedding brings the gang together, but things go awry when villains from Earth-X attack the ceremony.

*In Part 3, Felicity & Iris do some Die Hard-ing around in Star Labs to try to get Cisco & the rest out of the Pipeline and rescue Supergirl from having her heart cut out, but by the end they're captured and Thawne is back in control. Over on Earth-X, Oliver & the rest of the team get rescued from near-execution by 'Citizen Cold' Leonard Snart along with The Ray, meet resistance leader General Schott, try to sneak their way into the breach device to get back to Earth-1, but by the end everyone everyone is still pinned down, Flash and the Ray fail to stop Schott's Red Tornado from reaching the facility to blow it up, the Earth-X Waverider goes through the breach, and Stein gets shot.

AV Club - The Flash gets lost in an overstuffed chapter of an entertaining crossover event

Den of Geek - Crisis on Earth X continues with its best chapter yet on The Flash!

IGN - Hell is other Earths.

posted by oh yeah! (6 comments total)

I just wanna point out that I really like Russell Tovey (The Ray) here. He was made for superhero camp. His role on Quantico (where he also played a gay man, so not sure if that's a choice or typecasting) felt like the writers didn't know how to write a complicated man who happens to be gay. Here, you can see influences from LoT and Supergirl where his sexuality was just is, and was barely a plot point. I wish he had more dialog, but he did a great job as a SO for Snart-X.
posted by numaner at 2:11 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Grey, no! You were just one day away from retirement!"

For the first time in a superhero franchise I don't know if a character will survive. They actually made it suspenseful.
posted by FallowKing at 6:02 AM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Russell Tovey ends up playing a queer character so often that I just sort of assume any character he's playing is queer, unless he's a werewolf.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:07 AM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Aw, the Ray and the Cold! That was very cute! I don't want Snart gone!

Oliver and Felicity, whoa.

I was hoping they wouldn't kill Gray off.. that son talk was darned cute.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:11 PM on November 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

This episode was in very poor taste. I'm an Arrow watcher, just a guest viewer here with The Flash. But since this 4 parter is all one thing I feel OK commenting. Auschwitz is not for entertainment. Ever. It's one thing to have generic Nazis as enemies, I'm OK with that. But the specific tropes of Auschwitz; the Arbeit Macht Frei sign, the prisoner costumes. These details should not ever be used for entertainment. The bit about "what does the pink triangle mean?" was condescending and stupid.

The show has its heart in the right place but there are some things that you can't use for creating a superhero action TV show setting. Concentration camps are one of them.
posted by Nelson at 9:13 PM on December 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

I watched all of the crossover episodes, which are series I don't usually watch and having the different characters was a nice change of pace.

There was a great bit with Caitlin that spanned a couple of episodes. When her Killer Frost persona comes out at the wedding she makes a snide comment about Caitlin's dress. Back at Star Labs (in the Flash episode, I believe) someone comments on Caitlin's outfit, which is a bit edgier than what she normally wears. Caitlin explains that Killer Frost doesn't like her usual outfits. In other words, Caitlin is so considerate that she is dressing differently so her alter-ego will feel more comfortable when she manifests.

At one point Ubergirl uses the colloquialism "Good Samaritan" which I don't think would be in general use after several decades of Nazi rule.
posted by mikepop at 8:39 AM on December 6, 2017