Supergirl S01E18 Review: Flash Crossover!

Supergirl, Season 1, Episode 18: World's Finest

Despite the poster, J'onn and Alex don't
even so much as show up.

Well, that was a fun romp. It's honestly not a particularly great episode -- just a formulaic superheroes against supervillains bit -- but it was definitely fun to watch. So many things helped out this episode, really. Livewire coming back was a nice bonus, as irritating as she can be at times. Siobahn finally completes her transformation into the Silver Banshee, which is nice -- villains who we see the rise and fall of throughout the season is so much more fun than just another bad guy to beat up. And, of course, the fun romp between Supergirl and the Flash. Not only are the two just great fun to have on-screen, they don't go to the formula of fighting each other because of distrust, a refreshing break after Civil War and Batman v. Superman. 

It definitely is a fun little crossover, don't get me wrong, and I definitely enjoyed it... I just feel like the show could've stood to do something more. I don't know. Maybe I just expected too much? Maybe it's the fact that Livewire and Silver Banshee combined doesn't even really seem like they pose a threat at all. Maybe it's Silver Banshee's unconvincing makeup. Maybe it's the ungodly amount of time we spent dicking around in CatCo or with James' jealousy bit. Maybe it's the lack of Martian Manhunter. Maybe it's the rather trite conclusion of having a bunch of random firemen save the day instead of, hey, one of the two superheroes running around. I mean, hey, I get the spirit of the thing, but it felt kind of underwhelming to bring in two big superheroes and then not to have them save the day, you know what I mean?

The episode was greatest when it focused on Barry and Kara, which I cannot fault at all. It's great, it's fun, from Flash zooming in rather randomly out of nowhere, the 'who are you?' bit between both heroes, before the two of them just found a grand old time being good buddies and fighting crime. Other than James being a sourpuss and being jealous and shit, there isn't even a sign of some romantic tension between them. They're just happy to hang around each other as superheroes and shit, and Barry even gives Kara some advice about trusting her team, something that, as the more experienced superhero (by a full season!) Barry is qualified to do. 

Not exactly easy to get right in
real-life

Both Barry and Kara are definitely fun characters that, thanks to both writing and the actors' own bubbly personalities, raise every scene they are in -- Melissa Benoist's acting is really honestly what brought Supergirl this far despite its shit writing and plotting. And be it Flash and Supergirl teaming up and talking about supervillain semantics, or Barry Allen and Kara Danvers trying to cover up Barry's presence at CatCo (which would be a chore to watch if Barry and Kara weren't so fun), it's a blast watching them together.

Siobahn finally makes her full transformation into the Silver Banshee... in a hilariously idiotic way. Hey, apparently her family has some random Irish banshee curse! And, well, it's comic accurate, to be sure, but some hints about this beyond her being Irish would certainly be welcome. And I don't think this universe has established the kryptonians' weakness to magic, so how Silver Banshee is even a threat ends up hanging. And her makeover in the show... yeah, Silver Banshee does have an iconic look that doesn't really translate well on-screen, and Siobahn really ends up looking like a half-assed metalhead.

How Siobahn could so easily walk into the DEO to break Livewire (and no other villains?) out ends up being a rather strange plot hole, but hey, we get two versus two and I'm all for supervillain superhero fight scenes! From Barry hilariously lobbing a lightning bolt onto Livewire (and the justification that he thought he could overload her like he did Atom Smasher), the usage of Pied Piper earplugs, and, well, just the general treat of seeing a superhero team-up, it's just a blast all around. Also, the race at the end which allowed Supergirl to assist in lobbing Flash back home is a nice nod to how often Superman and Flash raced each other in their crossovers.

Right up until the end, of course, when Livewire gets defeated by a bunch of handy firemen. For one, it seemed like way too quick of a backpedaling from the people losing trust in Supergirl after Bizarro and Red Kryptonite. It just seemed like lazy writing, when the concept of Supergirl having terse relations with the public is a half-decent avenue to explore. 

The side-characters we are left with, sadly, only really drag the show down. With Lucy and Will being ultimately wallpaper dressing, the ones that get the most screentime are Cat and James. James had this utterly irritating nonsensical jealousy subplot, and apparently gets mind-controlled by Myriad at the end of the episode after that one kiss with Kara. Screw off, James, no one likes you anyway. Cat Grant.. is honestly being so inconsistently written with the one constant in her being 'a bitch'. Again, like the public, Cat almost immediately backpedals on her stance against Supergirl, which really, after the thrown-off-a-building thing also felt randomly rushed. Being so central in the plot since she's Livewire and Silver Banshee's target also means that she gets a lot of screentime... and by god, is she annoying. From antagonizing the supervillains for no good reason before immediately mewling for help because, yeah, she can't do jack shit against them... to her bad 'CW cast' jokes that fell flat, to randomly trying to get Kara and James to hook up after being upset about Kara dumping her son... Cat Grant has kind of crossed the line from being entertaining to irritating.

Still, Cat Grant and James Olsen and Silver Banshee's makeup are honestly not good reasons to hate this episode. It's still a really fun and energetic episode at heart. While we don't get quite the OMG EPIC feel of having Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman stand against Doomsday, or to have Green Arrow do battle with a mind-controlled Flash, or to have the entire cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe face off against each other in an airport, it's still a great crossover, a fun crossover, and, well... yeah, it could've been more epic, but I can't lie -- I had fun watching this episode, and fun episodes are good.