Hahaha... no. He was nicer than me.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but it once again seemed to me like the writers don't actually care about these stories or characters. I've been rewatching Eureka lately. It's an absurd show, filled with nonsense and insanity, from the Scifi Channel (and probably a low budget) but everyone involved was so committed to that universe that it never felt fake. I was never left wondering why characters would do incredibly stupid (yet convenient for the writers) things without anyone commenting on it, and I never really thought that the emotions were false, even when it was completely unrealistic.
The problem that I had with Elseworlds from the very beginning was one of my biggest peeves in lazy writing. The fact that a simple conversation would instantly clear up the misunderstanding. Why wouldn't Oliver just tell Iris that he wasn't Barry? And that decision snowballed into this insane plot where nobody believed Oliver and Barry, despite the fact that Cisco would probably have a body-swap preparation kit tucked under his desk at all times. There was no reason for any of them to doubt Barry and Oliver. And to top it off, even if they didn't believe them, again, a simple conversation would clear it up. "Okay 'Barry', where did you first confess your love for Iris?" Oliver wouldn't know that.
And yeah, you could say that it's all because the lazy plot device made it happen, but there was no indication that their actual memories of Barry and Oliver were altered, or that they were programmed to not trust them (as evidenced by their later reversal on this point). It was just convenient writing, for the sake of a chuckle and getting the script written.
The whole crossover event was like this. It was a concept, not a plot. And there were many ways in which that concept could have been turned into a legit and solid plot, but apparently it wasn't a priority. So instead, we're stuck with countless minutes of characters trying to sound as though these plot holes and contradictions make sense, but they really don't.
100% of this fail is the writers. I don't blame the actors. They are all solid in their roles. They have great chemistry. They managed to make me smile through the delivery of their lines, even while the writing failed them at every corner.
You'd think I went into this wanting to hate it and expecting to write this post. I actually didn't. I was stupid. I made it a whole big thing in my head. I saved all three episodes, so I could watch them as one big event. And after all of that, I couldn't do it. I got through two episodes and I had to step away for a while.
I really didn't feel anything about Batwoman either way. I thought she was a bit forced and some of her scenes were clunky, but she didn't leave enough of an impression for me to really like or dislike her.
I continue to say that this version of Superman is horrible. Miscast (and again, I like the actor in other roles, and have since he was a kid in Road to Perdition) and just horrible all around. And they made the mistake of calling back to Smallville. There is nothing as jarring as using the iconic Smallville shots, and the theme music, cutting to the iconic Smallville Kent farm... and seeing this mess of an adaptation in the place of Tom Welling. Tom had so much strength and presence in that role that you looked at him and saw Clark Kent/Superman. Tyler just doesn't.
And while I think that this Superman is poorly done, that opinion pales in comparison to my views on this Lois Lane. I hated her so much that I was disappointed when Superman managed to save her toward the end. The problem is, she didn't have a lot to do here, and what little time she had to be a presence in the Arrowverse, they wasted on political bullsh*t. Lois Lane is an iconic, strong, powerful, smart, kick-ass woman. They don't need to make her a shrill feminist, whining about the pay gap and quoting statistics regarding the superiority of women. They should have spent that time making her look like a strong, powerful, smart, kick-ass woman. Maybe have her interact with Iris and show Iris what this life looks like after so many years (though I'm not sure that we're supposed to remember how long Clark is supposed to have been at this, or how old Lois should be).
Lois managed to achieve in these short episodes what Felicity took years of groundwork to accomplish. And again, it's lazy writing. In the minds of these writers, having Lois throw in these political comments makes her looks tough and smart. To me, it looked like they didn't want to put in the work and build an actual character, so they used a generic template.
The Supergirl line about the villain guy being too afraid to be a woman was just cringe-worthy. It took what seemed like five minutes of forced dialogue to get to that line, and it didn't even make sense.
Okay, now I need to step off the hate train and discuss plot and characters in a more fanboy way...
Am I wrong in thinking that they've established that Alex and James exist on Earth-1? I assumed that they didn't, because none of the other Arrowverse characters exist on whatever Earth Supergirl is on, but it seems like they (and Batman) exist on both worlds. Could this play a part in the Crisis next year, and the shows possibly merging universes? Will they kill off the "real" Alex and Jimmy? I don't watch Supergirl, so I don't know how they set up Argo City. Would Clark and Lois be in any way protected from such a merge by being there?
Barry, Oliver and Kara really are fun to watch together. It reminds me of the old days with Oliver, Diggle and Felicity in a lot of ways. The fact that there's no romantic drama or anything like that makes that relationship more entertaining and less stressful. And while I know that we're talking about a yearly visit vs 23 episodes per season, it just made me realize how forced Arrow has become lately. Every scene and every line feels like it's being dragged into the episode against its will, at a point when the series should be writing itself.
The high point of the crossover was by far the way they styled Killer Frost's hair. The wig is usually iffy, but this look really worked for her.
Did they stop referring to Diggle as "Diggle" because they wanted to build up this Green Lantern thing? Is that why he is always "John" now? Because that has really been distracting me for the last couple of seasons.
I wonder if I should just cut and run. I feel like I'm such a downer in these discussions, because it feels like I rarely have anything nice to say about these shows anymore. I want to like them. I used to like them. I don't think that The Flash is nearly as bad as last season. I just wonder if I'm adding anything to the conversation, or if I'm just making it harder for everyone else to be excited about the shows they like.
With the Marvel movies, I've more or less stopped commenting after I watch them. Maybe I'll try that here.
With Titans having finished their season, I think I might sign up for the free trial of the DC Universe and try that after Christmas/New Year. So for anyone who has seen that one... does it just feel like the Arrowverse, or does it feel like something else?