In Review: Batwoman – Crisis on Infinite Earth’s Part 2

Synopsis: The group uses Ray’s invention to track new recruits to help save the universe. The Monitor sends Iris, Clark, and Lois in search of a mysterious Kryptonian, while Kate and Kara head out to find Bruce Wayne. In addition, Mia challenges Sara, Rory discovers a hidden talent, and Lex Luthor returns.

Review: It is now time for Batwoman’s chapter in the infinite Earth’s saga. The crisis has just gotten real.

Warning. There are some moderate spoilers ahead…

The Story

The story sees our heroes split up into groups. The Monitor tasks the group with finding seven Paragons, who possess the purest of hearts. Iris, Clark, and Lois are sent to search for a mysterious Kryptonian but have to deal with Lex Luthor who has stolen the book of destiny and is using it in his attempts to kill every version of Superman across all of the universes. The journey takes them to Smallville, where they meet the Tom Welling version of the superhero, but find out that he has given up his powers to become a family man. Eventually, they find themselves at the Daily Planet and meet Brandon Routh’s version of the hero. Lex then arrives on the scene and uses the book of destiny to pit one Superman against the other. Thankfully Lois is around to save the day and eventually bring them to their senses.

Kate and Kara head to Earth 99 in search of the future bat or the paragon of courage, who is otherwise known as Bruce Wayne. The Bruce Wayne that they find is a twisted and gnarly version of the version that Kate admires. It soon becomes obvious to Kate that this Bruce Wayne is not going to help them.

Meanwhile, while all of this is happening. Barry, Mia, and Sara embark on a mission to resurrect the dead body of Oliver Queen by trying to locate a Lazarus Pit. To this end, they enlist the help of John Constantine.

Elsewhere Lyla aka the Harbinger is beginning to hear voices in her head and is slowly going a bit mad. This is not good news for her or for our Heroes as it is a sign that the Anti Monitor is growing stronger.

The Acting

We get some brilliant performances in this episode and one of the best comes from Kevin Conroy who gets to play Bruce Wayne for the first time on film but provides a much darker version of the character that we have seen to date. Conroy, of course, is better known to fans for having voiced both Bruce Wayne and Batman in the animated series as well as the Arkham video games series. So it was a real treat to see the person that has done many years of great voice work for the animated Batman.  His scenes with Ruby Rose are brilliantly done and have done a lot for the character of Batwoman as the series moves forward.

I also enjoyed how the writers chose to pair off Ruby Rose with Melissa Benoist as Batwoman and Supergirl respectively. It was fun seeing the lighter and more hopeful Supergirl working alongside a courageous, but somewhat more cynical Batwoman. It is a more feminine version of the dynamic we have seen with Oliver Queen and Barry Allen over the years.

Overall

This was a bit of a step up from last night’s opening episode, but I don’t think things have peaked just yet.

I enjoyed the meeting that Batwoman and Supergirl had with Bruce Wayne and seeing Brandon Routh get a second shot at playing Superman was absolutely great, especially given that we got a little bit of a homage to the Superman Vs Superman scenes from Superman III thanks to Lex Luthor and the book of destiny.

The episode ends on a great note, which is likely going to make life somewhat difficult for The Monitor and our heroes as things move forward.

Tomorrow’s episode of ‘The Flash’ will bring us the third part of the saga and then things will break off until ‘Arrow’ returns in the new year.