Crisis On Infinite Earths - Analysis & Breakdown : Hour Four [Arrow]

I think its fair to say that the fourth and penultimate hour of The CW's 'Crisis On Infinite Earths' crossover was one of the strongest instalments of the event.

We got to see just how Mar-Novu became the omnipotent being that was The Monitor and how a simple misjudgement on his part became the catalyst for the creation of Mobius/The Anti-Monitor. We got some great moments with the surviving paragons and the full blown introduction of Oliver Queen as The Spectre for this hour of the crossover. The use of anamorphic in scenes taking place inside the speedforce was a great touch as the paragons went to revisit key moments in Oliver's life....even if that didn't have a heck of a lot of payoff but what it did give us is one of the biggest WTF moments in the whole of live action comic book history. Yeah, THAT moment.

My heart almost stopped when Ezra Miller's DCEU Flash came up against Grant Gustin and i specifically remember shouting several loud expletives (bearing in mind i was streaming live from the UK in the early hours of Wednesday morning). I don't think anybody could've expected this to ever happen in a live action capacity so the fact that they managed to keep this secret for months was a truly epic feat on the part of The CW and DC Comics. Not only does this confirm that the DCEU is part of the Arrowverse's multiverse but also opens up the possibility for Grant Gustin to appear in Ezra's Flash movie which opens in 2022 and is said to be adapting the 'Flashpoint' storyline. Congratulations again to everyone involved with making this moment happen.

The rest of the episode saw some interesting dynamics, particularly how Ryan Choi blended with the rest of the heroes and perhaps a turning point for Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor who really stole the show in hour four, it has to be said. As usual, he had some of the wittiest dialogue in the whole thing and this, for me, cemented the fact that he is my favourite interpretation of Lex. I'm glad he'll be sticking around after Crisis. The final battle at the dawn of time was probably my second favourite bit of this hour as the paragons took on the shadow demons while Oliver/Spectre took on the Anti-Monitor in a visually stunning scene which saw the Anti-Monitor "defeated" and the universe "reborn"

'You have failed this universe'

Of course, this brings Oliver Queen's journey to its (supposedly) final end as he has served his purpose in bringing back the universe with help from the paragons and dies once more with Barry and Sara by his side. He finally became something else and he certainly did not fail this city or this universe. Oliver Queen was a hero. A legend.