On the heels of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” CBS’s “Supergirl” is surging ahead in ratings with its own take on the superhero crossover genre. Breaking through network walls, The CW teams up with CBS to bring Barry Allen (Grant Gustin, “Glee”) into National City with a running start. Over the past season, “Supergirl” and “The Flash” have been relatively successful among the millennial fanbase. The newest episode of “Supergirl,” “World’s Finest,” earned a 21-percent overall rise in viewers, though the fate of “Supergirl” is yet to be revealed.
Over the two-season run of “The Flash,” we’ve been privy to two crossover events with The CW’s prodigal son, “Arrow.” These team-ups, much like “Batman v Superman,” brought the violence, while “World’s Finest” is all lollipops and rainbows — a well-overdue break from the violence surrounding the DC Comics community as of late. The episode explores the “theory of the multiverse,” one of DC’s most popular and attentive elements that has only recently been touched on in “The Flash.” Although they (literally) come from different universes, Barry and Kara (Melissa Benoist, “Glee”) easily find a rhythm, eventually working together, as opposed to the usual hero-sidekick dynamic, even if Barry does unintentionally play wingman for a while.
The transformation of Siobhan Smythe (Italia Ricci, “Chasing Life”) into the Silver Banshee, a moment that might have been epic, is slightly undermined by the Flash’s unexpected arrival, and it may have been more effective in a later episode. But you can’t argue with the offbeat humor that accompanies Barry to this Earth. Along with the fact that he brought ice cream.
Looking at the episode as a whole, “World’s Finest” is an exposé of everything that separates the worlds of “Supergirl” and “The Flash” from DC’s darker corners. Adding in the wonderfully adorable and singular chemistry between Gustin and Benoist, this episode has bumped “Batman v Superman” and “Flash vs. Arrow” straight to the curbs of Gotham.