How did Supergirl get along with the Flash?

So this week the Flash crossed over from his version of Earth to Supergirl's version of Earth, and spent a lot of his time cracking wise and dispensing dating advice to Kara Danvers, which was nice of him.

Crossovers are, in essence, commercials

Supergirl and The Flash did team up to defeat what may be the worst super-villain duo I've ever seen. Silver Banshee shouts loudly and Livewire is made of electricity, which sounds cool, but is sorta undone by regrettable sartorial decision-making. Banshee's "make-over," from malicious Siobhan to frightful villain looks like something out of a lazy tween's Halloween bash.

They were eventually defeated by earplugs and a water-hose. This was not evil's finest moment.

There was also a cringey ending in which the citizens of National City came together to save Supergirl's life, thus releasing her from the purgatory of public disfavor. Our hero's recent and regrettable funny-five-minutes is now officially forgotten. She's back to being a goody-two-shoes, which makes me a bit sad.

Talking of goody-two-shoes, let's look at the Flash and how well this crossover actually worked.

In short, it worked great. These two characters sparked with one another, while the Flash made instant and entertaining connections with Winn (a bromance), James (he was envious) and Cat (she tried to rebrand him as "The Blur").

The running joke this week was how the Flash's world is just slightly different from Supergirl's. It turns out that neither of them have any clue about the other's galaxy of allies and enemies. Also, there are no aliens in the Flash's world, so he kept flipping out about how awesome it was to be in a world of extra-terrestrial freaks.

The writers came up with at least one good line every five minutes of running time and, for once, they didn't all go to Cat.

My favorite came from The Flash. "I see bad guys love abandoned warehouses on your Earth too."

Winn, of course, had a nerdgasm about the whole multiverse thing, which is all new to these guys. Obviously The CW isn't available in National City.

Crossovers are, in essence, commercials. They exist so marketing people can present audience pollination Venn diagrams to execs.

So, it's important that they are full of charm, meta-jokes and a smooth storytelling that doesn't mess with the narrative's overall flow. I think the writers did a great job, and they were helped that these two characters — nice people who care about others — sit easily together. Imagine the disaster of, say, putting two egocentric, macho icons together in the same flick and making it all dark. Ugh.

The only really jarring part of this show was the fact that Alex, who is on the run, hardly seemed to figure in Supergirl's thoughts. That, and the strangely cloying romance between James and Kara.

Staring is rude on any occasion

James seems like a man who knows how to behave in the world. But he has a few blind-spots. I am going to impart some wisdom to him, right now. James: If your ex-girlfriend is in the same room as you, don't gaze longingly at the woman you want to be your next girlfriend. I mean, staring is rude on any occasion, obviously, but we have to accept some yearning looks in a romance.

Incredibly, James' ex (Lucy Lane) saunters up and gives him some helpful tips on his love life. I'm beginning to believe in multiverse theory, because in the world where I live, that doesn't sound at all likely.

I sorta drifted off during the Flash's two sessions of giving Kara dating advice, but I'm guessing the gist of it was to seize the day and don't hide your feelings. Feel free to correct me in comments if I'm getting that wrong (along with the usual comic-book trivia). Anyway. Kara kisses James.

The fact that he immediately turns into a zombie really must play on her sense of insecurity, but it's okay because it's not just him. The whole city has been zombified by evil aliens. Meanwhile. the Flash manages to get home by running really fast.

Here's Polygon's collection of Supergirl recaps.