‘Flash’ ‘Supergirl’ Musical Crossover: Awesome Idea Or Jumping The Shark?

The Flash Supergirl musical crossover coming up on February 20 is – it’s safe to say – one of the most highly talked about episodes of either series. However, while some fans of both shows are eagerly anticipating their favorite superheroes doing a bit of song and dance, others are worried that they’re jumping the shark.

The Flash Supergirl musical crossover will mostly be taking place on the Flash. In the same way that the huge four-part crossover of all the CW superhero shows last fall really only included a few minutes at the end of Supergirl, it’s likely we’ll only have a single scene on Supergirl with Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist and Jeremy Jordan popping over to Earth 1 for the musical extravaganza.

There’s supposedly going to be at least one original song included in the Flash Supergirl musical event, which of course means that all of the other songs are going to be ones we already know. The question is, what genre of music are we talking about?

Since the time traveling character of Martin Stein from Legends of Tomorrow is going to be showing up for the Flash episode, it may be that the musical crossover plot involves time travel. If so, the songs could be anything from 1930s show tunes to grunge rock.

In the spirit of the occasion, Supergirl herself is reportedly going to be displaying a new costume for her musical outing. Given that she usually wears a cape anyway, having her in a costume covered in rhinestones while she sings Elvis’ Suspicious Minds would – it can’t be denied – be fantastic.

One of the reasons the Flash Supergirl musical crossover might be able to avoid the curse of jumping the shark is that they have a surprising amount of musical talent on both shows. In fact, they apparently couldn’t make room for everyone. Chyler Leigh – who plays Supergirl’s sister Alex – is a professional recording artist but won’t be taking part in the musical crossover.

But they will have the Flash’s Grant Guston, who sang and danced on Glee alongside Supergirl herself, Melissa Benoist. Music Meister – the supervillain who has the ability to compel others to break into song – will be played by another Glee star, Darren Criss.

Victor Garber from Legends of Tomorrow will also be bringing his professional singing voice to the Flash Supergirl musical. Even Jeremy Jordan from Supergirl and John Barrowman from Legends and Arrow know their way around Broadway musicals.

But is this really a good idea? When “Jumping the shark” happens on a show, it rarely bodes well for its future. Derived from an episode of Happy Days in which Fonzi jumped over a shark to pop up the ratings, this kind of stunt is often shortly followed by the cancellation of the show in question.

Suspension of disbelief is one thing – and is certainly necessary with superhero shows where people can fly or vibrate through walls – but will a Flash Supergirl musical crossover be too much even for comic book lovers to swallow? When the Flash starts dancing across the ceiling while singing about putting on his top hat and tails, will viewers be turned off?

It really depends on how well it’s done. Joss Whedon – now best known for his work in the Marvel universe – years ago created a musical episode of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series that was awesome by anyone’s standard. Even the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series had a terrific musical episode that – not coincidentally – involve the same Music Meister character being used in the Flash Supergirl musical.

It’s also important to note that TV series that “jump the shark” usually do so because their ratings are dropping like a rock and the producers are desperate to do something to save the show. The ratings on both the Flash and Supergirl are just going up and up, so there’s no reason to assume that a Flash Supergirl musical crossover episode signals the end of either show.

[Featured Image by The CW]