Arrow kicked off its final season on Tuesday night and the episode saw Oliver complete his first mission for The Monitor but not before a blast from the past.
We’ve been here before
The Season 8 premiere kicks off with a homage to the first scene of the series’ pilot. The only difference is that when Oliver returns home this time, he’s been gone 12 years. TWELVE. He returns home to find out that his mother is married to Malcolm Merlyn (okay creepy) and Tommy is alive. But where’s Thea? She was so devastated that Oliver disappeared that she OD’d on Vertigo and died her 18th birthday.
Oliver’s mission was to steal dwarf star particles from this Earth and he does just that by swiping his mom’s key card for Queen Merlyn Industries. But as he enters, dressed as The Green Arrow, he finds several people dead with arrows to the chest.
Things get weird
It is at this moment that things got weird. Oliver is confronted by Earth Two’s version of ‘The Hood’, but it turns out to be Adrian Chase. After learning that the Dark Archer was responsible for the stolen particles, Oliver thinks it’s Malcolm who is the culprit. Because ya know, Malcolm is evil back on Earth One. But things get weirder when Oliver discovers that Tommy is the Dark Archer and wants to blow up The Glades to avenge Thea’s death.
A visit from an old friend
Oliver meets his bodyguard John Diggle and soon realizes that its his Diggle from Earth-One. Diggle was able to track Oliver down thanks to some help from Cisco’s breaching devices. Oliver tells Diggle everything about the crisis and his impending death. Diggle refuses to hear of it, saying he’ll be there for Oliver every step of the way.
Oliver argues that the world is better off with him dead, but Diggle says its worse; he points out that on Earth Two, Dinah is a crooked cop and Rene is helping Tommy destroy The Glades. It’s at this moment that Oliver realizes he can’t talk Diggle out of it, so they team up.
The Crisis arrives
Tommy is captured by Oliver and back at the police department. Oliver says a tearful goodbye to his mother, but then Laurel comes in and says the city is under attack. A big wave of anti-matter overtakes the building, killing Tommy, Dinah, and Oliver’s mother. Laurel, Diggle, and Oliver are able to breach out of there before they suffered the same fate.
Episode Notes
- The show crossed over in more ways than one with Diggle mentioning Cisco’s breaching device and the anti-matter from Tuesday’s episode of The Flash. Pretty cool!
- Since Earth-Two was destroyed, we must sadly say goodbye to Harrison Wells and his daughter Jesse. I wonder if there will be a mention of this happening on The Flash next week.
- I’m so curious if we’ll see Oliver, Diggle, and Laurel traveling to other Earths or was this a one-time deal?
- Was that Batman’s mask at the very beginning of the episode? I can’t remember if that was in the pilot episode.
What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!
Arrow airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.