ARROW (S8E1) “Starling City”: The Beginning Of The End

The show that started it all is now in its homestretch. Arrow, the show that has laid the foundation for CW’s impressive roster of superhero shows including The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Supergirl, and Black Lightning has entered its final season. A crisis of a colossal magnitude is brewing and heading toward our tortured, brooding anti-hero and his superhero friends. He plays a crucial role in putting a stop to it before it has chance to take away those he holds most dear and the universe along with them in the process.

Oliver (Stephen Amell) receives a mission from the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) to travel to Starling City, his home on a parallel Earth, to retrieve an item of great importance for the incoming crisis as he encounters some familiar faces. Meanwhile, in the future, Mia (Katherine McNamara) and William’s (Ben Lewis) team goes toe to toe with a new enemy.

What Works

With just 10 episodes to bring the story of Oliver Queen to its conclusion, Arrow needs to narrow its focus and hit the ground running. Luckily, this episode wastes no time in not only foreshadowing the crisis to come in the CW superhero crossover event this December, but by dropping us immediately into Oliver’s quest leading up to it. We get a recreation of the pilot’s first scene on the island where Oliver honed his skills all those years ago, immediately strumming those nostalgic, bittersweet chords for loyal, longtime viewers. The show knows it needs to remind its fans of how far the show and this central character have come and this effective bit of fan service does the trick with ease while servicing the plot of the episode.

Soon after Oliver returns home from the island, it is revealed we are in a parallel Earth where his best friend Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) and mother (Susanna Thompson) are all alive and well, the latter two married and living together. He learns of his sister’s death and encounters the Team Arrow of this Earth, Black Canary (Katie Cassidy) and The Hood (Josh Segarra), as they are in the process of trying to take down The Dark Archer of their Earth, revealed to be Tommy Merlyn. These twists on the season one dynamics of the show are clever, providing an altered peek into the past that provides plenty of entertainment value. It was particularly fun to see Donnell channel his inner baddie as he chewed the scenery as The Dark Archer while still infusing him with heart and to see Segarra back in the fold as The Hood, a drastically different role after cementing himself as one of the show’s best villains, Adrian Chase, a few seasons ago.

Oliver’s encounters with the new versions of these characters give Amell the chance to really shine, particularly during the scenes with his mother and Tommy. He has grown tremendously as an actor over the course of the show’s run and the nuances and heart he has given this character have been truly impressive. You can visibly see the wear and tear on Oliver’s face and in his eyes after all he has been through, certainly not aided by the fact he’s experiencing the tragic events of season one in an entirely new light. Amell is especially good when trying to reason with Tommy as he plans to enact his father’s plan from the show’s debut season, using his years of heartbreak and enlightenment to give validity and sincerity to the words he drops to his feet. He’s bringing his A-game and it enhanced this episode considerably.

This episode was directed by James Bamford, an Arrow veteran at this point, who has directed some of the show’s very best episodes, more specifically its best action sequences. This episode is no exception, delivering some visceral and grounded action, enhanced by longer, extended shots to show off the impressive choreography and stunt coordination this how has delivered in spades over the years. Hailing from a stunt background, Bamford always knows how to stage and execute these action sequences with ease and finesse, making every punch and kick feel tactile and serrated.

What Didn’t Work

A major storytelling device the show introduced us to last season was its flash-forwards into the future centering on Oliver’s son William (Ben Lewis) and his daughter Mia (Katherine McNamara). These echoed the show’s use of flashbacks during its first several seasons that led to the events taking place in the present. Unfortunately, these flash-forwards aren’t nearly as compelling as the flashbacks in Arrow’s early seasons. We were introduced to a future Team Arrow and the results were underwhelming and bland to say the least, taking up a vast majority of screen time last season.

The scenes in the future during this episode don’t serve our main story in any way, feeling like a redundant impediment to the episode’s momentum in the present. I would’ve preferred to see more of Oliver’s emotional journey in this alternate Starling City than see future Team Arrow take on a Deathstroke gang. These flash-forwards simply haven’t added anything significant or thrilling to the show and I hope they don’t take up too much screen time in these final episodes.

Final Thoughts

Arrow has kicked off its final season with a mostly entertaining and emotionally engaging episode. We’re given fun twists on some fan favorite characters, terrific action sequences, and enticing teases of the crisis inching toward Oliver and company. With nine episodes left to go, let’s hope the show continues to trim the fat and get to the meat of Oliver Queen’s story as it comes to its natural and sure to be heart-wrenching end.

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