Arrow 5×08 “Invasion!” was far more interested in celebrating the 100th episode milestone than adding to the crossover.
‘Arrow’ 5×08 recap
Reaching 100 episodes is a major milestone for any show — that’s a long time to be on the air, especially in our climate of annual ratings drops — so Arrow can be forgiven for wanting to reflect on the 99 that came before it during its own 100th. And as a celebration of the episodes that came before, “Invasion!” was poignant and bittersweet.
It definitely feels like a mistake, however, to have placed this episode in the middle of the highly-anticipated crossover between the four CW superhero shows. For a plot as large as a full-scale alien invasion, very little attention is being paid to it.
Instead, our threats have come from brainwashed superheroes and a fantasy. This type of fantasy could have been achieved in quite a few other ways without alien involvement — we’ve seen it often enough on other shows, including Supergirl, after all — so it feels like it’s just taking up space in a narrative that needs more expansion.
The only plot movement in this episode was the fact that the Dominators are bringing in a big weapon. That took a grand total of about 30 seconds to tell us, so there were 41 minutes and 30 seconds left to spend developing the story even more. Alas.
Now we’re left with a single episode of Legends of Tomorrow to wrap up the entire thing. Uh…
Moreover, I’m finding myself disappointed in just how little in the way of team-ups we’re seeing. Technically Ray and Sara are crossing over to Arrow from Legends for this episode, but it doesn’t feel like it since both were spun out of Arrow to Legends in the first place.
Yes, the recruits teamed up with Cisco, The Flash and Supergirl — and Flash and Supergirl teaming up to fight the random cyborg lady just because they could was fun because they are adorable buddies — but did we really need to have Rene going anti-metahuman when he’s on a team with a guy who wears magic rags? What was the point of that?
Plus, what were the other Legends up to? The other members of Team Flash? Lyla? I doubt they just went home for some Netflix when there’s an alien invasion going on.
So far, I’m quite underwhelmed with this crossover. Maybe the hype was too much. But I was expecting far more interaction between the various characters, more development of the Invasion! storyline and more, well, fun.
As for “Invasion!” as a 100th episode, it was bittersweet seeing some old characters. Laurel deserved a better fate than she got in season 3, so it was lovely to see her play a central role in Oliver’s fantasy. It was heart-wrenching to see Robert and Moira Queen alive and well — though obviously this was an idealized portrayal of these characters considering they were both involved in Malcolm’s Undertaking.
Oh, and in the real world, Oliver was sleeping with Sara behind Laurel’s back, but it seems like the Arrow-verse has forgotten that Sara is bisexual as she reminds Laurel she prefers women.
The writers also wrote around Colin Donnell being on another show (Chicago Med) by noting Tommy couldn’t come to the wedding because he’s busy being a doctor. Ha, clever. We did get a Tommy hologram, though, and my heart shattered. I miss him. Though we’ll see him again when we find out he’s Prometheus.
So, in the alternate world:
- Oliver recovered from his party boy persona and is engaged to marry Laurel.
- The Lance sisters are reunited.
- Ray is engaged to Felicity.
- Diggle is The Hood and he was working with Felicity in the current Arrow cave.
- Thea has her family again.
The characters experience flashes of their real lives so eventually figure out they are having some kind of hallucination and decide to leave. Oliver, realizing he has to leave, bids a tearful farewell to his parents. It had me tearing up too.
But that wasn’t the last obstacle, as the team has to fight the villains that encompass the most pain for each them: Thea vs. Malcolm, Oliver vs. Deathstroke (alas, Slade himself didn’t appear), Sara vs. Damien Darhk, Diggle vs. Andy and Ray vs. Mirakuru soldiers.
Their victory allows them to find the way out, but not before Sara and Oliver bid tearful farewells to Laurel, who both love dearly. On the way out, Oliver sees visions of many of the loved ones he’d lost in various ways and that inspires him to keep fighting.
Again, I enjoyed the episode as a 100th episode. I just wish it hadn’t taken up the middle slot in the big crossover when there is still so much room left to cover narrative-wise.
Watch a promo for the final part of the crossover
