Arrow reached its milestone 100th episode with “Invasion!” The episode was fittingly written by the team of Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle based on a story by Greg Berlanti and was directed by James Bamford, keeping the episode very much within the
Arrow family. I was very disappointed that this milestone wasn’t allowed to stand on its own but was lumped in with the “four-way” crossover event. I use quotations there because the
Supergirl episode that supposedly starts the crossover is really a standalone episode of that show – something
Arrow, the show that started the CW superhero franchise, deserved for its 100th episode.
The thing that I really hated about the entire concept of four-way crossovers is that it’s a way for the CW to hold us hostage. I can assure you that if you didn’t watch the
Supergirl episode, you missed nothing because the only scene that had anything to do with the Greg Berlanti story was repeated in its entirety in
The Flash. In fact, the
Supergirl episode gave no story credit to Berlanti. However, you pretty much needed to watch all three of the others to get the entire storyline dealing with the Dominators. In fact, the episode title on all three episodes is “Invasion!” so Arrow’s 100th episode doesn’t even have its own unique title.
Enough ranting about the crossover mess. The
Arrow episode contained a number of sweet moments and a nice walk down nostalgia lane with many nods to seasons past, especially season one. However, the episode was hardly the most original hour on television as the show essentially channeled It’s a Wonderful Life and felt a whole lot like the Supernatural episode “What Is and What Should Never Be” in which Dean is captured by a Djinn and put into a coma while the Djinn lives on his blood. He’s prevented from struggling because within the coma, Dean’s life is perfect – he has a wonderful girlfriend and his mother is alive and he doesn’t hunt monsters for a living. But as the episode progresses, he gradually remembers his other life and struggles to go back to it – sound familiar?
On top of the lack of originality of the basic plot, the episode didn’t gel for me. The parts of the story with Curtis (Echo Kellum), Rory (Joe Dinicol), Rene (Rick Gonzalez), and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) working with Barry (Grant Gustin), Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) felt like it should have been in a different episode. Cisco vibes up to the alien ship, which he adorably describes as JJ Abrams Star Trek-like. Cisco has managed to acquire a piece of the alien technology for them to hack. Valdes’ delivery really highlights how to integrate smart-mouth, pop culture-referencing humor effectively. Kellum continues to over sell it. The different groups are all forced to work together to get a piece of technology from Dr Laura Washington (Erica Luttrell) who has made herself into an augmented human.
It felt like the entire crossover was really a vehicle to drum up viewers for
Supergirl. First, the
Supergirl episode had nothing to do with the crossover. Secondly, Oliver (Stephen Amell) takes a rather out of character dislike/mistrust of her only to have her eventually save his life in Legends. In this episode, Rene doesn’t want to work with either Barry or Supergirl because he distrusts metas and doesn’t like aliens (and Supergirl is both!). But by the end of the episode, she completely wins him over.
As I said, I did like the nostalgia aspect of the world that Oliver finds himself in. The episode opens as the first episode did – and the first episode of last season – with Oliver running through the woods, but this time, he’s running to the Queen mansion – I miss that house! It was nice to see all of them relatively happy and well-adjusted! I’m always happy to have Katie Cassidy back as Laurel, and it was bitter-sweet to see her before and at her wedding to Oliver. Thea (Willa Holland) is also there and presents Oliver with the hoisin from earlier seasons – it’s hilarious that he doesn’t know what it is. But he's also disturbed because he knows he should know. Moira (Susanna Thompson) and Robert (Jamey Sheridan) Queen are both there and both take time to tell their children how proud they are of them.
Sara (Caity Lotz) arrives for the wedding. Laurel runs out to meet her, and again one of the nicest parts of the episode was the fantasy of the two sisters finally getting to spend some time together. However, Sara admires Laurel’s necklace. It’s a black canary and Sara suddenly has a flash.
Robert is going to be mayor – no doubt a responsibility that Oliver would happily give up – and Robert wants Oliver to take over Queen Consolidated. In the background of this scene we see the SMOAK technologies building. It is a nice little sub-conscious shout out that Felicity is working hard to get them free. Later in the episode, we also see the Merlyn Global Group building. Oliver and Robert are mugged in an alley, but are saved by the Green Arrow! Oliver is instinctively going to protect his father, but his father wants him to be safe. Oliver begins to have flashes to reality – seeing Laurel in her hospital gown dying as she rushed into his arms to hug him. It’s interesting that both Sara and Oliver have the fantasy torn by Laurel.
Oliver goes to see Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) and learns that they know all about the Hood. Quentin tells Oliver that he was a punk when he first started dating Laurel, but now, he thinks he’s grown into a man he’s proud his daughter is marrying. Blackthorne is terrific in this scene and has to create almost an entirely different character – this Quentin is the polar opposite of the one we’ve seen all season.
And then it’s off to the party. Ray (Brandon Routh) arrives at the party and Laurel introduces him to Sara. This time it’s Sara who causes Ray to have a flash – Sara seems familiar to him.
Meanwhile, Oliver’s unease leads him to the Queen Factory – the site of the original lair. He finds Felicity there along with Diggle (David Ramsey) who is the Hood! Oliver says, “My name is Oliver Queen” and of course, that’s how the voiceover began in the very first episode – and subsequently. Diggle brushes it aside, saying everyone knows Oliver. Diggle tells him that he’s atoning for Kandahar. Oliver maintains that “this isn’t right,” but Diggle urges Oliver to forget about him and go back to his life where he has everything – don’t throw it all away.
Thea and Moira share a touching moment as Thea gets dressed for the wedding. Moira compliments Thea on how accomplished she’s become, and Thea has flashes of Moira’s death.
Oliver goes to Laurel and apologizes to Laurel – he was gone all night and apologized in a text – bad Oliver! Sara is clearly angry with him – and I loved her saying to him as she leaves, “You’re lucky I’m not a trained assassin” – but of course, she is! Oliver knows his time is running out and he can’t stay in this fantasy world, but he makes one more attempt – he asks Laurel to elope with him, right then. He tells her he’s afraid he’s going to give everything up. Laurel puts him off – the guests are already there!
Diggle shows up at the wedding and asks Oliver if he’s been seeing a building that shouldn’t be there – Felicity never owned a building in reality – and it’s SMOAK Technologies that has been triggering Diggle’s flashes. Diggle has even drawn a picture of an alien.
Oliver confesses that he doesn’t think that what’s happening to them is real – but Oliver also thinks that any resistance to believing on their part is going to be met with resistance – and then Deathstroke is there! But sadly NOT Manu Bennett. Sara shows up and saves them by stabbing Deathstroke. Sara, Diggle, and Oliver all suddenly remember the fight in which they were beamed up in the previous episode. Diggle determines that they need to get to SMOAK Technologies.
Meanwhile, the wedding party seems to be carrying on before the wedding itself. However, this creates the opportunity for one of my favorite moments in the entire crossover. Malcom (John Barrowman) and Thea are sharing a moment. Thea remarks that it’s too bad Tommy (Colin Donnell) couldn’t make the wedding, and Malcolm tells her that the hospital where he’s working in Chicago is making him work triple shifts! HILARIOUS! Because Donnell is currently starring on
Chicago Med and a recent plot line even had him working multiple shifts!
Malcolm also remarks that Thea’s parents must be very proud of her too as she is running Verdant. It seems that in this reality, there is no messy parentage for Thea to deal with. It also seems that her happiest memory is of running the club. We also see that Ray is engaged to Felicity in this reality. But when Sara comes and pulls him away, he agrees that this reality feels weird.
Meanwhile, the aliens really do put up roadblocks to prevent them from leaving. Robert tells Oliver that if he keeps up this unstable behavior, it’s not going to end well. Moira tries to convince him that this is his life now. It is clearly breaking Oliver’s heart to lose them again, but he tells them that this isn’t his life and hugs them goodbye.
Oliver then goes to collect Thea, but she doesn’t want to go. She is fully aware that this isn’t reality, but doesn’t understand why Oliver would want to leave. Their parents are alive! Oliver tells her that they can’t stay – they have responsibilities and people counting on them. But Thea points out – very logically too! – that there are now people with super-powers. Aren’t they more suited to solving these kinds of problems anyway? Good point Thea and why it jarred the concept of Arrow to introduce the Flash. Thea wants to treat this as the reward for their sacrifices, but Oliver says he didn’t do it for a reward. This reality has only shown him that there is more to do. Oliver realizes it’s a losing battle, and he tells Thea that he just wants her to be well and happy. He hugs her and leaves.
Of course, it’s not that easy for them to simply leave and they are faced with a range of villains from their past – more nice nostalgia! They are faced with Merlyn, Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), and Deathstroke again. Thea joins them, saying she can’t lose her family again – meaning Oliver. She’s the one to kill Malcolm, and Sara gets revenge on Dahrk for killing Laurel. Oliver once again puts an arrow through Slade’s eye. Bamford outdid himself with the fight sequences in this episode, and this multi-way fight was terrific.
The aliens make one more try – Laurel comes out and tells them that whatever is wrong, they can fix it. Oliver tells Laurel he never deserved her love, that she always deserved better. The group walk through the portal and find themselves waking up on the alien spaceship. Of course, not before we get a Star Wars moment in which Oliver sees all those he’s lost (just like Luke with Obi-wan, Yoda, and Vader) – I’m not quite sure why Roy shows up here rather than making an appearance in the episode – but Colton Haynes is only seen in archive footage the same as Donnell. Of course Felicity is also there and she’s not dead either.
The last few minutes of this episode were really quite ridiculous. The team on the Dominators’ ship manage to escape because their guns appear to work exactly the way earth guns work. They find an alien spaceship, get in, and are able to start it by Thea just slapping her palm on the controls. They do nothing at all after this to steer it – either out of the mothership or in the chase that follows. They are pursued by hundreds of ships – all of whom are apparently terrible shots. The Waverider swoops in and saves them. They determine that the Dominators took them because they aren’t meta’s and the Dominators were probing their minds in order to make a weapon.
And the final bit of silliness was Rory recognizing the Dominator’s “language” as it’s based on Hebrew. They are using Gematria and their language shares commonalities with the Old Testament. While this was kind of cool, and I did like them tying the universe together in this way, it also seemed like a bit of a stretch.
All in all, while this episode had lots of nice moments that rewarded fans who’ve been watching since the beginning, it wasn’t a huge success for me as a 100th episode special event. And I had to wonder how many of these “in” jokes people who were watching because it was part of a crossover actually got. I suspect anyone who isn’t a regular Arrow watcher would have been shrugging their shoulders a lot. What did you think of the episode? Did you want more out of the 100th episode? Was this enough? Did you watch the entire crossover? How did you like that storyline? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
