DJ Watches: Arrow Season Five: Episode Eight: Invasion!
Last time we were with Team Arrow, they were on a completely different series on the same network, and dealing with an alien invasion, which now that I think about it, they took extremely well all things considered. As strange as things have gotten for the Star City crew, extraterrestrials coming to Earth with ill intentions are something of a different level from the usual weirdness that they deal with. Still, teaming up with Flash and the rest of the heroes, they……completely fail to rescue the President of the United States, who was vaporized, and in fact most of the team gets mind controlled, though Ollie and Barry manage to snap them out of it. Unfortunately, Green Arrow, Sara, Diggle, Thea, and Ray all were abducted by the aliens, leaving everyone in quite a predicament.
And now, we join Oliver…jogging through the woods outside of the Queen mansion, and taking a shower with a not-so-dearly departed Laurel Lance. They don’t try to drag this any longer than necessary, however, as it’s quickly revealed that Ollie and the rest of the team are in fact strapped into alien pods, for no doubt nefarious reasons.
Back at Team Arrow HQ, Rene, Curtis, and Rory (with Evelyn being mysteriously absent for a not-at-all traitorous reason, I’m sure) are discussing how ludicrous and crazy it is that, hey, ALIENS. They are interrupted by Felicity, as she arrives back in town with Cisco in tow to try and find their wayward comrades. After introductions are made, Rene is notably not too thrilled about the idea of metahumans, as Cisco vibes Ollie’s broken bow from earlier seasons to track him down, and sure enough, he reports that he’s on an alien ship somewhere ominous. With varying emotions, they attempt to do the same to a piece of alien tech to see where exactly the Green Arrow might be.
In Pleasantville, Oliver is thanking Thea for a present, having a completely normal, sane conversation that typical non-superhero siblings might have, and have a frankly sweet little talk with Moira and Robert King. Catching a falling flower pot and finding it odd, outside Laurel is welcoming Sara back home from overseas, who also has an odd feeling as Laurel gives her a present of her own – a canary pendant. Hmmm. Later on, after a tux fitting, Ollie and Robert are chatting when a mugger pops up and tries to hold them up, Oliver does act brave – uncharacteristically, it seems – but it’s for naught, because the mugger is shot by an arrow and the two are saved by The Hood. As Robert admonishes his son for being reckless, Oliver seems more bothered by the vigilante than anything else. Later on at home, Robert points out that it’s probably for the best that Moira not hear about this little incident, with Thea looking on and Laurel worrying over Ollie. Oliver, however, starts to have more dreamlike flashes, and begins to just find everything going on more than a little odd.
In the real world, Felicity, Cisco, and Curtis’ plan to read the alien artifact is not going too well, not with the typical tech they have in the Arrow Cave anyway. While there is a device in existence that could give them a hand, it looks like someone already beat them to the punch and stole it fairly recently. Just their luck, the thief happens to be a deranged doctor who began experimenting and augmenting herself with machinery, and the crew is more than a little too casual in how she’s a damn cyborg. Still, Felicity has an idea and decides to call in some reinforcements, though Rene thinks that they can totally handle it on their own.
Back in the Black Mercy, at the Starling City PD, Oliver is questioning a more pleasant (yet still less hairy) version of Detective Lance about the strange vigilante from last night, though Quentin is more interested in steering the conversation back towards the fact that Oliver and Laurel’s rehearsal dinner is happening right now, and he really needs to get going. With a final comment about being proud of Oliver – and a minor not-so-veiled threat about how he’ll murder the man if he breaks his daughter’s heart – Lance re-assures him they have the Hood business dealt with and to get going. Over at said dinner, Laurel is wondering where Ollie is, though Sara comforts her, stating that of course he’s late, since he always is. Walking through the party, the pair runs into a business associate of Robert Queen’s, a certain Roy Palmer. After a moment of recognition between Ray and Sara, both brush it off as nothing and continue like nothing’s happening. Oliver, however, having snuck a glance at all the reports and data on the vigilante at SCPD, sneaks into a seemingly non-descript but still oddly familiar office building, and finds a secret elevator. Entering, he walks into the Arrow HQ, where a distressed Felicity freaks out and calls for help, to which the Hood appears and knocks Oliver out.
When he comes to, The Hood questions Oliver about how he got there and what’s going on, to which he only responds that his name is John Diggle. Taken aback, and despite Felicity’s warnings, he takes his hood off to in fact reveal it is Dig, and taking a page from the other show, Ollie tries to talk and have a heart to heart with John. He, however, is having none of it as the issue of his brother Andy is brought up, and Dig tells him to get out and go back to his life, where he has everything he could ever want.
Back outside, Wild Dog rolls up to the warehouse where their cyborg doctor is hiding out, meeting Mr. Terrific and Ragman, as well as The Flash there. Rene expresses distaste in working with another meta, and is naturally even less happy when Supergirl lands to also give a hand. Barry notices the bad vibes coming from Rene, and questions him on what’s wrong. Rene points out that all these people have powers and think they can make things better by just putting on a costume, but when a new hero shows up, even more show up with less then altruistic intentions – never mind that the same logic could be applied to his boss and the rest of his team, including Wild Dog himself.
Over in the world where Ollie is the man who has everything, said man interrupts a conversation between the Lance sisters, where neither are particularly happy about how Oliver no showed and barely even replied about missing the dinner. Still, Ollie comes to Laurel and exclaims how everything going on is just perfect, and how he wants to just call off the big fancy wedding and just elope instead, as soon as possible. Laurel, being the voice of reason, points out how everything is already prepared and they really can’t do that. Still, Oliver reiterates how much he needs her, and it seems all is well…except a knock comes at the door, and it turns out to be Dig. Walking outside the manor, John explains that after Ollie left, he, too, began to have visions of things, and it soon became apparent that the way things are, isn’t the way things should be. He pulls out a sketch he made of one of the flashes, and while Ollie can’t quite explain it, the rathe monstrous looking figure reminds them of something. While they don’t know the details, Oliver warns Dig that whatever’s going on, whomever is behind it is probably aware that they’re starting to piece things together, and something will probably happen to put a stop to it. That something ends up being Deathstroke, an oddly silent Slade Wilson.
The fight between the three doesn’t go well at first, not until Sara suddenly appears, disarms and runs Slade through. Being surprised at her sudden abilities, she confronts Dig and Ollie that she, too, is having weird visions, and that none of this feels right. The three figure out that the three of them, as well as Thea and Ray were involved in some altercation and taken soon afterwards, and decide that they need to get out of whatever this dream world is.
In the real world, Wild Dog corners evil doctor cyborg, who is less then impressed and not at all intimidated by his threat, and just like his boss, Rene would be dead if not for Flash running in and getting his out of harm’s way. After a somewhat uncomfortable and short tag team beatdown between Barry and Kara, the doctor is down and, at which Rory and Curtis run in, better late than never. Rene, for his part, doesn’t really apologize for his earlier comments as they retrieve the device from the doctor’s body, but all the same expresses gratitude towards the two super powered individuals for their aide.
Meanwhile, in the House of Queen, Sara and Oliver walk into the mansion in their street clothes and look for Thea and Ray, with the former having a spirited conversation with dear old Malcolm Merlyn about how Tommy was stuck in Chicago at his job as a doctor and couldn’t be here for the ceremony. While Sara has a talk with Roy, who immediately understands the talk of visions and how everything feels wrong, Ollie is confronted by Robert and Moira about his state of dress and odd behavior. With a heavy heart, Ollie explains as best as he can about what’s going on, and with an emotional expression of love, breaks away to Thea, whom Sara and Roy are already speaking with. Thea, however, already knows everything, and refuses to go. She points out that after everything they’ve been through, why not have a happy life, even a fake one? Oliver tries to talk some sense into her, but she refuses, and regretfully, Oliver wishes her little sister the best of luck and to take care, and the two siblings part ways.
Outside, the four regroup, and decide that their exit is the “Smoak Technologies” building, since that’s an oddity that also doesn’t make sense in this dream world, as well as the real one. However, an arrow flies out of the darkness, striking Ollie, as Malcolm, in Dark Archer gear, as well as a returning but still quiet Deathstroke, Damien Dahrk, Ghost soldiers, and Mirukuru Soldiers stand in their way. Having had a quick change of heart, Thea joins the group, explaining that, like she said, she didn’t want to lose her family again, and the fight is on. They all pair off against their adversaries, Oliver dealing with Slade, Thea with Dad, Sara against her sister’s murderer, John against the group who brainwashed Andy, and Ray taking on the soldiers who took his fiancée Anna away from him. After a decent fight scene, that business is taken care of, though one last obstacle is in tehri path as Laurel, in wedding dress, runs outside the mansion begging everyone to stop. Sara bids a tearful goodbye, leaving Oliver to have a hard, but necessary conversation with this fake Laurel. Painfully, Ollie exclaims his love and leaves with the rest of the group, where they find a portal at the misplaced Smoak Technologies building. Going last, Oliver takes one last look at the “perfect” world, where instead of trying to pull him back, ghostly images of all the people he’s lost (and….Felicity?) appear. Moira, Tommy, Laurel, Roy, and Robert, with a final hopeful message from his memories, bid him farewell, as he plunges back into the real world.
Which is all well and good, except the real world is still in the middle of an alien spaceship. Which, after an odd similarity to the numerology of the Torah is discovered and run through the device they just picked up, Team Arrow figures out back at HQ. Ollie and crew sneak around the ship for a bit, and after running into some trouble, they manage to somehow hijack a smaller ship and make a break for it. Things don’t go too well, but fortunately for them, the Waverider appears and takes the team away from danger. Meeting up with Nate, Ollie, Ray and Thea head to the bridge while Sara takes Dig to the med bay, where the former realizes that they were abducted because none of them were metas, and having no powers could be captured and studied. With help from Gideon’s translator, they realize that the Dominators are working on a weapon, and not only that, they mothership is headed straight for Earth.
So that…was not only the best episode of the crossover, but the best episode of Arrow in a long time. Wow, I forgot that when it’s firing on all cylinders, this series nails it just as great as The Flash does, just with unfortunately less consistency. In some ways I was actually disappointed that this was part of the crossover because this was the 100th episode of Arrow, and I would’ve liked to have seen this episode concept done without having to tie into the bigger storyline, to be honest. The acting was all top notch across the board, and writing was solid in the dream world and good in the real world. Everyone was on their game, and while the action scenes were done better in other episodes, the actual acting and emotional stuff between Ollie and crew was on point. Taken as a whole (well, “whole” being two episodes so far) the writers did a pretty good job of setting up what we see in the lotus eater machine world with Oliver and Sara’s comments about Flashpoint, and I can only hope they keep up the consistency as this continues.
It was nice to see Moira and Robert back, and both came back as if they never left, which is super impressive for the latter since Mr. Queen was really only in two episodes. Their final goodbye to Oliver, as well as the one between him and Laurel were actually surprisingly sad, as was Thea choosing to stay behind. That was immediately undercut since she shows up fine minutes later, changing her mind, but I suppose they only have so much time. It was also weird, though appreciated, having both Tommy and Roy in the final good bye, since neither actor could be there for the shoot. The former didn’t look too bad via stock footage, but Roy just looked weird, kind of like they couldn’t even find stock footage and just used a still and tried to CG it. I also don’t get why Felicity is there since, yeah, Ollie isn’t with her anymore, but she’s still alive and she’s there every episode.
It was good to see the rest of Team Arrow featured in this episode, and seeing Rene, Rory, and Curtis get to interact with Barry and Kara, however briefly, was a nice little bit. I also liked Rory and Curtis little plot thread about belief and what does and doesn’t exist, it wasn’t ham fisted and didn’t pick a side, but left it open to the possibility either way. The way they just casually dismiss how a cyborg doctor lady exists was odd, even with aliens being around. That still seems like the sort of thing that’s worth finding notable, even with metahumans running around. I also liked how they made the fight pairings at the end make sense and not feel forced, using the histories of the different characters to flesh it out for viewers rather than just ignore things.
Overall a great episode, and I’m really glad at this point that I didn’t just write off this series as an obligation watch this season. I can’t quite say the same about the series that has the last part of this crossover, which I’m going to have to go over here. -sigh- Let’s get this over with…