Arrow - The Final Season

[Christopher]

Caity Lotz is fantastic, but I don't think I would've wanted Sara to end up as Oliver's love interest, because that's how she started, as a character created to be nothing more than an ephemeral dalliance for Oliver (and fridged to boot as a motivation for both Oliver and Laurel), and it seems it would cheapen all the growth she achieved beyond that ignominious beginning, and beyond Oliver's orbit.

Hmm... It's kind of ironic how two of the most popular characters in this comics-based franchise are original creations of the show, Sara and Diggle. Or maybe not so ironic, since it's happened with other original-to-adaptation characters like Harley Quinn, Chloe Sullivan, and Phil Coulson. Although it's odd that of those characters, Sara is the only one who hasn't yet been adapted back into the original comics (though the New 52 version of Chloe was in all of 5 issues). Her only adapted version to date is as a minor character in the Lego Batman 3 video game. (There was a pre-existing White Canary in a handful of Birds of Prey issues, but she was an unidentified Chinese woman and a foe of Black Canary.)

 

[theenglish]

But that would make it doubly ridiculous that original Laurel wasn't brought back. You had Oliver and a paragon who would want that.

I think the reason was explained in the episode. Ollie could not change anything that had changed him. Laurel's death changed him.

This rule probably applies to the other Paragons as well if that theory is true.

 

[Christopher]

I think the reason was explained in the episode. Ollie could not change anything that had changed him. Laurel's death changed him.

But that implies that the deaths of Tommy, Moira, and Quentin did not change him, which is hard to believe.

I think what the line meant, though, is that he couldn't change anything that would prevent him from becoming the Green Arrow, because then he wouldn't have been able to become the Spectre and save the multiverse. And that never would've happened if Robert Queen hadn't died, so Ollie couldn't bring Robert back. The others' deaths certainly had an effect on him, but presumably not in a way that would've kept him from becoming the Green Arrow; he just would've become it in a different way. But that still makes Laurel's death the odd one out. He still would be the Green Arrow if she'd lived.

Then again, it's possible that Sara wouldn't have become a Paragon if Laurel had lived. At the end of Legends season 1, Sara had to decide whether to continue her mission on the Waverider, and she chose to do so in order to honor Laurel's memory, because it was Laurel who'd convinced her to join in the first place. If Laurel had still been alive, Sara wouldn't have had that same motivation to stay on the Waverider, and would've had an incentive to stay in Star City. So she would've been White Canary, but she wouldn't have become Captain Lance, and thus would never have become the Paragon of Destiny.

 

[JD]

That's a pretty good explanation for not bringing the original Laurel back. I had only thought of her connection to Oliver, not Sara.

 

[theenglish]

The others' deaths certainly had an effect on him, but presumably not in a way that would've kept him from becoming the Green Arrow; he just would've become it in a different way. But that still makes Laurel's death the odd one out. He still would be the Green Arrow if she'd lived.

He might have been the Green Arrow, but would he have been the man needed to reboot the multiverse? I assumed the idea was that Laurel's death changed Oliver in important ways. But I also like the idea that her death had an effect on Sara as well.

 

[Christopher]

I assumed the idea was that Laurel's death changed Oliver in important ways.

Yes, but again, the question is, why would her death have changed him in ways that Tommy's, Moira's, Quentin's, and Emiko's deaths didn't? They all changed him, surely. And two of them happened earlier in his development, before he'd adopted the Green Arrow identity or even fully embraced being a hero. If anything, Tommy and Moira surviving would've been far more likely to change his trajectory than Laurel surviving. Tommy most of all, because it was in response to Tommy's sacrifice that Oliver decided to change from being the murderous vigilante the Hood to the less-lethal crimefighter the Arrow. Tommy's death, as much as Robert's, was essential to his becoming a superhero. So I find it hard to believe that Tommy could be brought back, even harder than it is to believe that Laurel couldn't. At least Laurel can be justified in relation to Sara. Bringing Tommy back is kind of a cheat on the writers' part.

 

[DigificWriter]

Oliver chose not to bring "his" Laurel back.

 

[Christopher]

I just rewatched the finale, and I'm wondering about the bit where Spectre-Oliver caused all crime in Star City to stop overnight. How exactly did he do that? I doubt the reformed, heroic Oliver would've just erased all the criminals from existence -- or done the Spectre's usual shtick of killing criminals in gruesome, horrific, and thematically appropriate ways. Did he alter all the criminals' minds so they no longer wanted to do crimes? Ethically, that's not much better. Did he impose some kind of supernatural state of grace such that anyone who attempts a crime within the city is mystically prevented or teleported elsewhere? It can't be that. Byrne may have kidnapped William in Central City, but he was still illegally holding him captive and attempting to murder him while in Star City, and nothing mystically stopped him.

So what else? Did he rewrite all their lives so that they never became criminals? Did he fix all the systemic problems of poverty and corruption and inequality that bred crime in the first place? Did he give Star City a huge, well-equipped police force so the criminals all went elsewhere? Did he make sure the authorities magically had all the evidence they needed to arrest all the criminals at once? "Make all crime go away overnight" is not a simple thing to do, especially if you want it to stick.

Also, why were so many of the Team Arrow members looking for William on rooftops? Why would they expect him to be there? Okay, he ended up being found on a rooftop, but they had no reason to know that would be the case. And while Diggle and Lyla were indoors, they just stood in a hallway and didn't check to see if he was in any of the rooms. It was kind of obvious that the "search" was just an excuse to pair off characters so they could have conversations.

 

[Snaploud]

Season 8 is on Netflix. That was fast.

 

[theenglish]

CW seasons are released one week after their finales.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

The final season and a complete series DVD and blu-ray coming April 28

 

[The Realist]

The final season and a complete series DVD and blu-ray coming April 28

The Blu-ray sets include a "limited edition" bonus disc including all five parts of "Crisis on Infinite Earths." I imagine it will be included on the Blu-ray season sets of the other shows as well. Ordinarily I would only buy Supergirl, but I may pick up the Arrow final season set just to get that disc a few months early.

 

[Kor]

I just started watching season 8 on Netflix. I'm up to the time loop episode. *groan* I find this kind of story so tedious.

Kor

 

[The Realist]

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Arrow Spin off Still Under Consideration

 

[Ssosmcin]

I was neither here nor there about the pilot but I hated this sustained pose after the climactic rescue. Katie Cassidy in particular looks ridiculous. It’s like a Filmation cartoon.

 

[Christopher]

It’s like a Filmation cartoon.

I get more of a Charlie's Angels vibe. And where's the fun of being a superhero if you can't pose dramatically? (It's downright obligatory if you're a Sentai member/Power Ranger.)

 

[Morpheus 02]

Just glanced at the fonale thoughts... the bronging back of some people and the end of crime in STAR city... not very well thought through by the writers.

And no word if Green Arrow and the Canaries will happen? Personally I hope not...it just didn't work for me (the setting especially)

 

[Mage]

And no word if Green Arrow and the Canaries will happen? Personally I hope not...it just didn't work for me (the setting especially)

It hasn't been greenlit yet, just the prequelshow for The 100. Pedowitz said they're still in talks with WB. I'm guessing Covid is also throwing a wrench in it. He hopes to have both shows on air in the fall of 2021, maybe Spring. Personally, I'd rather have them wait untill the fall, and not rush this show through pre-production. I like the idea of Green Arrow and the Canaries, because I did enjoy the flash forward plot. But it wasn't something that completely pulled me in.

 

[John Clark]

The Blu-ray sets include a "limited edition" bonus disc including all five parts of "Crisis on Infinite Earths." I imagine it will be included on the Blu-ray season sets of the other shows as well. Ordinarily I would only buy Supergirl, but I may pick up the Arrow final season set just to get that disc a few months early.

The US ones apparently do - but it looks like the UK ones don't

Going off some of the reviews, people are recommending going for the US versions as they say they're region free.