Arrow Arrow Season 5 Episode 8: "Invasion"

[kguillou]

This was a good episode, anice love letter to where Arrow used to be and why I fell in love with the show. The crossover did take a backseat so Im hoping the LoT goes for glory and gives us an awesome finish.

On anotber note, where are they getting the budget for all this? That spaceship chase was awesome and I cant believe I saw that on network tv. On a CW tv budget.

 

[The Chris]

I hope we get to see Barry be a leader like Oliver wanted tonight. What would really rock would be if they released this crossover as a movie on dvd like Batman/Superman World's Finest did with the 3 episodes of that crossover. Maybe make an extended version

 

[KillerMcQueen]

Really did like the shared hallucination, nice way for them to avoid too much similarity to the similar episodes Flash and Supergirl have done, even if I don't think it was quite as impactful as For the Girl Who Has Everything or The Runaway Dinosaur. It was nice to see Sara get to say goodbye to Laurel and all the guest stars were nice, only shame is that the hundredth episode ended up overlapping with the crossover.

 

[Sithborg]

For the 100th episode, that was great. Not so much in terms of the crossover, but still a good episode.

 

[Legendver2]

Guggenheim said that they had the Team Arrow members fight the enemy who had the biggest effect on their lives in the battle at the end, so had Sara fight Darhk, Ray vs the Mirakuru soldiers, Oliver vs Slade and Thea vs Malcolm (he said they tried to get Diggles brother back for John to fight, but he wasn't available, so had him fight the Ghosts were the next best thing, I guess.) Thea fighting Malcolm makes sense, but I wonder if Thea wasn't there, would they have had Oliver fight Malcolm instead of Slade. I know Slade had done a lot of damage to Oliver, but so has Malcolm, arguably more.

Malcolm may have done more, but Slade killed his mother, which kinda supersedes everything else Malcolm did.

 

[famicommander]

Malcolm may have done more, but Slade killed his mother, which kinda supersedes everything else Malcolm did.

Like killing his father, trying to kill him multiple times, killing his best friend (and Malcolm's own son), brainwashing his sister (and Malcolm's daughter) into killing Sara, murdering hundreds of innocents in the Glades, nearly getting Moira locked up because of her part in his Undertaking, betraying them to Damien Darhk, kidnapping his sort-of stepfather (Walter Steele), etc?

 

[Legendver2]

Like killing his father, trying to kill him multiple times, killing his best friend (and Malcolm's own son), brainwashing his sister (and Malcolm's daughter) into killing Sara, murdering hundreds of innocents in the Glades, nearly getting Moira locked up because of her part in his Undertaking, betraying them to Damien Darhk, kidnapping his sort-of stepfather (Walter Steele), etc?

Did Malcolm kill Robert Queen? That's not how I remembered it in this series. Malcolm was responsible for Tommy's death via the earthquake, but it wasn't intentional and he didn't directly kill him. I would imagine brainwashing Thea would affect Thea more, hence her facing Merlyn instead. And I'm sure Slade has killed hundreds of innocents too. And actually killing Moira > almost getting Moira locked up. Merlyn did betray them to Darhk, but that's not really more personal than some of the stuff Slade did. Slade also has that whole history with Ollie and Shado, and the fact that they used to be friends and allies on the island. There's also the fact that Ollie probably feels somewhat responsible for Slade's descent into darkness when he was forced to kill Shado instead of Sara.

 

[Boy Scout]

Haven't seen an episode of Arrow all season. My question is: are the new members of the team always so annoying?

The episode itself was fine. It would've been much, much better if it hadn't been diluted by crossover nonsense. If there's any lesson the production team across every series they should take from this, it's that they shouldn't feel forced to have the annual crossover take place at the same time every year if it's just going to get in the way. Both Arrow's and SG's contributions could've been stronger if they hadn't been forced to take place at such inconvenient times.

Last thought: the cybernetic woman is the worst thing this show has ever produced.

 

[coluanprime]

Credit to somebody else for this but here is who everyone was fighting at the end:
Oliver - Slade
Thea - Merlyn
Sara - Damien Darhk
Diggle - Andy (as a Ghost, presumably because of actor availablity)
Ray - Mirakuru Soldier (presumably the same one that killed his fiancée Anna)

It's cool to see how they come up with very personal enemies for everyone to fight.

 

[famicommander]

Did Malcolm kill Robert Queen? That's not how I remembered it in this series. Malcolm was responsible for Tommy's death via the earthquake, but it wasn't intentional and he didn't directly kill him. I would imagine brainwashing Thea would affect Thea more, hence her facing Merlyn instead. And I'm sure Slade has killed hundreds of innocents too. And actually killing Moira > almost getting Moira locked up. Merlyn did betray them to Darhk, but that's not really more personal than some of the stuff Slade did. Slade also has that whole history with Ollie and Shado, and the fact that they used to be friends and allies on the island. There's also the fact that Ollie probably feels somewhat responsible for Slade's descent into darkness when he was forced to kill Shado instead of Sara.

Merlyn sabotaged the Queen's Gambit which led to Robert killing himself so that Ollie could live.

Merlyn is the reason Ollie was stuck on Lian Yu
Merlyn is the reason Ollie's father is dead
Merlyn is the reason Sara was shipwrecked, presumed dead multiple times, and forced to turn to the League of Assassins for survival
Merlyn is the reason Thea was forced to kill Sara
Merlyn is the reason Moira was sent to prison
Merlyn is the reason Tommy is dead
Merlyn is the reason Ollie ever met Slade, Shado, etc in the first place

Merlyn is Green Arrow's nemesis. In the show and in the comics.

Superman has Lex Luthor
Batman has the Joker
The Flash has Reverse Flash
Wonder Woman has the Cheetah
Green Lantern has Sinestro

And Green Arrow has Merlyn

 

[Slade W]

Merlyn sabotaged the Queen's Gambit which led to Robert killing himself so that Ollie could live.

Merlyn is the reason Ollie was stuck on Lian Yu
Merlyn is the reason Ollie's father is dead
Merlyn is the reason Sara was shipwrecked, presumed dead multiple times, and forced to turn to the League of Assassins for survival
Merlyn is the reason Thea was forced to kill Sara
Merlyn is the reason Moira was sent to prison
Merlyn is the reason Tommy is dead
Merlyn is the reason Ollie ever met Slade, Shado, etc in the first place

Merlyn is Green Arrow's nemesis. In the show and in the comics.

Superman has Lex Luthor
Batman has the Joker
The Flash has Reverse Flash
Wonder Woman has the Cheetah
Green Lantern has Sinestro

And Green Arrow has Merlyn

I agree. Here is a post I made before about Merlyn.

I remember an interview with Barrowman where he said that the writers wanted him to be the Joker of this universe, and to be a recurring threat, as Merlyn is GA's archenemy in the comics. It is true that they are fans of him, but they also want to have him as his as the shows main villain, like Merlyn is in the comics. And they have succeeded in that regard IMO, as he is this universe's Joker. There are more powerful and dangerous villains that operate on a larger scale than Merlyn (same case with the Joker), such as Slade, Ra's and DD, but nobody has caused as much damage to the hero than Merlyn has (again, it is the same with the Joker in regards to Batman).

He caused great damage to the city and lots of people died from his Undertaking (around 500), he killed the heroes best friend Tommy (which was also a loss to him too, but it seems to have affected Oliver more), he set about the events that resulted in Oliver's Dad's death, him being trapped on the island for several years (and as a result, his feud with Slade which also resulted in more death and Oliver losing his company), he used Thea, which resulted in Sara's death (a big loss to both Oliver and Laurel) to set up the feud between Oliver and Ra's, leading to Thea's death and her having to be brought back with side-effects, Roy having to fake his death, give up his life and go on the run and Oliver having to lose his teams trust in order to beat Ra's. Oliver also received his worst ever beating against Ras on the mountain and almost died. Malcolm has also revealed William's existence to DD, resulting in William having to leave Oliver's life and the love of his life Felicity breaking up with him.

He will probably cause more damage before the seasons end, as he has aligned himself with H.I.V.E. Slade, Ra's and DD are more powerful and have greater resources, but failed to use their resources to hurt and cause as much pain for Oliver as Malcolm has. It is similar with the Joker. There are more powerful villains than him, but no one is as persistent or has caused as much damage to Batman as the Joker has (Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Rachel Dawes etc).

Overall, Merlyn has been his most persistent threat, and caused more personal damage than anyone else. Slade is probably second, by killing his mother, taking his company and home, and turning Roy against him and Thea too, with her going to Merlyns side because of Slade. He also came extremely close to destroying the whole city.

 

[Guard82]

Wow, this was an enjoyable and emotional episode. It definitely worked better as a "100th Arrow episode" than as a continuation of the Heroes vs. Aliens crossover story. It was probably a wise decision on the writers' part to lean more heavily on the Arrow aspects of the story than on the alien invasion aspects. The crossover story stalled a bit, but the celebration of Arrow as a TV series was done nicely.

First, I'll just say that seeing Katie Cassidy back as Laurel in the dream world was a huge pleasure. She was great as always, and it was immensely rewarding to see her and Sara together again, as well as sad when the characters left the dream. Caity and Katie have the sisterly bond thing down pat, and their scenes were some of my favorites. I'm going to make sure I write to the CW to let them know that I enjoyed seeing Katie again and that I definitely want to see her a lot more.

The emotional moments for all the characters in the dream were very compelling, and the dream served as a nice way to celebrate the series. Seeing all of these cast members back was very fun and very touching. I've had many problems with this show before, but when this show gets something right, it really gets it right. When this series actually has its act together and executes its vision competently, it's definitely something special.

The crossover story with the alien invasion wasn't as well-developed in this episode, though I did enjoy Barry and Kara's little scenes, and I appreciated how the aliens' involvement facilitated this unique way of celebrating Arrow with the whole dream. Hopefully what was done here for the crossover story will set the stage for some good stuff in the final chapter of the Invasion storyline on Legends.

 

[Guard82]

During the fight scene in the dream, one of my favorite parts was Thea killing Merlyn, and Sara killing Darhk.

 

[LyneyaRose]

I was left heartbroken when Oliver and Laurel didn't get married...

I've always wanted the two of them to end up together (sorry folks, was never a fan of Olicity) and I realize the "dream" sequence wasn't real but damn, it made my heart break.

 

[Dark Raven]

This was a bit of a disappointing episode. It was not much of a crossover at all and Supergirl and Flash barely featured. They didn't even seem to be doing anything to do with the Dominators or figuring out how to get the others back. Barry is an intelligent scientist. Why wasn't he working on anything?

And Flash and Cisco could've taken Supergirl back to her earth to get the Medusa virus to use against the Dominators in the meantime while waiting. How does it not occur to Supergirl to use something that she's just been battling immediately before that can destroy aliens?

This was too much of an Arrow episode. I understand this is Arrow, but it's also meant to be a crossover. The Flash episode was more of a crossover featuring everyone. This hallucination could easily have been in any other episode where someone had captured Ollie, Diggle and Thea while featuring all the others who guest-starred in the fantasy like Laurel, Moira, even Sara and Ray.

Nothing that was in the fantasy couldn't have easily been adapted to a different scenario. It could even have been a fantasy that Ollie had if he were on death's door and Felicity and the others were trying to bring him back. It's almost as if they already had a script with this plot and just adapted it to the crossover to pad it out because they were short of a story for the episode.

 

[Slade W]

They focused more on Arrow because it was the 100th episode. I do not blame them at all. It was bad timing for the 100th to be a crossover.

 

[Dark Raven]

I didn't know it was the 100th episode until I just read this thread now. I agree it was bad timing. As a 100th episode I guess it was good and appropriate, but I wasn't thinking of it like that at all (since I didn't know it was that) but expecting it to be a continuation of the crossover.

If they had just scheduled the crossover a week later, or even had the 100th episode of Arrow last week (which they could have, because Thanksgiving was on Thursday not Wednesday) then the 101st episode could've been properly dedicated to the crossover.

It's a shame that Vixen only seems to be in LoT and not in the other parts. Since she already stars in that show, she's not really crossing over.

 

[vantheman77]

The 100th episode drew 1.3 rating and 3.52 million viewers. This is because of both milestone and the crossover.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

I get Oliver's, Sarah's, an even Thea's ideal fantasy world involving Laurel and their family still being alive, and having a normal live

but why would Dig fantasy be to be the Arrow?(I mean sure he at least got his brother back, but still) and why was Felicity there at all?

why wouldn't Ray's fantasy be about have his fiancée back?

 

[CrystalFortress]

I get Oliver's, Sarah's, an even Thea's ideal fantasy world involving Laurel and their family still being alive, and having a normal live

but why would Dig fantasy be to be the Arrow?(I mean sure he at least got his brother back, but still) and why was Felicity there at all?

why wouldn't Ray's fantasy be about have his fiancée back?

It seems like they slotted everyone into Oliver's world but ye Diggle being the Hood was weird. Perhaps it was to keep him separated but then everyone else is basically just at the wedding.

Ye Ray's fantasy should logically have been that but that just brings up why its unnecessary for them to share a world. They'd have figured it out much slower if they'd been alone.

 

[Dark Raven]

I get Oliver's, Sarah's, an even Thea's ideal fantasy world involving Laurel and their family still being alive, and having a normal live

but why would Dig fantasy be to be the Arrow?(I mean sure he at least got his brother back, but still) and why was Felicity there at all?

why wouldn't Ray's fantasy be about have his fiancée back?

How come Sara's wasn't some lesbian fantasy, maybe about being on Themyscira surrounded only by beautiful warrior women?

 

[Thome216]

How come Sara's wasn't some lesbian fantasy, maybe about being on Themyscira surrounded only by beautiful warrior women?

I like this question. Very. Good. Question.

 

[Loki882]

The reason why Supergirl wouldn't use the Medusa virus is obvious, it's not in her character. It's a weapon designed to wipe out entire species, and she was horrified just to learn of it's existence (and her father's role in creating it). So she's not going to turn around and use it herself.

However, it was probably poor planning/timing to have an episode devoted to a plot about an alien-killing virus, only to then immediately pull her into a crossover about hostile aliens invading Earth. It raises questions (for some people anyway) that didn't need to be there.

 

[Dark Raven]

I think the whole crossover wasn't timed that well. If they didn't have to celebrate the 100th episode of Arrow then the Arrow part of it would've been better.

 

[Slade W]

I guess you could say all the villains turning up at the end (with Deathstroke among them) was a homage to when he attacked Green Arrow and Black Canarys wedding in the comics (although Deathstroke was not the leader of this attack like he was in the comics).