Arrow, 5.08 - "Invasion! (3)"

Warning: SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED.

Alright, alright. I know I'm writing the episodes out of order, but I just HAVE to start my CW DCTV crossover reviews with the best episode of the week. Arrow's portion of the big alien drama also happened to be the show's 100th episode, and I'm so ready to talk about it.


I've been feeling dissatisfied and apathetic about most of the season, but this episode genuinely excited me. (Ironically, its villain was the least Arrow-like ever, plus Laurel and Oliver. Ugh.) I'll probably be disgruntled again next week, but right now, I'm too happy to think so far into the future. Arrow brought back every element that solidified the show and made it popular - very fitting for a 100th episode celebration. The parallels and callbacks to the previous seasons were well-done, and I am genuinely impressed to see that the show pulled it off. And can I just say that I am so, SO proud of the cast and crew? Arrow introduced to me to superheroes, and made me start watching TV again. Arrow also launched an entire universe due to their success, and it deserves the utmost respect, whether you like/watch it or not. The context will be confusing since I'm not writing the reviews in order, but bear with me.

After being kidnapped by the Dominators, John, Sara, Ray, Thea and Oliver's physical bodies are put into a comatose state. However, their minds are transported to an alternate reality with the timeline of events that would've happened if Oliver and Robert had never boarded the Gambit. Moira, Tommy and Robert are still alive, and Oliver is going to marry Laurel. Seeing the Queen family reunited made me so emotional. I miss them so much and seeing Thea and Oliver lose them all over again destroyed me. Also, am I really supposed to believe Oliver would've married Laurel? Like, I'm not even trying to be biased here as an Olicity shipper. He cheated on her....WITH HER OWN SISTER - he also impregnated a woman he barely knew. How do Lauriver shippers condone cheating? I don't get it, and I never will. However, since they have nothing going for them, I'll let them celebrate the wedding as a win even though he ended up choosing reality over her by straight up ditching her. I mean, good god, even he admitted she deserved better. Oliver did the right thing by apologizing for hurting her, and it really shows the progress he has made throughout the years. Other things have changed besides the horrendous Lauriver wedding. Diggle is the Green Arrow, but good news - Felicity's still got his back, working together to save the city. Felicity is also engaged to Ray. Raylicity is better than Lauriver because I like Brandon as a person, but it was still....meh.

Fortunately, my NOTPs didn't ruin the episode - far from it. The alternate reality included many beautiful parallels to moments in the past seasons, such as Thea and Oliver's conversation about the hozen, which symbolizes reconnecting. From that first sketch of the Hood hanging in the SCPD office to Sara telling Oliver he's lucky she's not a trained assassin, the hints was brilliant. Like I said, I'm impressed. All seems well until little moments trigger Oliver's memories from the real timeline. Everyone from the true reality he meets gets a unique montage. Seeing John under the hood reminds him of their brotherly love, and Felicity reminds him of Olicity (duh). The "Olicity's greatest hits" montage was obviously my favorite one, and it just gave me so much hope. It reminded me exactly why I fell in love with the show, and how Oliver and Felicity's relationship is still everything to me.

John, Ray, Thea and Sara also receive the brain montages, and must work together to overcome the memory obstacles. It's kind of hard to explain, but they must defeat the imaginary-ish villains from Arrow's previous seasons before they can get out. Okay, so I need to talk about this. The fight sequences slayed (literally) as usual, but I found it really interesting that each person confronted the villain that had emotionally impacted them the most. Ray fought the Mirakuru soldiers, similar to the ones who had killed his fiance. Thea battled Malcolm, who taunted her about being her real father. Sara combated Dahrk to avenge her sister's death - I really liked that she ended him with an arrow to the heart, coming full circle. Diggle attacked Darhk's ghosts to honor his fallen brother, and Oliver dealt with Slade Wilson, shooting him in the eye as typical. The way to get out is through Smoak technologies, a fake-fake building (even though technically everything here is fake? What?). Before Oliver parts the reality with the rest of his friends, though, he sees horrible cgi holograms of important people in his life - Moira, Felicity, Tommy, Roy, Laurel, and Robert, in that order, their inspiring words from past seasons' echoing in Oliver's head. All of them are dead except Felicity and Roy, though Roy might as well be since he killed his reputation when he pretended to be the Arrow. I find it fascinating that the writers chose Felicity to be there, and she's even standing a step higher than the rest. Someone tweeted that the reason why is because Oliver felt like he had lost her, even though physically, she was the only one in the group that was still with him. I really didn't need more emotional Olicity feelings, thanks!

It was so important to me in particular that Oliver, Thea and Sara chose to leave. Oliver's life was seemingly perfect - in a way, the Arrow version of Flashpoint. But what makes Oliver better than Barry is that he didn't choose this reality, and made the right decision to leave and continue making the world a better place. This applies to Sara and Thea as well. Also, from now on, I'm going to fight anyone who says Stephen can't act. Are you blind? The way Oliver clung onto his parents, knowing they're not real and he's never going to see them alive again absolutely KILLED me. Seeing the pain on his face, I just wanted to give him a hug. Oliver Queen deserves the world, and I will wax poetic about my love for him forever and ever. Most people don't have to experience losing their parents until later in life, but Oliver and Thea had to lose them early on not once, but twice. They are so f*cking strong, and I love them so much for it.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the rest of Team Arrow is trying to track where they are. Felicity introduces Barry and Cisco and Kara to baby Team Arrow, and it....kinda worked? Rene was honestly such an asshole, sorry not sorry. I wish Iris and Caitlin had stayed to help. I know they really didn't have much to do - I just wanted an excuse to see Iris and Felicity on screen together again. Honestly, they should just ditch their boyfriends and date each other. (Smoakwest FTW! Will be freaking out about them more in my Flash review.) Through some tech mumble jumble, the team down on Earth discovers where the Dominators took the (fab) five - it's inevitable that they're in space, but luckily the Waverider comes and saves them. I don't watch Legends of Tomorrow, so I'm treading into unknown territory here. The team discovers that the aliens created some kind of weapon heading straight for Earth, and the episode ends on that cliffhanger, resolved in the last chapter of the crossover.

Because of last year's disastrous crossover-slash-a poor attempt at launching yet another DCTV show, I had my misgivings about this year's, especially knowing that Olicity aren't together. However, I ended up highly enjoying seeing everyone get together, even though the Flash portion wasn't as good as I anticipated it to be. To be honest, I'd give my kidney for my favorites Oliver, Felicity, Cisco and Iris to be best friends.

Rating: 8.8 (My highest score ever!!! And I'm giving it to my favorite show!!!)
Extras that didn't make it in: Where was Evelyn? Tommy/Colin's shoutout was great.

*My next reviews will be Supergirl and the Flash, in that order. I haven't changed my mind about dropping Supergirl yet, so my update still holds true. Also, I delayed Pitch for two weeks because the review will probably be meh, not gonna lie. See you then!