Arrow Season 8 Premiere Recap: It’s a Family Reunion in “Starling City”

At long last, Arrow returns to The CW with its final season. When we left Arrow last season, we found out the Archer had made a deal with the Monitor, leaving his family behind to hold up his end of the bargain. In the future, Mia, William, and the team found a way to defeat Archer with the help of an elder Felicity Smoak. Now, things come to a head as Oliver Queen and company head into Crisis. Heads up, full spoilers for “Starling City” up ahead!

Arrow Season Eight opens up with a montage of Oliver on Lian Yu where we see arrows through the masks of Batman and Deathstroke both. Crazy start, right? The episode has a bit of a convoluted started as we see Oliver welcomed at the hospital by Moira Queen and Malcolm (and Tommy) Merlyn. Before long, this plot point solves itself as we find out Oliver’s actually on Earth-2, rather than having a dream or vision of some sort.

Almost immediately after, Oliver runs into Black Siren and the Earth-2 Green Arrow, who just so happens to be Adrian Chase. This meetup leads to a crime scene where a vigilante known as the Dark Archer stole dwarf star particles, a McGuffin we later find out the Monitor needs to help prevent the Crisis and that’s the reason Oliver is on Earth-2. After Ollie confronts Malcolm about the theft, it’s revealed the Earth-2 Dark Archer is actually Tommy Merlyn instead of his father.

The two (Ollie and Tommy) eventually have a fight, where it’s revealed Tommy’s working with Rene and Dinah, both corrupt cops. The fight ends in Ollie getting captured and we find out Tommy stole the McGuffin to destroy the Glades — retribution for being the place Earth-2 Thea overdosed on Vertigo. Fortunately enough for Ollie, Earth-Prime Diggle arrives using Cisco’s inter-world discs.

Using the help of Earth-2 Laurel and Adrian, Oliver and Diggle track down Tommy’s new device. After a quick fight and heart-tugging speech, Tommy agrees to stand down and shut off his Glades-leveling device. After the climax, Earth-2 Team Hood meets back up for a quick chat where Adrian namedrops Bruce Wayne as a mentor. That’s when Oliver suggests Adrian drop “The Hood” moniker and adopt the Green Arrow name.

The episode ends with Starling City vanishing from the map as the Crisis begins. Oliver, Diggle, and Laurel escape just in time.

In the future, the new Team Arrow runs into the Deathstrokes — a gang run by Connor Hawke’s brother.

It should be noted that nowhere throughout the episode is it mentioned what happened to the Earth-2 Oliver Queen. It’s just presumed he never return from the original ship crash and Oliver is simply posing as him in his absence.

Arrow airs Tuesday at 9/8c on The CW.

What’d you think of the Season 8 premiere? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!