Jessie Robertson reviews the sixth episode of Arrow season 8…
Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, whatever timeloop fan favorite film you want to bring up, Arrow succeeds in an inventive and introspective way in episode 6 of its final season.
Tonight’s episode had a different feel as soon as it started- last weeks ending with that scene on the rooftop where Lyla had Oliver, John and Laurel all tranq darted to stop them from confronting her. When Oliver wakes up this week, he’s in a suit, as the Team Arrow kids come in from a great meal at Big Belly Burger. Oliver’s late for a party downtown; when he arrives, John and Lyla tell him the whole situation was a misunderstanding and Rene informs Oliver the Mayor is waiting for him. Mayor Lance, that is. It’s a pure treat to have Paul Blackthorne back as Quentin Lance, even for one trippy episode. As he quips to Oliver “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” they work out his speech for that night as a hostage situation stirs up at SCPD. This is the kind of situation Oliver and Quentin could fix in their sleep and they seem to, until the criminal they go to stop has a hidden bomb and blows them up. But, Oliver awakes back on his couch, still in his suit wondering what just happened.
One of the great little twists of this scenario is Oliver quickly assesses the situation and figures out exactly what’s going on and what he thinks he needs to do: save Quentin. Another interesting wrinkle is he finds Laurel sneaking around SCPD’s basement, also looking for a bomb. She’s trapped in the loop as well. This season has quietly not just been Oliver’s journey, but Laurel’s and while she’s a tough character to warm up to, I’ve enjoyed her arc immensely this season and most of last. They fully undergo the mission to follow the bomb’s breadcrumbs wherever it goes, to a warehouse owned by a rich CEO and on and on, each time, Quentin meeting his demise in front of the two people (not traveling through time) that care about him the most. Time and again, they try, with Oliver vowing never to give up, as he’s wont to do. After several more attempts, nothing they do can stop the inevitable but Laurel gets the chance to say the things she’d hoped to when he passed in her real life and it’s a great thread to put in here as it solidifies Laurel’s arc a bit more and once she’s said what she wanted to, she essentially has passed this ongoing test. And yes, it’s a test of the Monitor (something else our heroes figure out quickly)
After a chat with Lyla, Oliver also gets to tell Quentin exactly what he means to him and after watching how he faces his death, as a certainty, as it’s natural time, Oliver passes his test, succumbing to the fact that his time is at hand as well and he may as well face it instead of fight it, like he has time and time again, throughout his life. I also want to add: even after 8 seasons, this show produces some of the best action scenes around. Tonight’s episode was directed by none other than John Diggle himself, David Ramsey and it was very well done.
8/10– Arrow mashing with Groundhog Day is a combination I never knew I wanted but it works perfectly here and fits into exactly what I thought this final season of Arrow could produce: something different.
Jessie Robertson
