***This review contains some spoilers***
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“Arrow” season 8 must not only wrap up the very first Arrowverse show after close to a decade on the air, but also continue to set up the massive “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, and a potential spin-off series…all with only a ten episode season. Overall, it succeeds and makes the final season one its best.
The first eight episodes tie directly into the crossover, and the final two are essentially fallout. That means the entire plot is dedicated to setting things up for the big payoff. However, it’s done in a way that it also mixes nostalgia and solid character arcs. Overall this works, even though they spend a bit too much time on some of the clunkier beats from previous seasons and not spending enough time on some of stronger ones. The use of alternate Earths leads to some clever ways to revisit past storylines and characters, and finally tying the flash forward characters into the modern day pays off the groundwork they laid last season.
Stephen Amell’s Olive Queen and David Ramsey’s Diggle do much of the heavy-lifting as far as the most emotional character arcs, but Katherine McNamara’s Mia brings her own gravitas once she’s added the mix with the main cast. For the most part, the rest of the main cast is shuffled off into the background until the final episode. In fact, the barely even appear in the crossover. But, this is Oliver’s swan song, so it’s more about closure for him than anything else.
While there aren’t really any new characters added this season, plenty of old favorites show up in a variety of ways. While we get appearances of everyone from Moira Queen to Quentin Lance, some favorites like Deathstroke are either barely there or not there at all. In the end, they did a good job of representing eight years’ worth of friends and foes.
The final season of “Arrow” does a great job of wrapping things up while referencing all the major people, places and things from its long run. The universe-spanning crossover actually allows the show the get away with a lot more stuff then it could on its own. The backdoor spin-off has potential, but takes some of the air out they reach the finish line.
**** out of *****