Arrow S08E04 Review: Canon Welding

Arrow, Season 8, Episode 4: Present Tense

So I guess I should be thankful that we're not forcing a-season-homage-per-episode thing, because I think that'd come off as pretty forced, especially with some of the more recent ones. There's a lot of references to the past episodes in this one, of course, but it's not quite a walk down memory lane or wrapping up extraneous plot-lines before the big Crisis as the previous three episodes. Because... well, there's the problem of the three time-traveling kids arriving from 2040 to 2019. And I guess it's a hallmark of the crossover season when something as momentous as meeting your time-travelling children isn't the weirdest thing that happens to our character -- last year, The Flash spent an entire season dealing with a time-traveling kid! The Arrow cast just sort of remark at how strange it is, but just quickly accept it and move on -- and, hell, these guys seem to be taking time travel in better stride than the STAR Labs crew over in The Flash does despite doing so multiple times every year. In fact, the biggest problem of this episode is the fact that, in true Arrow fashion, both groups are keeping secrets from each other.

And most of all, it made me care about the future cast, which... to be honest, hasn't been something I've been doing even throughout season seven. Like, the actors are relatively decent, and it's neat to see what existing characters William and Zoe are up to when they grow up and kick ass and Mia's an interesting character and Connor Hawke was unexpected... but ultimately they are just kinda there, and that problem is compounded when we don't have the honeymoon period of just meeting these characters for the first time, nor the huge revelation that Mia and William are step-siblings. Everything that has happened throughout Arrow's season 8's 2040 storyline has been the season 7 2040 storyline, but with me caring a lot less.

So having the actors being able to actually interact with the main cast is definitely great. The actual plot of this episode is honestly mostly just there to fill up time and to give the episode a sense of urgency -- the Deathstroke gang (who the 2040 trio assumes is J.J., also transported to the past) has surfaced a couple of years too early and are blowing up rich people. Surprise surprise, turns out that the Deathstroke wannabe is not J.J. (or Slade, or Joe), but rather... Grant Wilson! From Legends of Tomorrow's "Star City 2046" episode. Which I guess means that the inconsistencies between Arrow's seventh season and the one-of Legends of Tomorrow episode has just been sort of handwaved aside with Grant's capture here leading to the Star City 2046 timeline being retconned or something. And honestly, with all of our future characters interacting with our present-day characters and all of this timey-wimey Crisis mumbo-jumbo, I'm not even sure if the sequence of events is going to lead the 2040 in season seven.

The Deathstroke storyline, and the fact that the gang being broken down a couple years too early, sort of is just a vessel for our characters interacting with their parental figures. They hide the details from the original Team Arrow, but we quickly get to see the awkward conversations that happens afterwards. Of Oliver trying to explain to Mia why he left her and Felicity in the cabin in the woods without bringing up the Crisis, of the general awkwardness of how Oliver and William's last meeting was not the most ideal one, of Connor trying to explain that John Diggle adopted him, and also Diggle's actual biological son J.J. became the new Deathstroke. And also J.J. killed Zoe. That's a rough thing they had to hide from Rene -- who's way to excited to know that he becomes mayor in the future, when the audience and the 2040 cast knows that Rene ends up being an antagonist.


I feel like John's reactions to the revelation is perhaps the best of all. Here is a man who's just coming to terms with the fact that time travel is even a thing, but the multiple emotional gut-punches to what happens to his son in the future, compounded with his own guilt over his terrorist brother Andy (remember that plot point?) leads David Ramsey to give some of his best performance yet. Joseph David-Jones also gets a fair amount of moments portraying his guilt at... at the torrent of information that he's giving to his not-yet-father that he knows is probably destroying him inside.

Oliver has a lot of great moments with the still-confrontational Mia and the far-more-ready-to-talk William, although it's clear that we're probably saving a bit more of their interactions for the next couple of episodes. And... and I'm okay with that, if the whole point of Arrow's final season is, in fact, Oliver Queen training his own time-displaced kids and bonding with them. William, as a kid, has had a lot more positive interactions with Oliver, and having the two characters meet each other after thinking that they will never have a chance to do so again (Future!William having his Oliver be straight-up dead, while Oliver having lost William's custody to his grandparents) and the tender moment they share as a parent/child pair catching up after a long time... including William telling Oliver he's gay and Oliver just shrugging it as "we've always known". That's very, very sweet, even if it's tinged with the sadness that both characters know that this happiness won't last.

We also get a neat reunion of Neo-Team-Arrow, with Echo Kellum making a return as a guest star. Complete with beard! Mr. Terrific doesn't get to suit up this time, but he does make every second he's on screen count with a zinger or two. Rene, Dinah and Laurel all go through a bunch of neat character moments, even if it's a bit abrupt -- Laurel-II's moment with Mia is probably my favourite, two hard-ass women just sort of bonding with each other, Laurel-II snarking about her (potential?) future self and bonding over Oliver being a doo-doo head. Rene does go from the confusion and anger at the thought that Zoe is dead in the future (and also he's a villain) to "well, what we can do is to stop that from happening, okay never mind I'm no longer angry" in perhaps record time, but I suppose with only 40 minutes some of the character development has to happen off-screen. Oh, and also the Monitor recruits Laurel-II for some sinister purpose, telling her that she must betray Oliver Queen! Dun-dunn-dunnn because we're led to believe that the Monitor may or may not be evil, but it's probably some sort of silly character development test.

I am rushing through these reviews and I feel like I'm really underselling it. Ultimately while nothing super-significant happens, so much of the lines and acting are great. All of the funny lines land, all of the heartwarming moments are top-notch, and overall it's probably one of the strongest hours in Arrow from a character development standpoint.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Grant "Ravager" Wilson's only appearance in the CW-verse was in the Legends of Tomorrow first-season episode, "Star City 2046", where he was the main villain of the episode, which featured a dark Star City in the future defended by a new Green Arrow, Connor Hawke. 
• Andy Diggle's death is brought up a couple of times by John. Also, less dramatically, is the running gag throughout multiple crossovers of John Diggle throwing up whenever the Flash takes him for a super-speed ride. 
• Blackgate Prison is mentioned as a place they are bringing Grant Wilson to. It's an off-shore prison most associated with Gotham City, being located just off its shore, but of course with Batwoman being in CW canon the showmakers are free to reference Batman material now.