Showing posts with label Mia Queen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mia Queen. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 5 - Armageddon, Part 5

 For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

Barry is given a chance to end his feud with Eobard Thawne once and for all, but the consequences could be dire for the entire Arrowverse. Meanwhile, the Green Arrow of the future journeys to 2021, seeking a lost loved one.


Influences

Green Arrow and the Canaries (story picks up from the failed pilot) and the many contradictory origin stories of the Reverse-Flash in various The Flash comics.


Goofs

Barry says that future Chester made the PED, when it was said in 804 that Ray Palmer made it. (Perhaps future Chester enhanced it in the six months after it was taken to STAR Labs?)

Iris' lecture on Oliver Queen ruining his life by killing to protect his loved ones neatly ignores that Iris killed Savitar to save Barry Allen in The Flash season 3 finale.

It's odd that Joe would threaten to disown Barry and Iris if they didn't save Thawne, given that you'd think a police officer would appreciate that sometimes you have to take lives to save lives... like Joe did when he shot Clyde Mardon to save Barry in The Flash pilot.

Despero says point-blank that he cannot kill the Reverse-Flash because the only way to be sure he won't survive somehow to menace the future is for him to have never existed in the first place. Yet he still goes on to try and kill Thawne after Barry and Team Flash refuse to let him fade out of existence. 

The idea that removing Thawne's connection to the Negative Speed-Force will save him doesn't make any sense since one of the powers the Negative Speed Force is supposed to grant is immunity from paradoxes. (Come to think of it, why isn't THAT protecting him anymore?)

Why would Despero bother pretending to be a hero from the future if he's really some petty tyrant exiled from his home planet? It wouldn't make it any easier for him to come back and time to kill The Flash.

For that matter, Barry's reasoning that Despero must be a bad guy because he's willing to kill for a greater good doesn't make much sense given how many of Barry's friends (Oliver Queen among them) have the same belief.

Barry's reasoning that the Flame of Py'Tar must follow the laws of physics like a real flame despite being an alien magic power source is probably the most wonky pseudoscience in the show's history.

For all Barry and Team Flash do to try and spare Thawne's life and save him from being erased, they do nothing to explore the possibility of saving Damien Darhk and finding a way for him and Nora to live. Granting that this is a magic problem they don't have the experience or ability to deal with and Damien would likely refuse, having made peace with his death, it's still odd the possibility isn't suggested.

Barry also never seems to consider the possibility that taking away the source of Despero's power might kill him.


Performances

Danielle Panabaker gets a truly powerful moment staring down the Reverse Flash and telling him she can happily watch him die after all he's done to her family and friends.

Neal McDonough gives a masterful performance during his brief scenes as Damien Darhk and he and Courtney Ford finally get the chance to give Damien and Nora the farewell they didn't get during his last appearance in Legends of Tomorrow.

Katherine McNamara is frankly wasted in this episode, but her brief appearance showcases why she deserved to headline an Arrow spin-off centered around Mia Queen.


Artistry


The fight between Despero and The Flash may be the best in the show's history in terms of CGI cinematics. 


Flash Facts

The backstory Thawne gives in this episode regarding why he came to hate Barry Allen most closely resembles his backstory in the Rebirth era Flash Comics. In that reality, Thawne sought to become a hero like The Flash in his time after figuring out how to give himself superspeed.

The key difference between the Arrowverse Thawne and Rebirth era Thawne is that, in the Arrowverse, Barry apparently showed-up Thawne as he was about to make his big debut as a hero. This made Thawne determined to prove that he was the superior speedster.

In the Rebirth era, Barry traveled forward in time and discovered Thawne had taken up his mantle, only to turn him in to the authorities after he learned that Thawne was staging some of the accidents from which he saved people.Thawne later sought redemption after serving his time and became a professor of history who worked at the Flash Museum of his time. He later became obsessed with destroying Barry after he traveled back in time to show his hero that he had changed and discovered Barry giving the same inspiring speech he had once given to Thawne to Wally West.


Technobabble

Damien Darhk theorizes that he was drawn back in time to 2021 thanks to his connection to the Time Stone that Barry was wearing when he traveled back in time. He is unsure, however, why he is still alive and why Nora hasn't returned to life yet.

Temporal fade is when a person begins to flicker in and out of existence due to changes in the timeline.

Mia Queen explains that she traveled to 2021 tracking a temporal signature but that she accidentally tracked Thawne's "scent" by mistake due to how much temporal energy he carried.

When Barry used the Time Stone to reset the timeline, it eliminated all possible time variables, restoring a single permanent timeline. This is why, if Thawne is erased this time, it will be permanent and he won't be able to survive as a time remnant like he did following the death of Eddie Thawne in 123.

A speedster can have their connection to the Speed Force or Negative Speed Force destroyed by being exposed to continuous voltage, like blowing a fuse. 

Mia uses a Canary Cry arrow to take out Frost and Allegra.

Barry reasons that the Flame of Py'Tar may be a mystic alien energy source, but it still has to act like a normal flame, which means it can be harnessed and dispersed by a vacuum.

Chester reworks the PED into the lining of a pair of gold boots for The Flash costume. This gives Barry the ability to redirect energy fields around him, including the Flame of Py'tar.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry explains the Reverse-Flashpoint to Joe.)
Joe:
Uh... well, I'm so sorry you went through that. Hey, listen to me. I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere.
Barry: I know, it's just... seeing you again after everything that's happened... 
(Joe chuckles. ) 
Barry: It's just... I can finally breathe again.
(Joe and Barry both jump suddenly and stand as a voice speaks behind them. It is Damien Darhk, who has somehow appeared in Joe's living room.)
Damien: Nothing like a second shot at life. 

Barry: Damien, what you're doing now...
Damien: I'm no hero, Barry. I'm just a dad.

Thawne: Flash. I didn't come here to fight. I came here to make a scene, publicly, so that there would be witnesses for what I have to ask you.
Barry: What is it?
Thawne: I need you to save me.

(Thawne has been taunting Caitlin by telling her she's wasted her life with Team Flash.)
Caitlin:
 Fine. You want honesty? When I was a resident, fresh out of med school, one of the first things they taught me is that sometimes, you lose a patient. That death is a part of life. So guess what? It's your turn. Because all the speed in the world can't help you outrun what's coming for you.
Thawne: You'll save me. You'll save me, Snow. You don't have a choice.
Caitlin: (continuing as if he hadn't spoken) And another thing: I stayed here because Barry and the rest of the team, they're not just friends, they're family. And just so we're clear, what I've been doing for the last eight years is hating you. So if you're looking for someone to save you, look somewhere else.

Barry: Don't you have anything better to do than trying to destroy my life? 
Thawne: Destroying you is my life. 


Dialogue Disasters

Joe: This decision is for the two of you. But I can tell you one thing: if you let Thawne die, you don't have to worry about him destroying our family.


Continuity

The episode continues where 804 ended, with Barry running to Joe West's house to see him after calling him on the phone to confirm he is alive.

Damien Darhk appears in Joe's living room. He guesses that there's something he has to do before the timeline is restored.

Barry gives Damien Darhk back his time stone.

Revere-Flash appears at CCPD headquarters.

Barry tells the rest of Team Flash about the Reverse-Flashpoint and how Chillblaine and Frost were married in that future.

Barry doesn't know about Chester and Allegra's rekindled romance from 804 or that the two ever became romantically involved in the first place..

Barry gives Chester the PED.

Taylor at CCC Media sends out a news alert regarding the Reverse-Flash attacking CCPD Headquarters.

Mia Queen, the future Green Arrow, shows up at CCPD HQ and threatens Thawne, asking him where William is. This is a reference to William Clayton, Mia's older half-brother, who was abducted in A809.

Thawne says he has no idea who William is..

Mia notes that Thawne is suffering from temporal fade, suggesting he doesn't have long to live.

Thawne surrenders himself to Barry, saying he only made a scene so there would be witnesses when he asked him for help.

Thawne wants Team Flash to keep him from being erased from the timeline.

Chester knows who Mia Queen is and has heard many stories about her parents.

Caitlin says she is going to call Frost in so the whole team can discuss whether or not to save Thawne.

Mia is against the idea of saving Thawne, saying nothing good can come of it.

Barry asks Caitlin to figure out how long Thawne has before he stops existing. 

Mia tells Iris that she's come to the past looking for her brother, who was abducted two years earlier.

The only other clue Mia has apart from a temporal signature leading her to 2021 is the Queen family Hozen, which William gave to her before he was abducted.

Mia says that she hasn't killed anyone yet, but she will to rescue her brother.

Iris tries to convince Mia that her father ruined his life by killing people.

Mia points out that Thawne killed Joe West and tried to manipulate Iris into marrying him

Caitlin says that Thawne has two hours left to live and that she can quite happily watch him die.

Thawne recalls Ronnie Raymond and his death in 201.

Caitlin tells Barry that she thinks they need to let Thawne die.

Barry asks Thawne why he's so determined to destroy his life.

Thawne claims that, in 200 years, he discovered how to give himself The Flash's powers and go faster than he or any other hero had. Unfortunately, before he got the chance to reveal himself to the world, The Flash showed up and saved a crowd he was meant to save. This inspired Thawne to prove that he was the superior speedster.

Thawne says that he will keep trying to find ways to ruin Barry's life once Team Flash saves him.

Despero returns from 2031 and confirms that the Armageddon was prevented. He came back to 2021 to confirm that Thawne is erased from history.

Barry asks Despero why he doesn't just kill Thawne if he thinks it is so important. Despero says that he would, but there's a chance that he would come back as a remnant like he did before. The only way to be certain, Despero says, is for Thawne to naturally be erased by the forces of paradox.

Barry, Iris and Caitlin vote to let Thawne die Cecile, Chester and Allegra want to find a way to save them.

Iris tells Chester and Allegra, point-blank, that they do not get a vote when it comes to Thawne.

Joe shows up and asks to speak to Iris and Barry in private.

Joe tells Iris and Barry that if they let Thawne die they won't have to worry about him destroying their family, because it will already be destroyed.

Barry says that he thinks he can save Thawne by removing his connection to the Negative Speed Force, the same way Jefferson Pierce almost took away his powers in 803.

After Team Flash decides to save Thawne, Despero takes control of Mia Queen and turns her against them.

When Barry tells Despero about his plan to depower Thawne, Despero points out that Thawne has been depowered and regained his powers before.

Iris tells Allegra and Frost to protect Thawne from Despero, but they are neutralized by a Canary Cry arrow used by Mia.

Barry tells Despero that he thinks he must have been the tyrant on his homeworld rather than the heroic rebel leader, because a real hero wouldn't choose to take a life instead of trying to save one.

Despero is able to knock out all the power at STAR Labs, except for the force-field trap containing Thawne.

Mia shoots Caitlin in the leg.

Cecile is able to use her powers, mixed with Mia's willpower, to break Despero's control.

With his control on Mia broken, Despero threatens to destroy all of Central City of Team Flash doesn't allow him to kill Thawne.

Barry is able to disperse the energy of the Flame of Py'Tar by using his new boots 

Despero seemingly spontaneously combusts after Barry snuffs out the Flame of Py'Tar.

Barry is able to destroy Thawne's connection to the Negative Speed Force with a focused electrical blast. This also stabilizes him in time.

Barry rents out a bar for a private party to celebrate.

Damien Darhk shows up at the party. Mia threatens to kill him for what he did to Laurel Lance and Damien says she can go ahead, since he's not sure how he's still alive anyway. Mia changes her mind.

Sebastian James is Mia's favorite brand of scotch.

Iris gives Mia a lead, saying that one of the symbols on the Queen family Hoen matches a symbol on some heavily redacted documents from Berlin. She couldn't find out more thanks to some intense firewalls, but she thinks a great hacker could probably get more.

Mia says she will consult with Felicity Smoak in 2021.

Joe comes to the part with Allegra and Frost.

Frost notices Chester is starring at Allegra and guesses he has a crush on her.

Barry thanks Allegra and Chester for holding him accountable regarding Thawne.

Damien gives Joe his Time Stone, saying he thinks that he'll need it some day.

When Joe takes the Time Stone, Damien disappears. 

Damien briefly meets Nora in some sort of psychic landscape resembling the bar, but ethereal and glowing.

Nora appears in the bar confused, asking what happened to her dad.

Joe takes Nora away to explain everything.

In CCPDHQ, a photo of several police officers labeled New Years Eve 2014 changes so that Bart and Nora are seen in the background behind Joe and Eddie Thawne.


Location

Damien Darhk and Nora Dark briefly meet in some sort of psychic space between life and death.


Untelevised Adventures

Despero travels to 2031 and determines the Earth is no longer endangered by the Armageddon event.

Mia Queen spent the two years following her last appearance in A810 searching for William Clayton in her time with no success. She denies having killed in that time, but has still done things she thinks Felicity wouldn't approve of. 

Barry makes arrangements with Cisco Ramon for the Reverse Flash to be locked up under ARGUS custody.

Mia goes to Felicity Smoak in 2021 to ask her for help in tracking William.


The Fridge Factor

Mia Queen is only saved from a quick death at Reverse Flash's hand because Thawne was holding back.

Mia Queen admits that her arrival in 2021 is accidental, having tracked the wrong temporal signal after spending two years failing to find her kidnapped brother William.


The Boomerang Factor

The drama over the Reverse-Flash being allowed to live requires characters who killed in self-defense before to suddenly become militant about heroes never killing ever.


The Bottom Line

An utter disappointment, both as an individual episode and the conclusion of Armageddon, which manages to undo everything the first four episodes of Season 8 did to salvage the series after Season 7. The long-awaited Mia Queen cameo is pointless, only serving to make the character look incompetent while failing to advance her story. The fight with Despero is nonsensical, as is the central storyline with Team Flash suddenly deciding they need to save Thawne. The damnable thing is that there's some wonderful effects works and performances among all the elements that don't work, but all that does is highlight how much better this should have been.

Monday, February 10, 2020

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 10 - Fadeout

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

With the Crisis over, Oliver Queen's friends and family gather in Star City to mourn his passing and celebrate a life well-lived and a new dawn in Star City. As what remains of Team Arrow contemplates how they will go on without the man who brought them together, they are forced to join together once more to save William Clayton after he is abducted by an old enemy of Green Arrow, who is out for revenge.



Influences

Crisis on Infinite Earths and Green Arrow: Quiver. (Oliver Queen in Heaven) 


Goofs

Rene is said to be favored to win the election for Mayor in April 2020, yet in 2040 Mayor Ramirez is running for a third term according to the Green Arrow & The Canaries pilot. It seems unlikely that Star City's mayors serve ten-year terms. (There's no guarantee Rene will win in 2020. Also, it could be a different Mayor Ramirez.)

Lyla Michaels is said to have been promoted to a new job in Metropolis. What's higher than Director of ARGUS? (It's likely a more powerful position in the Department of Defense not directly affiliated with ARGUS.)


Performances

The entire ensemble all have great moments, but the man holding it all together so all the tangents work is David Ramsey as John Diggle.


Artistry

The script is a work of art, with lots of nods to the show's history and many great character moments.

The flashback fight-scene of Oliver fighting John Byrne's men is a fitting capstone for the series' amazing action scenes.


Trivia

The episode title has a double-meaning, with a fadeout being the technical term for the slow shift to darkness before the credits at the end of a movie or television show and a part of a bow.

The title card for the episode features all 7 unique arrow-heads used over the course of the series.

The human trafficker Oliver goes after in the flashbacks of this episode, who later kidnaps William Clayton in the modern day is named John Byrne. This is a tribute to comic writer and artist John Byrne, who is perhaps most famous for his work with Chris Claremont on X-Men and for overseeing the reveamp of Superman following Crisis on Infinite Earths.

When Roy proposes to Thea, he does it on an industrial building with a sign in the back declaring that it is Van Wayne Enterprises. This is a nod to Van Wayne, a cousin of Bruce Wayne and one of the main characters of the short-lived series Powerless, which was set in a comedic version of the DC Comics universe. This would seem to affirm that the same characters (or at least Van Wayne) exist in the post-Crisis Arrowverse.

Roy and Thea make mention of Kord Industries - the oft-referred to business run by Ted Kord (aka The Blue Beetle). Brandon Routh was originally meant to play Ted Kord instead of Ray Palmer in Arrow season 3, but the rights for Blue Beetle were tied up in a live-action show based around the Jaime Reyes incarnation of the character.

The penultimate sequence in which John Diggle is knocked off his feet and finds a glowing green object where he thought a meteor had landed is a nod to a long-teased fan theory regarding John Diggle someday becoming a Green Lantern.


Technobabble

Curtis runs a quad-grid search tasked to a keyhole satellite array to track William.

Felicity implanted a subdermal tracking device in William's arm.

When fighting with escrima, it is important to use your whole body as the power comes from your hips.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: My name is Oliver Queen. After 5 years in hell I returned home with only one goal; to save my city. For 8 years, I've fought alongside brave men and women striving for justice, but then a Crisis came, and I had to become someone else. I had to become something else. I made the ultimate sacrifice, which helped birth an entirely new universe. Now my friends and family will have to go on without me, and although I have become a Spectre, there is a part of me that will always be The Green Arrow.

Rene: It's a hell of a legacy. Not just a city of heroes, a world of heroes.

Wild Dog: So how are things? It's been a while.
Ragman: Yeah. Well, a while is what it took for these rags to work again. Since then, I've been fighting for justice.
Wild Dog: To honor your father?
Ragman: To honor Oliver.
Wild Dog: We've had our differences over the years.
Ragman: Yeah, I assumed.
Wild Dog: Why?
Ragman: Of everyone, you're the most like him.

Mia: If Oliver Queen didn't kill you, than neither will I.

Oliver: Plenty of people in this book that deserve to die, plain and simple, but probably not everyone. Let's consider Mr. John Byrne to be proof of concept.
Diggle: That people can be redeemed?
Oliver: That one day I'll be able to trust you.

Quentin: For a long time I hated Oliver Queen. I blamed him for the death of my youngest daughter, I blamed him for the violence in my city, I interrogated him, I hunted him, persecuted him. I've never been more wrong in my life. Oliver Queen wasn't just a hero. He was a good man. He was an honorable person. The fact that he didn't start out that way makes him, in my book, even more honorable. He stands as a reminder to all of us that anyone can change. So will this.
(The cloth coverings behind Quentin are pulled aside, revealing a bronze statue of Green Arrow.)

Tommy: So you're from another Earth, is that it?
Black Siren: I know it's a lot to take in.
Tommy: Well, I just found out there's a reality where I was dead, so that's the curve I'm grading on these days. The Laurel of, well, this Earth, um... She was my wife.
Black Siren: So it must be strange seeing me.
Tommy: Ha! Yeah. Well, strange enough to blow the curve. (smiling) But there's something nice about it, too.

John Diggle: The Oliver that I met 8 years ago is not the one that we say good-bye to today. Oliver always told me that in order to save his city, he had to become someone else, he had to become something else. I always thought that meant becoming the Green Arrow, but today, I realized that meant becoming a better man. The best man he knew how to be. And he took all of us with him on that journey. He changed everything. Oliver brought heroes into the world, he inspired heroes, he inspired all of us here. I was his brother, and Oliver Queen was mine.

(We see John Diggle strapping his children into their car seats and kissing Lyla. She gets in their SUV and drives off, leaving John at their house with one moving van left to drive.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Of course, life will go on. It always does, but how, what twists and turns it will take, I can't say.
(We see Mia Queen, standing before the statue of Green Arrow. She walks through a time portal into her bedroom in 2040.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): I don't know what the future holds
(We see Digg getting ready to get into his van when he stops to look at a shooting star. A meteor crashes into the ground a dozen feet away from him, throwing him back against the van.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Except to say to expect the unexpected.
(We see Rene Ramirez in his campaign headquarters, looking at one of his political posters.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Oliver may be gone, but his mission endures.
(We see Dinah Drake getting on her motorcycle and driving out of Star City.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over):That mission lives on, Oliver lives on in the people he inspired. Some will take that mission to the rest of the world. Maybe even beyond that.
(We see Digg pulling himself off the ground and approaching the crater. He finds a box, which he picks up and opens. Something inside it glows with a green light.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Because if the past 8 years has shown us anything It's that this universe is far bigger than any of us could have dared imagine. Even if it is a little less bright without him in it.

Felicity: Not to complain. I just thought that the afterlife would look a little less like your old office.
Oliver: It's my mom's office. I wanted to be where I first saw you.
Felicity: Well, that would be in the I. T. Department, seven floors down.
Oliver: You sure?
(Cut to a flashback of Oliver Queen hiding around a corner in that same office years earlier.)
Felicity: (looking at a picture of Oliver Queen)
You're cute. It's too bad you're, you know, dead, which is obviously a lot worse for you than it is for me.
(Cut back to the present. Oliver smiles at the woman he loves.)
Oliver: It's a long story. Lucky for us, we have all the time in the world for me to tell it to you.
(The two look out the window of the office together. It is a beautiful sunny day. All is right in the world.)


Continuity

The opening scene shows an alternate take on Moira Queen's death in 220. This time, Oliver is able to free his hands and stop Slade Wilson from killing Moira Queen with a sword.

It is revealed that Oliver's influence on shaping the post-Crisis Arrowverse allowed him to prevent the deaths of various people, including Moira Queen. Moira talks about how she apparently died in an interview for a documentary.

The documentary filmmaker from 712 has yet to finish her film in the post-Crisis reality. She is now turning Emerald Archer into a memorial film about Oliver Queen.

Dinah, Moira, Rene and John Diggle are all interviewed about Oliver for the documentary.

Crime in Star City disappeared virtually overnight post-Crisis. This has left Team Arrow with little to do.

Digg, Dinah, Rene, Roy and Black Siren meet in the Arrow bunker for a memorial wake. They drink Oliver's vodka and toast him.

Rene is apparently running for mayor now, instead of the city council, which he was running for pre-Crisis in 804.

It is revealed that Quentin Lance is alive again in the post-Crisis universe and that his term as Mayor ends in April. He is pushing for Rene to replace him.

Quentin has offered Dinah the job of Chief of Police in Star City

It has been one month since the Crisis ended as this episode opens.

In a flashback scene to eight years earlier, Oliver has just killed a man named Jimmy Tarallo who had 22 henchmen armed with machetes. Diggle tries to convince Oliver to take him into the field, but he refuses.

Oliver's next target is John Byrne: a beer company CEO who is using his shipping trucks to facilitate human trafficking.

In 2040, Mia has a dream of Robert Queen killing himself in front of Oliver Queen on their life raft after the Queen's Gambit sunk.

Sara Lance arrives in Mia's bedroom, having traveled via Time Portal, to take her to Oliver's funeral in 2020.

Digg, Roy, Rene, Dinah and Black Siren give each other The Mark of Four tattoo first seen in 708.

Roy says he imagines the funeral will be awkward with both of Oliver's sisters there. This establishes that Emiko Queen is still alive in the post-Crisis timeline. She originally died in 722.

In the flashback, Byrne is discovered to be employing Black Armada - a private security firm made up entirely of former Special Forces soldiers. He pays them $1 million monthly.

Diggle encourages Oliver not to kill John Byrne but to bring him in alive.

Mia talks with Dinah in the Arrowcave and reveals that, for her, it's been a few weeks since William was kidnapped in 809. She's had no luck tracking him down so far.

William is abducted from his grandparents' home in Central City.

Felicity, Curtis Holt, Rory Regan, Roy, Thea, Lyla, Digg, Laurel, Sara, Mia, Dinah and Rene pair off to search Star City for William.

Roy proposes to Thea, saying he's realized he can't live without her after his death and resurrection.

Rory Regan is fighting crime as Ragman again, as a way of honoring Oliver. He doesn't specify how long he's been doing it, but apparently his magic costume has repaired itself since he was forced into retirement in 512.

Rory says he isn't surprised that Rene and Oliver fought the most, saying that out of everyone in Team Arrow they are the most alike.

Mia is the one who locates William and John Byrne.

John Byrne spent 8 years in Iron Heights Penitentiary. He was apparently the first person Oliver Queen spared after deciding to stop killing every person on the list of people his father gave him.

John Byrne tries to provoke Mia until killing him. She refuses to do so.

Amateur video footage of captures Mia capturing John Byrne. Dinah repeats what she said earlier about being sure Oliver would be proud of her.

Felicity avoids approaching Mia for fear of saying something awkward. Ironically, Mia avoids her mother for the same reason.

Moira apparently likes Roy Harper much more in the post-Crisis reality.

Thea accepts Roy's marriage proposal.

Black Siren has a breakdown talking to Quentin, saying she doesn't understand why she's still alive and all these other people came back to life but not the Laurel Lance of Earth-1. Quentin says that Oliver didn't "fix" her because she didn't need fixing.

Diggle, Dinah and Rene shut down the Arrow bunker.  Dinah is the one who flips the switch for the power as they leave it for the last time.

Dinah decides not to take the job of Chief of Police. Instead, she's going to find another city that could use a hero like the Black Canary.

Diggle and Lyla are moving to Metropolis after the funeral. Lyla has been promoted to a new position there.

A candlelight vigil is held for Oliver Queen the night before his funeral. Quentin Lance unveils a bronze statue of the Green Arrow, with a plaque that reads "He saved this city." This is the same statue Mia and William met at in 809.

Before the funeral, while visiting Robert Queen's memorial, Thea asks why Oliver couldn't bring Robert Queen back from the dead. Moira speculates that Oliver could only change those events he was involved in directly and only change them so far. For better or worse, Robert Queen had to die for Oliver to become Green Arrow.

Emiko meets with Thea and Moira for the first time.  Moira welcomes Emiko into the family.

Tommy Merlyn is revealed to be alive in the post-Crisis reality. He was also married to Earth-1 Laurel Lance before her death. He talks to Black Siren and says that seeing her is weird but nice.

Nyssa introduces Sara Lance to Talia as her beloved.

Mia and Felicity do meet and hug.

Barry Allen and Kara Danvers attend the funeral in their civilian identities.

Oliver's body was never found. A casket full of mementos was buried in front of the tombstone erected in his honor, next to Robert Queen's memorial behind Queen Manor.

Diggle gives the eulogy at Oliver's funeral.

Dinah leaves Star City on her motorcycle. We see that the main freeway out of Star City has been renamed in Oliver Queen's honor.

Mia returns to 2040 through a time portal.

Before leaving Star City, John Diggle was knocked off his feet by a meteor crashing near him. Once he got near the crater, he found a box containing something that glowed with a green light.

20 years in the future, The Monitor fulfills his bargain and guides Felicity Smoak to the afterlife, as in the final scene of 722.

Felicity meets Oliver Queen in a place that looks just like his mother's office. When she asks why the afterlife looks like that, he says he wanted to see her as she was when he first saw her. When she says that they first met in the IT Department at Queen Consolidated seven floors down in 103. However, Oliver says that isn't the first time he saw her, as he thinks about seeing her while being undercover at Queen Consolidated in the flashbacks of 314.


Location

The Afterlife



Untelevised Adventures

Much of the history of Arrow has apparently been rewritten in the post-Crisis reality. For instance, one wonders how the events of William Clayton's being revealed as Oliver Queen's son played out with Moira still alive or if Laurel Lance developed the same drug problem she did in Season 2 without Tommy Merlyn's death weighing her down.


The Bottom Line

A fitting conclusion that brings everything to a happy ending for most of the supporting players, while still leaving ample room for development of many of these characters elsewhere in the Arrowverse. Some characters are given short shrift than others and some subplots remain untouched, such as Talia and Thea forming a new, heroically inclined League of Assassins. Still, the possibilities left open by Diggle and Lyla moving to Metropolis and the plot with Mia Smoak in the future offer many avenues for exploration. The Queen is dead. Long live The Queen.

Monday, January 27, 2020

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 9 - Green Arrow & The Canaries

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

It's 2040 and Mia Queen's life couldn't be better. She just graduated from college and her boyfriend J.J. just proposed. Then two of her father's old friends showed up and suddenly Mia remembers being someone else... something else. Now one of her best friends has been kidnapped and the future her father sacrificed himself to save is in peril, leaving Mia no choice but to become the new Green Arrow.



Influences

Birds of Prey
(idea of all female vigilante team)



Goofs

While Mia may have had her knowledge of how to fight restored by Laurel's device, it seems highly unlikely she'd be in the same physical condition she was as an underground pit-fighter as a rich debutante.

For a reformed supervillain, Laurel seems to be a pretty deep believer in the idea that people can't change and is adamant that J.J. Diggle has to be a bad guy because he was a bad guy in the original timeline.



Performances

Kat McNamara has a brilliant turn here, truly selling Mia's conflict between the life she rememebrs and the comfortable one her father wanted her to have.



Artistry

The aesthetic of Star City 2040 is solid, looking relatively close to the present day but with enough changes that it seems like a credible "not-too-distant future."



Trivia

The loft apartment above Dinah Drake's piano bar is modeled to resemble an old clock tower. In the classic Birds of Prey comics and the 2002 TV show, Barbara Gordon organized the team from an old clock tower.

The club where Mia holds her graduation part is called The Fish Net. This is a nod to the most famous fashion accessory of the various versions of Black Canary in the comics.



Technobabble

The device Laurel uses to restore Mia's memories was built by Cisco Ramon and replicated the telepathy of the Martian Manhunter.

Mia took classes in design theory and sustainable concepts. These allow her to recognize the plants in the background of the photo of Bianca as biophilic in nature, meant to power the building photosynthetically.



Dialogue Triumphs

Reporter: What would your dad think about your life choices?
Mia: My father saved Star City so that we can enjoy it. And he also never graduated college, so I think he'd be pretty impressed.

Mia: I spent my whole life looking at these pictures of my dad, all of the amazing things he did for the city, what a hero he was, wondering how I could possibly live up to that in anything I chose to do. And...And so I chose to do nothing.



Dialogue Disasters

Laurel: People are who they are, Mia, no matter what timeline, universe, or Earth, and that's not your fault.  (...says the reformed supervillain!)

Bianca: (after being saved, as everything blows up) Who are you bitches?!



Continuity

Laurel attempts to get a woman named Bianca Bertinelli to come with her, shortly before she is abducted by a group of men.

Star City's mayor in 2040 is someone named Ramirez, who is running for his third term. It is suggested that this might be Rene "Wild Dog" Ramirez, who was the mayor of The Glades in the original 2040 timeline.

Star City has a vigilante museum, which just received a $1 million donation from Victor and Maria Bertinelli.

In the new 2040, Oliver and Felicity's daughter Mia goes by Mia Queen rather than Mia Smoak.

In the new timeline, Mia has just graduated from college. In the original 2040 timeline, she ran away from home before graduating high school. She was also raised as part of the upper class.

Mia lives in Queen Manor, which was apparently restored and purchased by Felicity Smoak at some point in the last 20 years.

In the new 2040, John Diggle Jr. goes by JJ and is an art gallery manager rather than a gang leader.

JJ proposes to Mia. She accepts.

Dinah Drake is living in Star City 2040. She owns her own piano bar and lives in the loft above it.

Dinah says that she woke up in Star City 2040 the day after Oliver Queen's funeral. She also discovered there was no record of her ever having existed or there being a Black Canary in the post-Crisis timeline. She later says she felt it was the universe's way of telling her that she wasn't needed, despite her Canary Cry also being restored following the Crisis.

Sara Lance found Dinah living in 2040 and offered to take her back. Dinah decided to stay in the future.

There have been no major crimes in Star City for 20 years.

Bianca Bertinelli is a famous socialite and the adopted daughter of Helena Bertinelli.

According to Laurel, all hell breaks loose in Star City three days after Helena Bertinelli is found dead after being kidnapped.

The ring JJ proposed to Mia with belonged to Felicity and it's the same one Oliver proposed to her with. She says she knew she'd want to wear the family ring.

William Clayton says he's going to be the Man of Honor at Mia's wedding. He is revealed to be running Smoak Tech in the new reality and just broke up with his boyfriend, Keven. (I.E. The villain from the flash-forwards of Arrow season 7)  Apparently Keven didn't want to be tied down to one boyfriend.

Zoe Ramirez crashes Mia's graduation party, but Mia doesn't mind. This confirms that Zoe is alive in the new 2040 reality, but she is not part of the Canary Network since there is no Canary Network and there was no Dinah Drake around to train her as a child.

Connor Hawke crashes Mia's graduation party and Mia does mind, asking if he's out of rehab and if he's going to start a fight or set something on fire. Apparently, in the new reality, Connor is the bad son of the Diggle family, rather than the pre-Crisis future where he was an agent of Nightwatch and Mia's lover.

Bianca's ex-boyfriend, Trevor, is also in attendance at Mia's graduation party.

Mia never met Laurel or Dinah in the new post-Crisis reality.

Laurel restore Mia's memories of the pre-Crisis world with a device built my Cisco Ramon.

Dinah was married when she was 21.

According to Mia, Helena Bertinelli was a great mother to Bianca before Helena disappeared mysteriously. Since then, Helena has lived with her great-aunt and uncle.

Logan Bertinelli is Bianca's cousin who is involved in some shady business.

The vehicle they think is holding Bianca turns out to be carrying drugs or chemicals of some kind. Mia doesn't recognize them, but they look suspiciously like Mirakuru - the miracle serum that turned Slade Wilson into Deathstroke.

The vehicle is blown up by a man in a Deathstroke mask.

Mia hacks the computers in JJ Diggle's office based on Laurel's instance he must be this new Deathstroke. The only secret she finds is hat he was planning a vacation to Fiji for their honeymoon. He later breaks up with her because of her apparent distrust of him.

Trevor is revealed to be the new Deathstroke and he only kidnapped Bianca because she dumped him.

Trevor has a tattoo on one wrist that resembles the emblem on thee Queen family hozen. He makes reference to a boss who is a woman.

Bianaca is saved and informs everyone that a new Green Arrow saved her. She does not, however, mention them being a woman. This leads the press to ask William if he's the new Green Arrow, much to his amusement.

Laurel confesses to Dinah that the real reason she pushed Mia to recover her memories was because Mia was blamed for Star City falling apart within the next year and was called "The Woman Who Failed Star City." in one 2041 article.

Mia and JJ reconcile, but it looks like the wedding is still on hold.

Laurel temporarily moves in with Dinah, but says she plans to get a place of her own.

Dinah announces her intention to set up the Canary Network in the new Star City 2040 and asks Laurel to help.

William is kidnapped by a group who knock Mia out and leave her behind as the two were meeting before the bronze statue of Oliver Queen as Green Arrow in one city park.

The episode ends with someone using the same device that Laurel used on Mia on JJ Diggle, restoring his memories of being leader of the Deathstrokes


Location

Star City - 2040



Untelevised Adventures

We know virtually nothing of what happened to the heroes of Star City post-Crisis, apart from Rene Ramirez (maybe)eventually becoming Mayor of Star City and Dinah being sent forward in time.

There's an implication that Black Siren knew Huntress and worked with her in the revised timeline as she makes reference to Helena having old enemies. Could there have been a Birds of Prey team sometime in the gap between 2020 and 2040?


The Fridge Factor

Between her refusal to accept that JJ Diggle might be a good guy in the new reality and her general lack of competence throughout the episode, it's fair to say that Black Siren/Laurel Lance isn't a very good vigilante.


The Bottom Line

If it weren't for its connection to Arrow, it would be an easily forgettable, wholly generic action series pilot of the same school as VIP and Cleopatra 2525. Inoffensive, but hardly likely to encourage enthusiasm for the spin-off, particularly since Black Siren seems to have regressed into her formerly catty self and Dinah Drake is an after-thought, as usual.