Arrow S8 Ep. 9 Highlights

Green Arrow & The Canaries

With all of the post-Crisis episodes coming out, Arrow was arguably the most interesting to see considering the entire series was swiftly nearing its last couple of episodes. What I wasn't expecting to see now was what is essentially backdoor pilot for a future spinoff series featuring Mia Queen, Dinah, and Laurel as a masked vigilantes in an alternate future Star City. It feels like a pretty bizarre shift in direction considering our glaringly questionable present day situation, yet as a series kick starter, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how entertained I was. So, does "Green Arrow & The Canaries" fulfill its purpose as a new series pitch? Well, let's do a quick dive into the different highlights of this episode and what elements seem to be the most promising.

Mia Becoming The New Green Arrow Feels Surprisingly Great

As someone who has constantly been on the fence about the Mia character due to how utterly annoying I found her as well as how forced she came across in her "Look how badass I am" action moments, this backdoor pilot presented a slightly different angle. What Crisis did successfully was left the door wide open for a new and legitimately transformative hero in Oliver's daughter which this episode strongly followed up on. What we have in this new Star City future story is a Mia that is being given a new life of freedom and happiness without the weight of the Crisis and originally bleak future timeline background. This introduces some interesting new elements such as Connor's rehab situation, J.J. being Mia's romantic interest as opposed to being the Deathstroke gang leader who killed Zoe, and...well Zoe.

Once Laurel brought her back to speed with her original timeline memories, for the first time, Mia becomes a truly multilayered and interesting character having 2 different lives in her head with various alternate outcomes surrounding her loved ones. It makes for a solid foundation for intriguing character development as our hero has actually lived 2 lives and will now be placed in a situation to live a "double life" with her Green Arrow vigilantism. There's also the idea of her living up to her father's legacy which acts as a nice grand scale character mission for the entire series. So, with all of that said, congratulations Arrow writers for finally somewhat winning me over with the Mia character. Or rather, you've made me genuinely optimistic for what can be a cool character. 

My biggest caution is that the character reverts back to her old annoying ways instead of evolving which is something the CW is known to do at times unnecessarily for the sake of drama. Please don't screw this up CW. You should've learned your lesson by now.

Laurel & Dinah Team Up/The Canaries

Ever since Season 7, I've been thinking about just how awesome a Dinah-Laurel team up episode would be when we first saw the two pair up to fight the Silencer character. Never would I have imagined getting an actual spinoff series with the two as leads in an official Canary team. This episode delivers everything that I could have possibly asked for in a pilot (or backdoor pilot I suppose). Seeing the two bond about being heroes and finding a purpose in their new lives was exactly the type of character interaction scenes that I'd hope for. There’s a strong sense of chemistry between the two characters giving off a genuine sense of friendship born from a complicated history (almost similar to what Oliver and Slade had during Season 6). Seeing them have some quiet time to dive into each other’s mindsets about their motivations and future goals was the highlight of the episode for me. If this is any indication of what the spinoff series will offer up in its character moments, then count me in.

Solid Visual Direction

Something that I was worried about prior to what the post-Crisis world revealed about Star City’s future is that the spinoff show would take place in that terribly dull looking version that we saw during Season 7. I can now breathe a giant sigh of relief to see that the producers put the time and money into crafting what I can honestly say is one of the more visually appealing episodes of Arrow yet. This primarily revolves around how beautifully designed and well lit the sets are making the future seem...well...bright. The color pallet and overall visual direction of this version of Star City is far more eye pleasing increasing my hopes for the show to potentially be one of the best looking shows in the franchise. Major props to some of the cinematography shown off in this episode.

On the other side of the visual spectrum, we're also given a couple of solid action scenes which felt as though they were crafted with a sense of love for the characters and respect for the legacy of the Arrow brand. Unlike another Arrowverse show's first season so far that I won't mention by name, Green Arrow & The Canaries has already won me over from a visual standpoint. In this particular department, I can't wait to see what the spinoff delivers considering we have a skilled archer and two metas as our heroic leads.

Questions

1. Mysteries to solve for this new version of Star City 2040.

How and why did Dinah end up in the future after the Crisis crossover and why doesn't she exist in the system? It’s an interesting question to explore essentially giving one of our leads a Crisis related mystery subplot which I find absolutely fascinating. This mystery may or may not also be tied into Mia’s supposed destined future of “failing the city” which Laurel is investigating. Interesting stuff to look forward to. What I’d like to see is how Sara factors into this during the Legends series since Laurel establishes that it was her who gave her the info on Dinah’s whereabouts and Mia being central to Star City's fall. Maybe this would be an interesting future episode of Legends where we get to see Sara temporarily join the Canaries considering that she kickstarted the whole thing to begin with legacy-wise. How awesome would that be? Or, if anything, we just get the scene where Sara learns about Star City's fate and sends Laurel on the mission. Any sense of connectivity will work for me.

Who will be the main villain of the series?

The Deathstroke mask wearing forgettable baddie of the week mentioned a “she” and had a symbol tattooed on his wrist identical to the one on the arrowhead given to William. Is “she” perhaps Talia? This would bring in the League of Assassins into Star City 2040 keeping that part of Arrow’s legacy alive. Or perhaps it’s an entirely new villain which, if I'm honest, would be the much more appealing option as Arrow hasn't truly delivered an awesome villain since Season 5 in my opinion. If we are dealing with League characters, I'd love to see Lady Shiva finally brought into the series as a legitimate badass physical threat villain. That can be interesting. Either way, I hope Deathstroke’s mask iconography isn’t just some prop being thrown around by forgettable side villains as I feel Slade's legacy hasn't went into any noteworthy directions in any of the future stories yet. Speaking of which, where's Slade?

Will we see the year 2040 for Central City, National City, and Freeland? 

Note to viewer that the top pic is Connor (Superboy) from the Titans DC Universe series and not a Superman & Lois series related image regarding their children.

Talk about keeping the crossover's Earth-Prime concept alive and strong. What if we see Barry’s child or children (whether it’s Nora or the tornado twins), Superman’s sons that were teased during Crisis, or even Freeland having Static Shock as its new popular hero figure with Black Lightning as his mentor? So many possibilities to have with this spinoff series also acting as a future tease for our other shows and their standalone history progression. I mean, we do have a Justice League-like team now right? How do they factor into the future?

Easter Eggs

1. New Arrow Logo

More than the other series within the Arrowverse franchise, Arrow has had a pretty cool tradition in regards to switching up its title logo design to fit the particular season or sometimes episode story. Here we have what I'm assuming to be the official Green Arrow & the Canaries logo...and I freakin love it! This is by far one of the series' best title logo designs yet.

2. Dinah's Talent For Singing

One of the more welcomed surprises of the episode was seeing Dinah singing at a bar (and as the bar owner too which takes me back to Oliver and Thea's bar situation during the first seasons). Having Dinah be a gifted singer was something that we never got to see during the previous seasons, but it is something that's very much synonymous with the character's comic book source material. It's awesome to see the spinoff series possibly dive a little deeper into the comics to deliver certain iconic character elements never before explored on the show.

3. Green Arrow Iconography

One of my favorite elements from this episode's direction is the way in which Oliver Queen's presence is felt throughout this new future through visuals. You have the quick glimpse of an actual green arrow behind Mia within her home as well as a newspaper article spotlighting Oliver's now famous heroic sacrifice. It's amazing how this once masked vigilante who ran around the city killing off people on a list became the famous savior of the entire multiverse. It brings me joy as a fan of both the character and the series overall to see this evolutionary character path being heavily acknowledged without feeling forced. There's also that awesome Green Arrow statue that we get to see towards the end (which I imagine we'll see fully at some point) almost framed as a guardian figure to Mia. I'm getting the feeling that this visual idea of Oliver's presence will be a key part of the spinoff series such like Tony Stark's was in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Just a thought.

4. Arrowverse History Easter Eggs

Rene still becomes mayor, Star City's crime rate has been successfully low for a notably long time, and Cisco somehow created tech to mobilize J'onn's telepathy abilities for Crisis memory recovery. I'd love to see that specific moment on the Flash series, but I somehow doubt we'll get it. If I miss any other Easter eggs in the review, feel free to share in the comments.

Episode Rating: 9/10