In a sense, Arrow‘s eighth and final season started off in a fashion similar to season 7: We followed the adventures of Oliver Queen in the present, while the flash forward segments focused on the heroes of Star City existing in 2040. Up until last night’s episode, “Leap of Faith,” that held true.
But then the final seconds of the show slapped us with a twist we never saw coming.
Long story short, we witnessed Mia Smoak and the future Team Arrow caught in a flash of light, only to be transported back to the Arrowcave of 2019. Obviously, they were united with Ollie and the modern iteration of Team Arrow upon their arrival, effectively leaving us all in a state of bewilderment for the next week.
In the short-term, this clarifies why there’s a new Deathstroke running around present-day Star City in the appropriately titled “Present Tense,” because John Diggle Jr. probably made the trip back with the heroes. Still, we must wonder if his presence influences his child self to become a masked villain, as his origin story will supposedly be told soon enough.
Quite frankly, this situation could be rectified by the end of “Present Tense,” with the 2040 crew being sent to their native time period. Or, they could stick around in order to set up the Green Arrow and the Canaries spinoff that’s brewing. For those unaware, that show will star Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy and Juliana Harkavy as Mia Smoak, Laurel Lance and Dinah Drake, respectively.
At the very least, I could see Mia hanging back because she’s also slated to appear in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover later this fall, although her involvement could end up being credited to the Waverider crew when the time comes. Either way, this speaks volumes to the current season’s unpredictable nature.
Arrow airs on Tuesday nights on The CW.
