Arrow‘s eighth and final season kicked off in a shocking way last week. The premiere, titled “Starling City,” took Oliver and company to Earth-2 where they saved the alternate version of their home town from an evil doppelganger of Tommy Merlyn. Or, at least, they thought they did. The episode ended with them narrowly escaping with their lives back to Earth-1, as the other world was consumed by a wave of antimatter.
There was some wriggle room, though, in the fact that we didn’t see the entire Earth destroyed, only Starling City. So we didn’t know for sure what had happened. But last night’s second episode, “Welcome to Hong Kong,” confirmed it: Earth-2 is 100% no more.
It begins with Oliver, Diggle and Laurel arriving in Earth-1’s Hong Kong. Laurel can’t face the idea that her homeworld has gone so she single-mindedly sets out to locate an old acquaintance with knowledge of the multiverse. With Lyla’s help, she tracks him down and gets him to open a breach to Earth-2. However, he’s unable to as there’s simply no Earth-2 left. Laurel then has to accept that she’s the last survivor of her world.
As I discussed last week, this is a major deal, as Earth-2 has always been a big part of The Flash. If Laurel really is the only survivor, that means Harry Wells and Jesse Quick both perished in Earth-2’s destruction. It’s important to note, though, that his scientific knowhow and her speed may mean they were able to escape the antimatter off-screen.
Maybe they’ll return on The Flash later this season, but for now, the billions of people living on Earth-2 have become the first causalities of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Expect many more to be in danger as well when the crossover gets going this December.
In the meantime, Arrow season 8 continues next week with episode 8×03 “Leap of Faith.”
