Fan Fest News

News for Fans, By Fans!

‘Arrow’ Recap ‘Invasion!’

I have to say, the Arrow chapter of the 4-night crossover has been my favorite so far. Not only because of the story-line progression or because we got to see Barry and Super-girl on the set of Arrow, but it made me so nostalgic having all of these old characters back on screen. It was definitely an interesting twist with how the writers portrayed this story. A life where Oliver never got on the Queens Gambit?

I’ve always wondered what would of happened had this not occurred. Would there be a Green Arrow? Would Oliver still be a playboy? Well… I certainly had some of these questions answered last night! At least, the Dominator version as to how things would have turned out.

The episode started off with Oliver jogging through the woods (very similar the the very first episode of Arrow) except this time he wasn’t dressed like a caveman or on an island; he wound up emerging in the backyard of the Queen mansion. He entered the house and met up with Laurel, who in this reality is not only alive, but she and Oliver are engaged. (Yes, I loved how he called her Dinah Laurel Lance! What a beautiful tribute to the comic book Black Canary).

Image: The CW
Image: The CW

In reality, we see that Oliver’s visions are possible because Oliver, Sara, Thea, Diggle and Ray are all in stasis pods. Wild Dog, Curtis and Rory all stand in the Arrow Cave; training and talking about how they are going to rescue their fallen comrades. While they discussed the issue, Felicity entered with Cisco. When Cisco asks Felicity for something of Oliver’s so that he can ‘vibe’, Wild Dog isn’t shy to show his unhappiness at the fact that Cisco is a metahuman. Cisco uses one of Oliver’s old bows (his original which was broken by Malcom in Season One) and learns that they are on an alien ship in a stasis pod. He then presents a stolen piece of alien tech to Felicity and Curtis, in hopes that they can use it to locate their friends.

Back in Oliver’s vision, Thea gives Oliver a Hozen as a pre-rehearsal dinner gift. Mora and Robert Queen entered the room, and talked with Oliver about how proud they are of him. Robert bumps into a vase, which Oliver quick catches before it hits the ground. The second he does, he gets a flash of a memory of his real life… when he and his father were stranded on a life boat after their ship wrecked. While Oliver and his parents talked inside, Laurel headed outside where she met up with Sara. Sara takes notice to Laurel’s necklace, which was a gift from Oliver. To us nerds, we recognize the symbol on Laurel’s necklace as that of the infamous Black Canary.

Oliver and his father headed outside, and Robert talked about how he wants Oliver to take over Queen Consolidated; since Robert is preparing to take over as mayor. Oliver tried to push Walter Steele as the new CEO, but Robert stated that he won’t be approved and that if Oliver doesn’t accept, Ray Palmer will buy them out. Oliver turned towards Queen Consolidated to see that instead, it read ‘SMOAK TECHNOLOGIES’. (Hmm… like in that Legends of Tomorrow Episode last year!). Suddenly they are held at gun point by a robber. Oliver steps forward, telling the criminal to leave him and his father alone. Before any further action is taken, they are saved by a vigilante wearing a green hood. Well, that certainly answers my question in regards to if there would still be a green arrow.

Image: The CW
Image: The CW

Back at the mansion Laurel walks in on Robert, Thea and Oliver talking about the mugging. When she hugs him, Oliver flashes a memory of real life; Laurel in a hospital gown… right before she passed away last season. He excuses himself, saying that he needs time to think about something.

In reality, Curtis works while talking to Rory about theology. When Curtis attempts to use his algorithim, it causes an explosion. They realize they need a regulator to make the technology work. They realize they have to track down a woman named Laura Washington, who has become very powerful thanks to all of her stolen tech.

Oliver goes to visit Lance, who is now a Captain of the Police Station. He learns that the vigilante who saved both him and his father is called ‘the hood’. This causes Oliver to have another flash of reality, where he is the Green Arrow. Oliver tells Lance that he will meet up with him at the rehearsal dinner, as he has something else to look into first.  However, Oliver does NOT show up at the rehearsal dinner (still the same Ollie in these memories), which causes Laurel to get very upset. She and Sara run into Ray Palmer, who both have flashes of reality when they shake hands. Ray asks Sara if they had ever met before, but Sara stated that she would have remembered.

Oliver stumbles upon the Arrow cave, and when he gets down there, we see Felicity calling for help. The Hood, who is revealed to us as Diggle (YAY!) knocks Oliver out. A few minutes later, Oliver wakes up. He tells them that something doesn’t seem right. He calls Diggle and Felicity by their names, and tries to convince Diggle that he used to be his bod guard. Diggle insists that he is thinking of his brother, Andy. Oliver tells Diggle that Diggle killed Andy. At this, Diggle grows enraged and kicks Oliver out of the Arrow cave, telling him to forget everything.

Wild Dog meets up with Ragman, Curtis, and The Flash and Supergirl. They all split up to search for Laura Washington. Wild Dog tells Barry and Super-girl the truth in regards to why he hates metahumans. As he goes to walk away, he is blasted by Laura Washington; which turns out to be Amanda Waller, covered in various technologies.

As Moira helps Thea get ready for the wedding, Thea then has a flashback featuring Moira’s death. Sara helps get Laurel ready, when Oliver enters. Sara tells Oliver he is lucky she isn’t a trained assassin, before she leaves them alone. Oliver tells Laurel that he wants to elope and that he will take the job at Queen Consolidated, and give her everything she wants. He just is so afraid of losing her. Laurel forgives him for the dinner and loves him, but wants the wedding they planned. Diggle enters and asks to speak to Oliver.

Image: The CW
Image: The CW

Diggle and Oliver walk through the Queen Consolidated grounds, and Diggle talks about how he is also having flashbacks. He talks about how it is odd that Smoak Technologies is a skyscraper, considering Felicity never owned a business. Diggle presents Oliver with a picture he had drawn, one of the Dominators. Oliver realizes that they are trapped in a hallucination; which is what would have happened if he had never got on the Queens Gambit.

Suddenly, Deathstroke stands before them. Diggle and Oliver start to fight him, and then Sara appears and joins them in the fight. Sara stabs Deathstroke through the chest, and he disappears. The three of them realize that they are stuck in a hallucination, along with Ray and Thea. Diggle states that he thinks Smoak Technologies is they key and he suggests they head there.

In reality, Super-girl, Barry and Wild Dog take out Laura Washington and acquire the technology that they need.

Back in reality, Sara finds Ray who is standing with Felicity (his apparent fiance). Sara pulls him aside and tells him what she is remembering, and suddenly he remembers too. Oliver and Sara both attempt to talk to Thea, but Thea insists that she doesn’t want to leave the fantasy. She can’t stand the thought of losing her parents again. Oliver agrees to let her stay, and he hugs her goodbye.

Oliver meets up with Diggle, Ray and Sara outside. As they make way to leave, Oliver is hit by an Arrow. They turn to see Malcolm Merlyn, Deathstroke and Damian Dark standing in front of them. Suddenly, Thea joins the fight; stating that she and Oliver are family and that they stand together. Thea faces off with Malcom, Sara with Damien Dark, Oliver with Deathstroke and Ray fights two league of assassins members. Diggle also faces off with two other league members. The fight ends with the villains all getting killed (hooray), including Oliver shooting Deathstroke in the eye. (Again, I love these subtle references).

After the fight, Laurel comes running outside. She begs Oliver and Sara to stay with her, but unfortuantely, they are forced to have a very emotional goodbye. The group journeys to Smoak Technologies where they see a mist of a wall. Sara, Ray, Digggle and Thea walk through it. Before Oliver walks through, he looks over his shoulder and sees ghosts from his past… this time including Tommy and Roy. He hears motivational messages from them, similar to what they told him in the past. Oliver then walks through the mist also.

They awake from stasis, but Diggle is still in pain from the injury he received in the hallucination world.

At the Arrow cave, Felicity uses the regulator on the alien tech, but she can’t read what it says. Rory realizes it’s like Hebrew, where letters are also numbers.

The group of four walk through the alien ship, looking for a way to escape. They come across a group of Dominators, but Oliver finds a weapon on the wall and shoots them so they can get away. They find a number of smaller jump ships and quickly climb into one. They manage to escape, but realize that none of them know how to control the ship. Suddenly, The Waverider appears and pulls them in with a tracker beam.

Nate welcomes everyone on the Waverider, and the group realizes that they were taken because they’re not metahumans. The Dominators were searching their subconscious for information, but they are unsure of what kind of information they were looking for. Ray remembers a phrase one of the Dominators said and recites it to Gideon, which she translates as. “We are nearing completion of the weapon.”

We then see the Dominator’s ship heads towards earth.

Be sure to catch the FINAL chapter of the Heroes vs Aliens crossover TONIGHT at 8PM/EST when Legends of Tomorrow airs!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *