Arrow The Eighth and Final Season Digital review

Jeffrey Lyles April 27, 2020 0 Comments Arrow, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Juliana Harkavy, Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy, LaMonica Garrett, Rick Gonzalez, Stephen Amell

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free digital copy of the season I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.

With COVID-19 holding up some productions, I wasn’t able to do the normal Blu-Ray review and some of the cooler bonus features didn’t carry over to that platform. I’d highly recommend going with a physical copy for this one.

While Smallville paved the way, Arrow was the show The CW used to create a superhero universe that has now expanded to five shows with two more on the way. Stephen Amell took a fringe A- DC character into a new level. But with all good soap operas with some occasional superhero action, it was time for Arrow to ride off into the sunset. The timing of Arrow’s finale was well planned as it coincided with the mega Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Arrow’s final season started off strong with Oliver Queen and company dealing with the pending Crisis. Oliver started taking various trips down memory lane whether from traveling to different Earths in the Multiverse or reconnecting with old allies. This was a good storyline for Oliver as he got to make peace with some of his past mistakes and understand the importance of his vigilante actions.

Along the shortened 10-episode final season, the priority changed from creating a memorable farewell for Oliver and building momentum for the Arrow spin-off, Green Arrow and The Canaries. Oliver’s daughter, Mia, and son, William, became pivotal characters in the present day storyline. The Arrowverse previously dealt with the adult offspring of a hero meeting their parent in the last season of The Flash so this didn’t feel fresh.

Worse, the tension with Oliver and Mia felt forced and unearned while short-changing many of the tenured supporting characters who basically got pushed to the sidelines. Ironically it was The Flash that built up and paid off a better Crisis storyline as the focus rarely shifted from its title character.

As a farewell to Green Arrow, Arrow’s final season felt too compromised with the motivation toward what was to come instead of celebrating what came before.

Blu-Ray Video/Audio

The video and audio isn’t much different from what you’d see on your standard HDTV with a decent audio setup. The Arrowverse doesn’t have the kind of budget that the home video presentation won’t ever be confused with reference quality, but it certainly isn’t a step down from the network airing.

BLU-RAY & DVD FEATURES

The Best of DC TV’s Comic-Con Panels San Diego 2019

Arrow: Hitting the Bullseye (Special)

This was the hour feature that aired before Arrow’s final episode. It was a nice look back on the history of the series from the initial challenges to building the backbone of the Arrowverse. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was cool to see so many of the people responsible for the series reminiscing about the ride.

Deleted Scenes

BLU-RAY BONUS DISC

All Five Epic Episodes of the DC Crossover Event: Crisis on Infinite Earths from Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

This is a major bonus as it attempted to connect all of the Arrowverse shows in the most ambitious crossover yet. While it wasn’t perfect, Crisis was good enough to warrant buying a physical copy of the season by itself.