Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Arrow: The Eighth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 21, 2020

Perhaps because Arrow has featured a conceit whereby Oliver Queen’s past on a mysterious island has been doled out interstitially in various vignettes over the course of the several years of the series, I started thinking about Lost: The Complete Sixth Season as I watched this eighth and final season of this particular series, especially in terms of the general zeitgeist surrounding Lost's final year as compared to this final season of Arrow. Even if you weren’t a huge Lost fan back in the day, chances are you still couldn’t escape the growing hubbub over “what has it all meant” as the final few episodes of that show were broadcast. If you were a fan of the show, chances are probably equally as good that you waited with bated breath for a denouement which you may well have found at least a bit underwhelming once it was more or less disclosed (I still meet fans of the show who have no clear idea of what the finale added up to, other than general consternation). That said, while Arrow may have exploited a certain Lost-like ambience with its island content, it obviously has not penetrated the general public consciousness in the same way Lost did, which may actually end up redounding to the benefit of this show’s final year. When expectations are either low or in fact largely nonexistent, it’s easier to surprise people, or at least keep them marginally entertained.

Our reviews of the previous seasons of the series can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Arrow: The Complete First Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Second Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Third Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray review

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Sixth Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray review

Lost fans were famous (maybe even notorious) for finding clues and connections that the series sometimes discursively offered through the years, and aficionados still up on their sleuthing skills may be able to divine some kind of striking connections between that show and Arrow for this final year. The island of course is a major similarity, but in this final season it becomes perhaps even more overt, with its name of Lian Yu again overtly translated as "purgatory", which of course is more or less exactly what it turned out in the final season the island in Lost had been for its inhabitants. But even more saliently, Lian Yu starts emitting large energy spikes as the story continues, something that plays into the plot proceedings, in yet another echo of Lost.

But as I've mentioned in several reviews of previous seasons of Lost, Arrow's initial use of flashbacks and then flashforwards made comparisons to Lost even more relevant. The interplay between past and future is arguably even more evident in this season, with things ping ponging back and forth between 2019 and 2040 (give or take), but with "temporal crossovers" where characters from one era show up in another and interact with characters from the other timeline. But to make things even more labyrinthine, there are alternate universes and/or timelines, each with competing stories (and in some cases alliances), that make wending your way through this year something of a gauntlet at times.

Parts of this season struck me as downright silly, including each and every appearance of The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), not only due to the costuming but also a kind of Grade Z science fiction verbiage that kind of reminded me of low budget 50s fare. The alternate universe/timeline element also struck me as more than a little Lost-like, at least with regard to that well remembered reveal partway through Lost where Jack and Kate were talking at an airport, and viewers just assumed it was another flashback, but it turned out to be a rather stunning flashforward. Aside from the structural element, though, this new strand of narrative then allowed both characters to have interactions with people that had been denied to them either in their past or (more obviously) on the island. Something rather similar is at play with regard to Oliver and his family, in what I guess is meant to inject some emotion into things, but which almost immediately gives way to melodrama before being more or less abandoned altogether.

While this season of course features the now expected “Arrowverse” crossover episode (more about that below in the Supplements section), the more significant development for diehard fans of Arrow who may actually be sad about its departure is the obvious setup for a new entry in the franchise featuring the 2040 timeline and what might be thought of as depicting an almost royal lineage handing down the title of Green Arrow from generation to generation. The CW has already announced its 2020-21 season, and that potential series doesn't appear to be among those that have been, um, greenlit for fall broadcast, but maybe there's a mid-season opportunity for a new set of adventures (and adventurers).

Arrow: The Eighth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arrow: The Eighth and Final Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. I've kind of ping ponged back and forth between the years, sometimes offering a 4.0 and at others a 4.5, though variances are not always gigantic between the seasons. This is another generally very sharp and well detailed looking presentation, one that like some previous seasons tends to pop best in some of the brightly lit outdoor material. Some of the island material is graded toward greens and yellows, and the misty environments can add to the feeling of softness. Several pretty dimly lit scenes, including but not limited to interiors, can be a bit murky with less than optimal shadow detail. I have to say one of the surprises to me this season was some kind of iffy looking effects work. There's been recurrent softness to some of the CGI in this series, but there were some kind of clunky looking composites going on, like one of the first shots of the island, where it looked like a giant landmass image had been plopped down into another element featuring water. The "dissolving" effect that shows up this season (you'll know it when you see it, I'm attempting not to post outright spoilers) is quite effective, though.

Arrow: The Eighth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Arrow: The Eighth and Final Season continues this series' excellent tradition of rather boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. There are both a wealth of outdoor scenes here which provide good opportunities for ambient environmental effects, as well as several hand to hand combat scenes that feature some well rendered effects that frequently zing across the soundstage, and some of the action elements, as well as some of the more science fiction tinged moments, provide moments of forceful LFE. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.

Arrow: The Eighth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• The Best of DC TV's Comic Con Panels San Diego 2019 (1080p; 51:02) offers a fun array of Arrowverse panelists.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 2:58)

Disc Two

• Arrow: Hittings the Bullseye (1080p; 42:33) is a nice retrospective of the series which should be enjoyed by its fans. There are a ton of clips and interviews.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 00:39)

Disc Three is listed as a "Limited Edition Bonus Disc" and features the entire five part crossover episode Crisis on Infinite Earths (including the Arrow episode, which is also offered by itself on Disc Two of this set). This is another insanely baroque effort to bring together as many DC characters as seemingly possible, with the Anti-Monitor threatening to destroy any number of universes. This disc also features the following supplementary features:

• Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Architects Return (1080p; 11:54) looks at the comic book progenitors of the event, with some appealing interviews with some of the comics' creators.


• Crisis Management (1080p; 13:08) is a making of featurette with candid footage, snippets from the event, and interviews.


• Crisis Past and Present: Kevin Conroy Bat Legend (1080p; 3:17) looks at the older Bruce Wayne character and how much Conroy was wanted for the role.


• Crisis Past and Present: Superman vs. Superman (1080p; 4:37) looks at the dueling superheroes.


• Characters in Crisis: Pariah (1080p; 4:20) focuses on one of the "new" characters.


• Characters in Crisis: The Anti-Monitor (1080p; 4:55) looks at another of the bad guys.

Arrow: The Eighth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you've been a fan of Oliver Queen through all of the crazy and frankly at times slightly ludicrous events that Arrow has trotted out over its previous seasons, my hunch you'll actually be moved by the way this series wraps up. The play for heartstring pulling is pretty overt, so more jaded types may be doing a bit of eye rolling, but this season manages to tie up some loose ends while providing an obvious on ramp for a new sequel series. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplements are very enjoyable. For Arrow and/or Arrowverse fans if for no one else, this release comes Recommended.