There are only 10 episodes of Arrow left and 6 left until Crisis on Infinite Earths and the final season’s premiere does not let us forget either. This premiere absolutely sets up the crisis we’re heading towards and the fact that Oliver might not make it out of it.

From the very first scene, the premiere delivers on the promise that this season will be a look back at the entire series as we head towards the end. It starts with Oliver getting rescued from Lian Yu. But instead of Deathstroke’s mask on a pike, we see…Batman’s? And Oliver is noticeably cleaner shaven than the last time he was rescued.

The differences continue when we get back to Starling City and find Moira married to Malcolm and learn Thea died. Instead of 5 years, it’s been 12 years since Oliver was lost. It’s great to see John Barrowman, Susanna Thompson and Colin Donnell (Tommy) back in their roles. This gives an opportunity for Oliver to have some emotional scenes – especially with Moira when he asks her if she would sacrifice herself for her children.

We eventually learn that Oliver is on Earth-2 and in this reality, he never returned from the island. Instead, Adrian Chase is The Hood and is working with Laurel Lance who is now a fully reformed vigilante. She is wearing a new Black Canary suit that is much more colorful and feels like a great evolution for the character. Oliver and Adrian also square off in their Earth-2 Hood uniforms which have a sleeker feel than Oliver’s current wear.

Since it’s an Arrowverse premiere, there needs to be an appearance from The Monitor. We learn that Oliver is on Earth-2 on his orders looking for Dwarf Star particles which can only be found on this earth. Thinking things will play out exactly like his earth, Oliver confronts Malcolm Merlyn assuming he is the Dark Archer only to be attacked by the real Dark Archer – Tommy. 

Luckily, Oliver is not alone. Just like old times, Moira hires a bodyguard to protect her newly returned son: John Diggle. When Oliver tries to shake his bodyguard with his old tricks we learn that this is actually our Earth-1 Diggle who has come to find Oliver. This is a fun moment and it sets up a great scene where John tries to get through to Oliver and get him to accept help. With Felicity gone, the showrunners have mentioned they plan to focus this season on the Oliver and Diggle relationship and they’re off to a great start.

After Tommy captures Oliver – with the help of darker versions of Rene and Dinah – he reveals his evil plan. Thea’s death deeply wounded him and he wants to use the Dwarf Star particles for his own undertaking to make the Glade pay. After Diggle helps Oliver escape we have another strong scene between the two of them. John helps Oliver see that this earth is proof that he makes the people around him better and he can’t push them away.

In response, Oliver reaches out to Laurel and Adrian for help. Oliver and Adrian have some fun friction here, especially when they both try to take charge of the team. After the team suits up we get some classic Arrow action as they work through a building in the Glades. Oliver quickly runs through Rene and Dinah with a fantastic line, “back on my earth you had a better teacher.” After a Green Arrow/Dark Archer showdown, Oliver is able to make Tommy see the error of his reasoning and shut down his device with a pretty good speech.

Things seem to be wrapping up on Earth-2. Adrian drops another Batman reference, Oliver says goodbye to Tommy and Moira and they get ready to head back to their earth. And then…the antimatter starts to sweep through the earth. Oliver watches as the family he’s already lost once is swept away by this force and erased from existence before he, Diggle and Laurel escape back to Earth-1.

The premiere did a fantastic job giving us a look back at old faces while keeping the central conflict crisis front-and-center. With only ten episodes left of Arrow, they don’t seem to be wasting the opportunity to tell a tight, emotional story.

Meanwhile…in 2040…the children of Oliver, Felicity, Diggle and Rene have formed a more cohesive unit. Or they’re trying to at least. We return to Mia, William, Connor and Zoe to learn that after taking down the wall at the end of last season they’ve been working together to mixed results. They are currently protecting a wealthy Star City citizen when the Deathstroke gang attacks. The gang is led by Connor’s brother and Diggle’s son JJ, the new Deathstroke.

The team is able to locate him and suits up to stop him. I was a little disappointed here as their “suit up” moment just saw them all in normal black street clothes. This could have been an opportunity to give them costumes of some kind but given Mia’s anti-vigilante sentiments, I can understand their hesitance. 

Their episode ends with JJ getting access codes from the man he kidnapped and escaping, claiming that he owns the city now. There is some definite tension between Mia and Connor as Mia feels Connor isn’t doing everything he can to stop his brother.

With the rumor that the CW is planning yet another spinoff focusing on Mia taking up the Green Arrow mantle, it will be interesting to see where the 2040 team ends up at the end of this season.

What did you think of the premiere? Now that we’ve seen the return of Moira, Malcolm, Tommy and Adrian, who are you hoping will pop up next?