User Reviews

In many ways, this was Oliver Queen's flashpoint. After the events of last night's Flash episode, he, Diggle, Thea, Ray, and Sara wake up to a life of what could have been on the eve of Oliver's wedding with Laurel. What we got as fans was pretty much all we could hope for out of a 100th episode. This was a love letter to the show's first 100, and I couldn't have loved it any more.

We've been asking the show for a long time to get back to its early roots, and while the first 7 episodes of the season have sort of done that, it was this "crossover" episode that really nailed that nostalgic feeling I've been waiting for. It's funny, because this isn't really a crossover in the same sense as the two episodes its sandwiched between. This was an Arrow episode at its core. Well, an Arrow episode with aliens trying to take over the world.

At times during the show's run, it's been very hard to not rip on Marc Guggenheim, Berlanti, Kreisberg, or Mericle. They've certainly had their missteps. But what they were all able to put together tonight was nothing short of astonishing. With the exception of a very select few, every major character over the past 5 seasons made their presence felt in some way or another. Moira, the heart and soul of the show for the first two seasons, made her welcomed return. Robert Queen, who many thought would be the Green Arrow of this "hallucination", returned for the first time in 4 seasons. Even Tommy, who is off filming Chicago Med (and they even made a nice wink to that), made a hologram appearance with Roy. And of course, the recently fallen Laurel returned in bittersweet form. That wedding represents everything that could have been with this show if Oliver never went on that darned boat.

Compliment all of that with the fact that Malcom, Damien Darhk, and Deathstroke were all there trying to stop Oliver and company from leaving the hallucination. This made for a nice brief battle sequence for James Bamford to once again show his skills as a director. Thea shooting an arrow for Sara to catch and stab Darhk with? I mean come on, that's just pure comic book glory right there. If only they were able to get Manu Bennett to come back as at least the voice of Deathstroke.

Back in the real Star City, Barry, Kara, Cisco, and the rest of "Team Arrow" were forced with figuring out where the rest of the crew were and how to stop the dominators. I have to admit, there was a part of me that was wondering where other members like Firestorm, Heatwave, Caitlin, Harry, Wally, and others were, but I guess you can only fit so many characters into one episode right? Wild Dog's dislike of Supergirl and Flash was a little off-putting, and then of course fixed quickly, but it made for some fun and humorous moments in an otherwise bittersweet episode.

And that's really what I'll call tonight's episode, bittersweet. As great as it was seeing 5 of Team Arrow's best vs almost all of the show's big-bads, it was just as poignant seeing so many beloved characters for *one last time*. Oliver's hugs to his parents and speeches to Thea and Laurel in the hallucination were some of the best written scenes the show has had in a while. Have I said yet how much I love this episode? Just to throw in a few more nuggets: Quentin was back as a cop and called the Green Arrow "the hood", all of the logos in the beginning of the episode correlating with 5 seasons of the show, and Oliver giving Thea the Arrow emblem were all nicely timed easter eggs and callbacks to the show's history. As a whole, this was by far the biggest departure from a typical Arrow episode that we could have imagined, but it was handled with care and love. One of the best episodes of Arrow of all-time.

+Callbacks and easter eggs to previous seasons

+Team Arrow vs Arrow big-bads

+Moira & Laurel's presence

+Oliver's flashpoint

+Bittersweet

10/10

The crossover continues! While also serving as part 2 in the big Dominators crossover, this was Arrow's 100th episode. I've always loved Arrow and even though there has been a few tough times over the past couple of seasons, I'm just happy that they have managed to steer the Arrow ship back on course and bring us the 100th episode this show deserved.

This episode was amazing. Coming off the back of last night's Flash episode, I was excited to see what part 2 would bring us. Similar to Flash, this episode was as much as it's own individual Arrow episode while still serving its purpose in the bigger picture on the crossover. What this episode did do differently however was that for the most part, this episode could of happened on any regular Arrow week as very minimal crossing over really happened. Apart from a brief mission with Flash and Supergirl teaming up with new Team Arrow, Cisco helping Felicity and Curtis run the tech side, and the Waverider with Steel saving them at the end, this episode could have easily been a stand alone. I know it sounds like I listed a lot of influence from the other 3 shows but in the context of the episode, the appearance of the Waverider at the end was really the only be influence.

In so many ways this episode reminded me of The Runaway Dinosaur at the back end of season 2 of the Flash. It's the same concept that our characters are stuck in a fabricated reality while the team outside are trying to get them out. I thought that fabricating a reality was a really smart way for the writers to pay respect to the previous 99 episodes of Arrow that have past and use this episode to bring back some old faces, even if a few of them looked like a dodgey CGI character. I loved seeing Deathstroke fighting Oliver, Malcolm Merlyin back in action, and the return of Robert and Moira Queen. For me, this episode brought the same emotional pull which The Runaway Dinosaur did and we got to see characters we have grown with over a 4 and a bit year period have to face their biggest emotional hurdle yet.

Onto the crossover aspect of the episode, it was fairly minor compared to what we got on the Flash. Apart from the ex-Arrow Sara and Ray from Legends, Kara from Supergirl and Barry and Cisco from Flash, we didn't get any of an interaction from the other members from the other shows. In a way I expected it as this was the Arrow portion of the episode, but considering all the characters were already gathered in one place from the Flash crossover, I would of thought that they would of brought in Caitlin or Stein for the tech science stuff or use Firestorm and Heatwave for the physically stuff. I think because of their lack of presence, the crossover side of this episode fell short a little because it failed to back up from the grand scale of characters we got last episode.

Looking forward to Legends of Tomorrow tomorrow night, I think we are in for a big finale. If we follow trend from the past couple of nights, I'm guessing that the Legends crew will be at the forefront of the episode and we might leave behind some of the other characters like the Flash and Arrow support teams. Either way I'm excited for what they bring us tomorrow night and how they are going to end one of the biggest crossovers we have seen in TV.

Similar to The Runaway Dinosaur, I loved everything that happened in the fabricated reality. However, again like The Runaway Dinosaur, it was the stuff outside of the reality that feel short for me, however despite that, this was still a fantastic episode and I have no hesitation from putting near the top end of my favourite Arrow episodes.

10/10

This episode was so fantastic on so many levels. The acting by Stephen Amell, Willa Holland, and Caity Lotz was so powerful as they tried to process these painful re-surfacing memories. The memories were such a unique way to replay 5 years of episode history. It was nice to replay those special moments without totally consuming the episode with old footage. Hats off to Arrow's creative team for that--it was very nicely done.

There was such nice character interaction in this episode. It was so enjoyable to see the core cast interacting this much together. I thought it was adorable that even Lance, as well as Moira and Robert, kept insisting that Oliver just had cold feet, while he was having these resurfacing memories. Paul Blackthorne and Stephen Amell are so good together in scenes and so great to watch. Poor Thea just seemed so depressed and lonely in this episode from the start, something she normally hides pretty well as the Mayor's chief of staff and by helping Quentin Lance.

Bringing back all the big bads was such a nice touch too. I do not remember such an episode that made me cry, laugh, and cheer all within an hour time frame. I came into this crossover a little unsure of how "aliens" could play out in the Arrowverse, but I love the "mind games" that these aliens played on the heroes in both the first and second part of Invasion. It was so unlike past threats that the heroes have battled.

These core characters really have been through so much over these last five seasons, and seeing all the characters that have been lost was such a powerful reminder of that. I am hoping that the aliens leave peace offering in the end in the form of resurrecting Laurel/Black Canary. TeamArrow just seemed so much more complete with her in this episode-even wit her role as the bride. This truly was a love letter to the fans. Also, I loved every second of Stephen Amell shirtless in the opening scene. But, I missed not having a shirtless scene with all of his scars because it tells such a painful tale of the challenges and torment that Oliver has been through. I think this was a well-written, well-designed, and very well-acted 100th episode. 10/10

This episode was hands down the best episode of Arrow I've seen so far. I instantly had to come on here and give it a 10!

All the big bads were back! Laurel was back! Moira was back! Even Robert.

So Oliver, Thea, Diggle, Sara and Ray were put in an alternate reality by aliens, they eventually figured out their reality wasn't real through a series of glitches.

Others may not have noticed, but I liked how the alternate reality versions of Felicity, Laurel and Moira didn't quite look right. One thing I noticed was that the alternate reality Felicity that her hair wasn't quite as tidy as the "real" worlds Felicity. Even Laurel looked different (But Maybe it was just me!)

The only thing that disappointed me was that Deathstroke (in a speaking part, at least) and Tommy Merlyn didn't make cameos.

In conclusion, this episode is about as perfect as you can get.

So binge watching The arrow on Netflix when I suddenly come to a universe where Ollie is abducted and the team is trying to find him and get him back. During which we see the arrow in some kind of alternate season 1 universe.

First I went back to the menu to see if I accidentally missed an episode or missed the end of episode 7. But no I went on the normal way. So then I searched on the web on what just happened and I see that it is a crossover and that to be able to follow it I have to watch 3 other series. Of which I already decided I truly do not like them. They should have made an episode for those who only want to watch the Arrow. An what makes it even more annoying is that it happens in the middle of the season.

Then to end with, we have that one fight where they stand together against the enemy bosses they fought against in the series. I am so disappointed in that fight. I suggests that the enemies weren't so hard to kill. At least here they can kill all of them working together at once within a couple of minutes.

Im shocked and insulted to see this is rated as the 2nd best episode of Arrow ever.

I came in to the Crossover with so much excitement, night 1 (supergirl), was a 20 second crossover. Night 3 was this. An episode which i found completely and utterly pointless. I waited all this time to see the big alien crossover, not watch a completely meaningless homage to Laurel and Olivers family. This SHOULD NOT have been placed in the middle of a crossover. The big 4 night crossover was actually only 2 nights.

The "alternate" world was all nicey and great to see these old characters. And im sure i would have enjoyed it so much more another week. But the resolution of it was pretty simple. A fake hallucination of sorts that the victims can just walk out of, what a great system of holding prisoners. A ship that you can easily walk through straight to an easy to operate drop pod. (where did all the aliens go that were chasing them?) What was the point of advertising the return of Deathstroke, it was merely a suit which was easily defeated. Where was Manu? Thea did an emotional goodbye to Oliver, only to rejoin him 10 seconds later.

Every moment of hallucination just made me beg for it to end so i could watch the Crossover.

Waste of an hour I cannot get back. More senseless fighting with no positive outcome.

"Invasion!" is not a bad episode if you kind of want to see all your friends (old and new), but as an stand-alone episode, or as an episode part of the crossover with the other DC shows, it is kind of lame.

We left the story in "The Flash" with Oliver, Thea, John, Sara and Ray being kidnapped by the aliens. We start the "Arrow"'s episode with them in a kind of parallel world where Laurel is alive and Oliver is going to marry her. We all know it is all in their heads, and that it is the typical: 'we offer a better alternative, stay here', that happens in all sci-fi shows where 'the-other' characters are offering our heroes a chance to forget all (sometimes it happens for good purposes, but we all know that the aliens in the "Arrow" are baaaaaad).

From that moment we navigate two story-lines. In one, our five characters start to notice strange things, have reminiscences from the 'real' world, and try to break free, at the same time that they wonder if it wouldn't be better just to stay in that fake reality. In the other, Cisco and Felicity, with a if-you-blink-you-won't-see-them cameo by the Flash and Supergirl, are trying to find and free them from the aliens. It doesn't develop the plot of the aliens, it is not very interesting at all, it doesn't offer very good quality action or character development in general. And that is without taking into account how little sense it makes: they break free from the 'dream' but no alien notices anything; they go around the alien ship without much problems; Oliver is able to use an alien weapon that is just there waiting for them to find it (it looks like someone has played too many fantasy games; if the weapon had been in a chest it would have been perfect); they steal an alien pod and are able to activate it and escape from the ship...

As the 100th episode for the "Arrow" it is not bad to look back and see where the show has come from, but to offer so cheap an excuse to bring Laurel and the others and to just fill 40 minutes with not real plot or character arc, it's a shame.

For a mostly action show, this is a very bad episode. It was especially disappointing that this was the 100th episode. The cross over was not the only bad part about the episode.

First of all, this was a very sci-fi kind of episode with all of the aliens and the alternate universe. This would not be a problem if it was another one of the CW's shows like the 100 but not for Arrow.

Second, for the 100th episode, it was not that good. It was a basic plot with a few interesting moments and a couple fight scenes. Fight scenes are not always good but they have their moments. It could have used more suspenseful parts.

Lastly, the cross over part of the show was poor. It had a few of the characters from The Flash and one from Super girl, but only for a few short minutes. The Arrow and the Flash never meet up in this crossover, but instead, Felicity and some of the team members.

This episode was a huge disappointment that just distracted the audience from the major point of this season.