SEASON

Season 8

Season 8 of Arrow. The season opens with: While helping the Monitor, Oliver finds himself in a twisted version of his own Earth where Tommy and Moira are alive, Moira is married to Malcolm... and Thea is dead. In 2040, the new vigilantes take on the Deathstrokes.

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THIS ENTRY’S STORY

Plot summary and ending

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Complete listed story — includes the ending

1. Starling City

Mar Novu / The Monitor sends Oliver Queen to Earth-2 to retrieve Dwarf Star particles, but they are stolen by this Earth's Tommy Merlyn as the Dark Archer who is looking to use them to level the Glades with his own version of the "Undertaking" in order to avenge Earth-2's Thea. Oliver joins forces with Earth-1 John Diggle as well as Earth-2's Laurel Lance and Adrian Chase to stop Tommy and retrieve the particles. Just as Oliver and Diggle are about to leave, an anti-matter wave suddenly consumes all of Earth-2, barely giving them and Laurel time to escape to Earth-1. In the 2040 flashforwards, Connor Hawke, Mia Smoak, William Clayton, and Zoe Ramirez encounter the Deathstroke Gang, led by Connor's adoptive brother John "J.J." Diggle Jr., who have grown more powerful ever since the destruction of the wall between Star City and the Glades and the defeat of Galaxy One.

2. Welcome to Hong Kong

The Monitor brings Oliver's party to Hong Kong to pick up biophysicist Robert Wong, who was forced to recreate the Alpha/Omega Virus. However, Laurel storms off to get her breach device fixed. While Oliver and Diggle learn more about Wong, Triad members attack them, though Tatsu Yamashiro comes to their aid and reveals she knows of the Monitor. Oliver locates Wong, only for China White to kidnap him. After obtaining a sample of the Alpha/Omega Virus, Oliver arranges a trade with China. While Oliver rescues Wong, Tatsu engages China, who stabs her before Laurel blasts her into the harbor. After talking with Tatsu, Oliver plans to get more answers about the Monitor at Nanda Parbat. Elsewhere, Lyla Michaels is revealed to be working with the Monitor as she delivers Wong to him. In the flashforwards, William works on repairing a device obtained from the Deathstroke Gang while Mia, Connor, and Zoe head to a black market where J.J. plans to make a sale. When the Deathstroke Gang arrives, Connor and J.J. enter a parley, though the former's group is forced to let the latter leave when he reveals that he had his men raid the bunker.

3. Leap of Faith

Oliver heads to Nanda Parbat to gain more information on the Monitor from Talia al Ghul, where he reunites with his half-sister Thea and fills her in on his impending death. Oliver, Thea, and Talia plan to retrieve an ancient textbook, but are ambushed by Athena and the League of Assassins. The trio narrowly manage to escape and eventually find the book, learning that the Monitor may actually be causing the oncoming crisis rather than preventing it. Meanwhile, Diggle and Lyla track down Farzad Qadir, who is holding a mother and son captive. As the two free the captives and kill Qadir in the process, Diggle learns that the boy's name is Connor. In the flash-forwards, William managed to escape from the Deathstroke Gang through a trapdoor in the bunker. He discovers their next plan, but it is interrupted by Mia, Connor, and Zoe. J.J. defeats Mia, but when Zoe attacks him, he kills her. Connor beats J.J. down in a rage, but before he can kill him, Connor, William, and Mia are mysteriously teleported to the bunker in the year 2019 where they meet Oliver, Dinah, Rene, and Diggle.

4. Present Tense

Future and present Team Arrow meet without knowing how the former traveled to the present. Mia and Connor choose to keep details of their time a secret from the others, but William anticipates that they will soon become suspicious. Meanwhile, Grant Wilson leads an army as the new Deathstroke to destroy Star City. After Mia and Connor mistake Grant for a time-displaced J.J., they are confronted by present Team Arrow. William and Connor admit what happens in their time including how J.J. becomes Grant's successor and murders Zoe. Diggle and Rene are left devastated yet determined to change their respective children's fates. The two teams work together to stop Grant and he is arrested. After Oliver is told that Grant has been shipped off to Blackgate Penitentiary, Curtis Holt tells Oliver that the Russian Armed Forces have schematics and components to build an anti-matter weapon. Diggle reconciles with Connor. Laurel and Dinah, intrigued by their future selves' actions, make plans to form the Canaries earlier than expected. Rene begins his campaign in the Glades. Oliver begins to be a father to Mia. Later that night, the Monitor makes a deal with Laurel, promising to restore Earth-2 if she betrays Oliver.

5. Prochnost

Oliver learns that their next target is Russian general Alexi Burov, who is working on a pulse wave generator weapon that requires plutonium. Oliver takes William, Mia and Laurel to steal the weapon plans. Laurel discovers that Lyla is working with the Monitor, who she also agrees to work with by stealing the weapon plans before Oliver. Oliver seeks assistance from Anatoly Knyazev to lead him to Burov, who explains he had abandoned the plans, though he has them stored on a hard drive. Burov requests a trade – a cage match for the drive in the Bloodbath, which Oliver accepts. Afterwards, the Bratva led by Oleg intervene and fatally shoot Burov before taking the team captive until Laurel and Anatoly come to free them with William's help. The team then successfully retrieve the drive and celebrate their victory before returning to Star City. Meanwhile, Diggle recruits a reluctant Roy Harper on a heist for plutonium. Following the heist, Roy decides to stay in Star City to help the team against the Monitor. Later that night, Laurel declines Lyla's offer to join her mission as Oliver and Diggle discover Lyla's betrayal, only to get tranquilized.

6. Reset

Upon waking, Oliver finds a living Quentin Lance as mayor at a party. When mercenaries take the SCPD hostage demanding to speak to Quentin, he agrees to their terms while Oliver defeats them, only for the leader to set off a bomb. Oliver awakens in his apartment again learning he's re-living the same day. When he discovers Laurel is also experiencing this, they realize the Monitor set this up. Following the third reset, they conclude attempting to stop the bomb results in Quentin's death which causes the reset. On number four, Lyla tells Oliver he is missing the point and shoots Quentin. On number five, Laurel says goodbye to Quentin. On the sixth reset, Lyla informs Oliver Laurel's gone and that he needs to learn to accept the inevitable for everything to end. After a talk with Quentin, Oliver goes through one more reset and allows Quentin to meet his fate. Afterwards, Lyla states that he has passed the Monitor's test by allowing Quentin to have his final moments and reveals the Monitor brought William, Mia, and Connor to the present. Oliver and Laurel wake up on Lian Yu alongside Diggle, William, Mia, and Connor.

7. Purgatory

The team learns that Lian Yu has been giving off an immense amount of strange energy and Lyla tasks William with creating a device to harness it, while the plutonium to power it is being brought to the island by Dinah, Rene and Roy. Their plane is shot down by a missile and crash-lands on Lian Yu. Diggle, Lyla, and Connor rescue Dinah and Rene, while Oliver and Laurel retrieve the plutonium. However, they are confronted by Edward Fyers, Billy Wintergreen and Yao Fei – deceased figures from Oliver's past who were all revived by the island's supernatural energy. Meanwhile, Diggle's party finds Roy, whose right arm is pinned, forcing Connor to amputate it. After William completes the weapon, Lyla activates it and transforms, absorbing the island's energy and causing its revived inhabitants to disappear before entering a portal. She later returns, now calling herself a "harbinger of things to come", and informs Oliver and Mia that the Crisis has begun as the sky turns red.

8. Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four

In a flashback to the planet Maltus 10,000 years ago, Mar Novu experiments with time travel to see the dawn of time, only to accidentally end up in the anti-matter universe and unleash the Anti-Monitor. Following the multiverse's destruction, the Paragons attempt to find a way out of the Vanishing Point and save the multiverse, including Sara Lance, Barry Allen, Kara Danvers, J'onn J'onzz, Kate Kane, Ryan Choi, and Lex Luthor. With Jim Corrigan 's help, Oliver learns how to use the Spectre 's powers so he can rescue the Paragons and strengthen Barry's powers. With his increased speed, Barry drops off the Paragons on Maltus to stop Novu, but gets attacked by the Anti-Monitor and loses the others across the Speed Force. Though the team successfully stops Novu and Barry retrieves everyone, upon reaching the dawn of time, they learn the Anti-Monitor was released, regardless. With Oliver's help, the Paragons engage the god-like being and his shadow demons, holding him off long enough for Oliver to combine the Spectre's powers with the Book of Destiny to reboot the multiverse. Oliver succeeds, but he dies a second and final time, with Barry and Sara at his side. Note: This episode continues a crossover event that begins on Supergirl season 5 episode 9, Batwoman season 1 episode 9, and The Flash season 6 episode 9, and concludes on Legends of Tomorrow ' s special episode.

9. Green Arrow & The Canaries

In 2040, two decades after Oliver's sacrifice saved the multiverse, crime in Star City has been quiet, Mia has led a successful life with her fiancé J.J., and Zoe is alive. When Helena Bertinelli 's daughter Bianca goes missing, Laurel requests Dinah's help in finding her. She then recruits a reluctant Mia, restoring her pre-Crisis memories with Martian technology developed by Cisco Ramon, and manages to convince her to take on the mantle of Green Arrow. Mia, Dinah, and Laurel rescue Bianca from the captivity of her ex-boyfriend Trevor, possessing a Deathstroke mask. Just as Mia learns that he is working for someone else, Trevor sets off the gas line and escapes. Afterwards, Dinah decides to establish the Canary Network. At Oliver's memorial, Mia recognizes the hōzen that William was given as a teenager as a tattoo on Trevor's hand before being tranquilized by masked men who make off with William and leave Mia behind. Concurrently, a mysterious figure ambushes J.J. and uses the same Martian technology to restore his pre-Crisis memories, telling J.J that he "needs him". The episode serves as a backdoor pilot for the spin-off series titled Green Arrow and the Canaries, starring Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy, and Juliana Harkavy. The series was not commissioned.

10. Fadeout

In flashbacks to 2012, Oliver and Diggle track and imprison human trafficker John Byrne, a man on Oliver's list. A flashback to 2014 depicts Oliver stopping Slade Wilson from killing his mother. In 2040, a time-traveling Sara invites Mia to Oliver's funeral. In the present following Oliver's sacrifice while averting the Crisis, Byrne abducts the younger William. Felicity Smoak and Rory Regan return to assist in the search. Amidst said search, Roy proposes to Thea, who accepts. Mia rescues William, spares Byrne, and has him arrested. Diggle and Lyla agree to move to Metropolis, Dinah declines a promotion, and Rene continues being a mayoral candidate. Oliver's friends and family host a private funeral for him, with a revived Tommy, Moira, Quentin, and Emiko also attending. Emiko meets Thea and Moira for the first time and is welcomed to the family. Tommy reveals to Laurel he was married to her Earth-Prime counterpart in this timeline. Felicity meets the future Mia. Later, Diggle witnesses a meteor crash and finds a box containing an object emitting a green light. In 2040, the Monitor takes Felicity to be with Oliver in a "paradise dimension" where he has finally found peace.

Sources and content license

Source and revision history · Exact listed stories combined in catalog order. Sources retain their stated license; formatting and headings adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Arrow season 8. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license