Arrow Season 8 Premiere Review: 10 Ups & 3 Downs From 'Starling City'

1. The Crisis Strikes For The First Time

Oh come on, man. Not Earth-2, damn it!

In a shared universe that contains parallel dimensions, rewrites its own history and consistently cheats death (except when the plot conveniently requires it forget about that), it's easy to lose sight of stakes - they sure have on occasion. Even with an event as major as the Crisis, it's easy to get complacent - especially when they've spent the past year (or five if you include The Flash teases) talking about it. Well, after that ending, the stakes are firmly in sight... the only problem is that Earth-2 no longer is.

Seeing the Anti-Monitor destroy what has been a second home for the Arrowverse over the past five years really solidified the upcoming Crisis as a major game-changer and obliterated the status quo forever.

There is no going back now - for the Arrowverse or Arrow itself - as the end has officially begun. Laurel's home is gone while the fates of some of our other favourite Earth-2 characters has been called into question. And with that, five years of teasing, crossovers and long-form storytelling is beginning to pay off - the Crisis is upon us.

A jaw-dropping ending to what was, quite frankly, an incredible premiere.

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Did you enjoy the Season 8 premiere of Arrow? Tell us what you thought of 'Starling City' in the comment section below.