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

1. Robert Queen, Where Are You?

Earth-2 may have been in the safe hands of Black Canary and The Hood, but it was the latter's existence that raised a few eyebrows. While it's totally plausible that this earth would have its own variation of the Emerald Archer, it's his identity that threw well-researched fans off.

Indeed, it was Earth-2's version of Adrian Chase that had taken up archery for the good guys, and that was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise (more on that later). However, what didn't make sense is that the Starling City vigilante had already been unmasked.

If you cast your minds all the way back to The Flash's Earth-2 two-parter in its second season, you might recall a news report that revealed The Hood was none other than Robert Queen - who had survived the sinking of the Queen's Gambit.

So the question is: Why was this never referred to in 'Starling City'? Surely someone should have pointed out that Chase was the second Hood? And, more importantly, why didn't Moira reference it? In fact, why was she married to Malcolm when her husband was apparently still alive?

Sure, you can overlook it if you want as it's unlikely to impact your enjoyment of the episode whatsoever, but it does feel like a major discrepancy that created more than a couple of plotholes.

Now, for the positives...