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

9. The Callbacks To Season 1

When everyone from the cast to the creative team told fans that the Season 8 premiere was going to be a love-letter to both the pilot and Season 1, they really meant it.

'Starling City' as a whole may have focused on Oliver's attempts to retrieve the Dwarfstar particles but all those fantastical elements only served as background noise to an episode that felt very much like it belonged in the show's first season.

You spot the Season 1 title card? What about a certain superhero's mask in place of Deathstroke's on Lian Yu? Tommy's planned Undertaking? The way in which he tied Oliver up? The rooftop battle with the fate of Starling City on the line? Heck, even the episode's entire plot. All references to the show's debut season - particularly the pilot and finale.

Throw in the returning faces, the family-centric story and the Season 1 score and it was hard not to get nostalgic at the beauty of what we were watching unfold. That more than anything, left this writer with a bittersweet feeling because, in remembering how good the show once was (and clearly still had the potential to be), it makes its impending conclusion all the more saddening.