Arrow Season 8 Review: 7 Ups & 2 Downs From 'Present Tense'

1. The Monitor Continues To Confuse (Or Does He?)

This season has had quite an impressive track record when it comes to flooring us with cliffhangers, having successfully utilised its three first episodes to do just that. However, after destroying Earth-2, revealing that Lyla is in cahoots with The Monitor and even bringing the Star City 2040 kids to the present, how would Arrow manage to baffle and confound viewers in the closing moments of its fourth episode?

Well, they only went and had The Monitor confront Laurel and offer her a chance of resurrecting Earth-2. The catch? She had to betray Oliver Queen.

It's hard to know what Mar Novu's overall plan is here. He's been telling us all along that he wants to prevent the Crisis and yet is going out of his way to antagonise the one man that is supposed to be helping him. That being said, it's possible that this isn't The Monitor and that it's actually the Anti-Monitor (notice how his voice sounds vaguely different).

That's why this cliffhanger couldn't have come at a better time. Oliver is doubting The Monitor now, and as a result, so are we. What are his intentions when it comes to Laurel? Is he just testing her, or is this simply the Anti-Monitor attempting to destroy Team Arrow from the inside so that they can't prevent the Crisis? And it's clever to make us wonder if Laurel will betray the Green Arrow because, after all this time, the former Black Siren has finally found the redemption she's been looking for - will she risk it even if it's for all the right reasons?

Provided she doesn't, this is a genius story move. If she does, however, it risks pulling the show's storytelling apart. Nonetheless, it made for another great twist to close another great instalment.

-

What did you make of 'Present Tense'? Tell us in the comment section below.