Arrow Season 8 Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs From 'Welcome To Hong Kong'

3. The Emotional Stakes

'Welcome To Hong Kong' was many things. On one hand, it was a love-letter to Season 3 while, on the other, it was just another mission for Oliver to complete on behalf of The Monitor. However, the one thing that really allowed this episode to break free from the typical 'episode of the week' format was the emotional stakes that is carried - stakes that all stemmed from the annihilation of Earth-2.

Oliver's heartbreak over losing different versions of Moira, Tommy, Dinah and Rene was second only to the feelings of guilt that he had for bringing the Crisis there in the first place. And this served his inability to blindly follow The Monitor's orders incredibly well, as that guilt over people he had previously lost (such as the original Laurel) fuelled his decision to prevent anyone else, such as Earth-2 Laurel, from dying this time around.

But when it comes to emotion, this episode belongs to Laurel herself, as the villain-turned-hero's struggles to accept the loss of Earth-2 provided us all with a chance to see real character development in response to consequences on a show that, in the past, has happily skipped over consequences whenever it can.

Moreover, this character-driven arc propelled Laurel to step up and assist Oliver with his mission, as her subsequent rescuing of Tatsu was, in a way, the final test on her path to complete redemption - a test she successfully completed. And now, the Crisis has to face the wrath of a very angry and, more importantly, heroic Black Canary.