Review of Arrow Season 4 Episode 8: Legends of Yesterday
This week was the best episode of Arrow I have seen this entire season, and was a great end to the crossover event this season. Many of the reasons that the Flash episode wasn’t as good this week was because it was gearing up for this episode. The character development was fantastically balanced with the action and plot; it was so engrossing I barely wrote any notes for the episode.
The characters were great together as always, seeing Malcolm is fantastic and I am very interested to see why he took the ashes of Vandal Savage towards the end of the episode. Barry being the comic relief for the Flash/Arrow team works well and contrasts so well with his anxiety towards the end of the episode. Seeing Oliver’s subplot evolve in this episode was fantastic since we really got to see Oliver deal with some trauma unlike we have ever seen before. Personally I didn’t like his decision both times around, as I love Oliver and Felicity at the moment and I don’t want their relationship to become rocky again. I understand why the writers are doing this but I don’t like it. It does bring out the best of both Emily Bett and Stephen Amell though. Seeing Cisco and Kendra talk and work through the feelings was fantastic and I am so glad their relationship was ended cleanly but with enough subtext to be able to continue it if wanted.
The plot of this episode was absolutely fantastic. Right of the bat I was nto expecting the time travel sequence and it blew me away that they did it to begin with. Early in the episode though, the ancient Egyptian setup was well done and I enjoyed it immensely. The amount of budget that went these two episodes was enormous and well spent. I love seeing all the geeks together and it makes me happy to see people get so happy about things that I find interesting. I love Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s armor and weaponry and think that it looks great on them. Their fights between each other were great as was their dialogue, but during the scenes in ancient Egypt, their mannerisms did not fit the time period, but that was much of a muchness in the grander scheme of things. I loved the introduction of Nth metal and the way they explained it, it fit well with the path that the show was taking towards the Hawkman/Hawkgirl saga and I look forward to seeing if they develop it. I do miss that they are not Thanagarians. During the first final fight I was actually impressed by Laural’s scream (but only slightly) and I thought the fight scene went down well. As I said I did not expect the time travel moment but I like the way it was handled and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I look forward to seeing more of all of these characters in Legends of Tomorrow. I was hoping to see Riphunter this episode but there was enough in this episode to satisfy me.
Overall I loved this episode and I definitely feel it is the best episode of Arrow this season. The characters were great and I loved the action. The small reference to Superman in this episode blew my mind and I am so glad that it happened. If you didn’t hear it, it was a small remark that Oliver made when Thea remarked about how they were hiding out in a barn. The fact that Superman exists in this universe and Oliver knows him (he has to know if he knows about hiding on a farm) makes me very happy.