'Arrow' Season 8 fans finally find the flash-forwards fulfilling as Episode 3 lays the foundation for the upcoming spin-off
Spoiler alert for Season 8 Episode 3 of 'Arrow'
'Arrow' has, for many years, interspersed its episodes with flashbacks to Oliver Queen's (Stephen Amell) time before he returned to Starling City.
When the flashbacks caught up to the present, the show took audiences by surprise by introducing flash-forwards that told the stories of Oliver Queen's children, and the next generation of the Arrowverse.
Until now, it had not been a popular move. Fans have been quite vocal about their disinterest in the exploits of a future team, especially as it seemed irrelevant to the events of the current day — unlike earlier flashbacks, which revealed important facts about Oliver's backstory.
The flash-forwards' irrelevance, however, was reversed in a major way in the final moments of Episode 3 of Season 8 of 'Arrow'.
While it has not been explained how, Oliver Queen's two children — William Clayton (Ben Lewis) and Mia Smoak (Katherine McNamara) — as well as their teammate, Connor Hawke (Joseph David-Jones) were pulled from their future and into the present.
The kids from the future had been battling the Deathstroke Gang, and were dealing with the death of Zoe Ramirez (Andrea Sixtos) just as they were pulled through time in a flash of light to Arrow's headquarters. A similar light pulled Oliver Queen from his global travels to the exact same spot.
Fan reactions have been ecstatic! One Reddit user expressed hope that this means the end of the storyline focusing on the future, as the characters are now in the present. "No more future storyline? No more future storyline!!"
Another user reluctantly admitted that all the flash-forward scenes leading up to this moment were worth it. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but that ending... it makes me forgive the flash forwards a little."
With the upcoming, untitled spin-off announced involving child-of-the-future Mia Smoak, the pathway to the show's backdoor pilot has never been more clear.
Two of the show's main characters — Earth 2 Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Mia Smoak are, at the same time on the same Earth, with the third being on a time-traveling spaceship. Once Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz) joins them in the present, the spinoff's cast is all but set.
The next episode of 'Arrow', 'Present Tense' will air on The CW on November 5.