“Arrow” season eight episode two, “Welcome to Hong Kong,” explores the emotional turmoil after the destruction of Earth-2. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) is onto his next mission requested by the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) as he continues to keep fighting his way into keeping his family alive. Let’s recap!
Wake Up — You’re in Hong Kong Now, Oliver
Following the destruction of Earth-2, Oliver wakes up to a familiar place: Hong Kong. He’s awakened by the sight of the Monitor, and he’s not happy with the way Oliver tried to interfere with a parallel earth that is Earth-2. He wasn’t supposed to save Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and now the world that she knows is gone. But that doesn’t stop the Monitor from tasking Oliver with another mission. I’m a little wary about the Monitor. What are his true intentions? He’s been really vague about everything surrounding the Crisis and what’s to come of it. Could he possibly be the Anti-Monitor? Because there is one — you know, that evil version of the Monitor? But anyway, Oliver’s next mission is to bring him a scientist that goes by the name of Dr. Robert Wong.
Oliver does the whole old-fashioned Google search to find him because Felicity Smoak is no longer around with her quick tech tricks.
Laurel Grieves Her Earth
It’s totally understandable with how Laurel is feeling. All the anger and grief isn’t something she can take lightly; her whole earth is destroyed and she wasn’t supposed to survive. That’s when survivor’s guilt kicks in. However, she lashes out on Oliver, and he takes it like he always does, but it’s still angering to watch yet another person blame Oliver for everything that goes wrong. It’s a constant situation he’s been in throughout the series and sometimes it’s just not fair. Instead of helping Oliver with the mission (which she is still having a hard time believing) she storms off on her own to fix things. Laurel goes through the five stages of grief within the entire episodes. She even goes to the point where she holds a tech guy at gunpoint because he is unable to open up a breach to Earth-2. I think the survivor’s guilt that’s eating her inside is because she had her own path of redemption: turning from the former villain to changed hero that was able to form genuine relationships with the people around her. She turned herself around. Can she overcome this? I hope so because they need her.
It’s Tatsu. Oh, and China White!
Remember her? She gave them the Lotus cure in season three and is now Hong Kong’s defender after leaving the Crescent Order. With the help of Tatsu (Rila Fukushima), they manage to find Dr. Robert Wong, only to be interrupted by China White (Kelly Hu), who wants Dr. Wong to herself because he’s the one that recreated the Alpha/Omega virus and she wants it dead and gone. Tatsu tries to find a way with Oliver because she can clearly see he is driven by the guilt of losing Earth-2, and he’s devoting himself so adamantly to this mission, losing himself in his own humanity. China White is offered a trade from Oliver: the virus for the doctor. During the trade off, things don’t go as planned because Dr. Wong is wrapped with an explosive vest and China White is the only one that has the detonator. Tatsu goes after her but the fight turns almost deadly when China White stabs her in the gut. But before she can off her, Black Siren/Laurel comes to the rescue.
Oliver Gets Stubborn Again
After realizing that blindly attempting to obey the Monitor’s orders almost cost Tatsuher life, he doesn’t want to keep obeying him so easily without figuring things out on his own. Typical Oliver Queen move — suspicious of everyone. So instead of giving the doctor to the Monitor, he decides to go back to Nanda Parbat (remember that place?!) to learn more about the Monitor, whose real name is actually Mar-Novu, and if he’s legit/says who he says he is, I have a feeling this won’t go well. What do you think Oliver might find out about him there? Oh, the memories that place has. I’m so curious now!
Who else is working with the Monitor? Lyla Michaels!
Okay, now that was a twist, and she’s been working with him for a while. Lyla (Audrey Anderson) gives the doctor to him instead, but not without her saying she wasn’t prepared for the destruction of Earth-2. If she knew that would happen, she wouldn’t have had Diggle (David Ramsey) go there. This partnership is intriguing; clearly Lyla isn’t one of the bad guys. Maybe she’s trying to be a step ahead?
2040 Future Team Arrow Have Their Own Problems
Connor’s (Joseph David-Jones) brother, J.J (Charlie Barnett), is evil, and his actions are driven by his difficult childhood. Connor tries to reason with him but that doesn’t help. Can Connor get to him before it’s too late? This reminds me of the parallels of Diggle trying to save his own brother, Andy (Eugene Byrd), in season four after he went rogue. Like father, like son — well, adopted son, since J.J is Diggle’s biological son. It’s still the same thing though, of course.
What did you think of this episode of “Arrow”? Share your thoughts with us in the comments. “Arrow” airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW. Catch up on all our “Arrow” season eight recaps here.
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Featured image credit: The CW Network
Shadia Omer is an entertainment writer, pop-culture enthusiast, and an aspiring TV writer. She’s based in San Diego, CA but will always rep being from Houston, TX instead. She watches way too much TV for her own good. With her passion for the TV/entertainment industry, Shadia is working to change the American-Muslim narratives on TV, pushing for authentic and inclusion representation in the media. When she’s not writing, obsessing over her love for pizza and traveling, you can find her on Twitter tweeting about her favorite shows one tweet at a time.