History Recap / ArrowS5E8Invasion

* InsaneTrollLogic: Wild Dog inexplicably blames Supergirl for the invasion of the Dominators, reasoning that she's an alien and now there are bad aliens. Kara never bothers to point out that the Dominators came first.

* SuperheroParadox: Wild Dog considers superpowers evil, because they have (unintentionally or not) caused many problems in the world. Thus, he is first cold towards Cisco, Barry, and Kara because they have super powers, even though he also says that [[NothingPersonal it's nothing personal]]. He gets over it after Barry and Kara save his life.

* TrailersAlwaysLie: The trailer implied this episode's changes to be the result of Flashpoint. [[spoiler: Turns out to be the Dominators' Lotus Machine.]].

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Played with at first, but ultimately adverted. It starts off with [[HollywoodAtheist Curtis]] respectfully telling [[TokenReligiousTeammate Rory]] that he finds a the notion of a Divine Plan put in place by an [[{{God}} All Powerful Being]] hard to believe, but later on it's Rory's knowledge of [[{{Bible}} The Old Testament]] that allows them to find Oliver & Co. due to the fact that the Dominators coding language matches up with the Ancient Hebrew Numerical Alphabet.

* FiveManBand: The captive heroes; Oliver is obviously TheLeader, Diggle is TheLancer, Sara is TheBigGirl, Ray is TheSmartGuy, and Thea is TheChick.

* MilestoneCelebration: Not only part of the epic CW crossover, this is also the show's 100th episode.

* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: Subverted for Sara, as she uses the chance to finally say goodbye to Laurel and alleviate some of the guilt she had for not being there to save her.

* SilentAntagonist: Slade never talks once in this episode due to Manu Bennett not returning.

* WholePlotReference: The episode has essentially the exact same premise as the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE30PerchanceToDream Perchance To Dream]]" as well as the classic Superman story ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'' and in turn, the spin-off episode "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S1E13ForTheGirlWhoHasEverything For The Girl Who Has Everything]]" from fellow ''Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'' program ''[[Series/Supergirl2015 Supergirl]]''.

** Andy Diggle also doesn't appear(he is only mentioned) along with Ra's Al Ghul who was also a prominent Arrow BigBad.

* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: After the Terran prisoners escape by hijacking one of their jumpships, the Dominators launch several ''dozen'' jumpships to pursue them.

* DancesAndBall: Oliver and "Laurel"'s rehearsal dinner and WeddingDay have these.

* RoleReprisal: Creator/JameySheridan, Creator/SuzannaThompson, and Creator/KatieCassidy all return. Subverted by Creator/ManuBennett; as mentioned, Deathstroke here is clearly a stunt double.

** Oliver is only clad in a ModestyTowel before sharing the ShoweOfLove with "Laurel".

** Slade is obviously played by a stunt man, instead of by his original actor Manu Bennett.
** Colin Donnell and Colton Haynes also don't appear, Tommy and Roy only show up as ghosts and memory respectively before Oliver goes into the portal and are obviously C.G.I.

* ArchEnemy: At the climactic confrontation, 3 out of the 5 heroes fight their respective nemesis. Thea fights [[ArchnemesisDad Malcolm]], Oliver fights [[WeUsedToBeFriends Slade]] and Sara fights [[YouKilledMyFather Damien Darhk]]. Only Diggle and Ray are left with fighting the {{Mooks}}, though FridgeBrilliance adds some sense to this; Diggle's most personal fight previously was with his brother Andy, who was a Ghost, while Ray's Superhero origin started after a member of Deathstroke's Blood Cult killed his fiance, so for them the most personal enemy they could face would be figures who represented them.

* TheBusCameBack: Robert and Moira Queen, Laurel, and Slade all return. Malcolm Merlyn also appears having not been seen since Season 4 and Damien Darhk shows up to fight Sara, but all their appearances are subversions because they are all hallucinations.

** In the virtual reality, Ray Palmer is dating Felicity...much as he did briefly in Season 3.

* RoleReprisal: Jamey Sheridan, Suzanna Thompson, and Katie Cassidy all return. Subverted by Manu Bennett; as mentioned, Deathstroke here is clearly a stunt double.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Wild Dog inexplicably blames Supergirl for the invasion of the Dominators.

* ArchEnemy: At the climactic confrontation, 3 out of the 5 heroes fight their respective nemesis. Thea fights [[ArchnemesisDad Malcolm]], Oliver fights [[WeUsedToBeFriends Slade]] and Sara fights [[YouKilledMyFather Damien Darhk]]. Only Diggle and Ray are left with fighting the {{Mooks}}, though FridgeBrillaince adds some sense to this; Diggle's most personal fight previously was with his brother Andy, who was a Ghost, while Ray's Superhero origin started after a member of Deathstroke's Blood Cult killed his fiance, so for them the most personal enemy they could face would be figures who represented them.

* BloodlessCarnage: Oliver getting an arrow in the shoulder by the illusionary Malcolm Merlyn causes him no visible injury.

* ArchEnemy: At the climactic confrontation, 3 out of the 5 heroes fight their respective nemesis. Thea fights [[ArchnemesisDad Malcolm]], Oliver fights [[WeUsedToBeFriends Slade]] and Sara fights [[YouKilledMyFather Damien Darhk]]. Only Diggle and Ray are left with fighting the {{Mooks}}.

* RecycledPremise: Whilst the general idea of a superhero being faced with a world where their origin story never happened isn't original in 2016, it should be noted that this episode is the ''third time'' in less than a year that the Arrowverse has used this plot, after "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S1E13ForTheGirlWhoHasEverything]]" & "[[Recap/TheFlash2014S3E01Flashpoint]]" put Supergirl & The Flash through the ringer.

* FantasticRacism: Wild Dog immediately dislikes Cisco, Barry, and Kara because they have super powers, which he considers evil and thus heroes with them aren't real heroes. He gets over it after Barry and Kara save his life.

** Cisco says that they have to find Oliver and company, and [[Disney/OliverAndCompany he's not talking about the cherished Disney film starring Billy Joel]].

** Amaya doesn't appear despite supposedly being on the Waverider when it comes to rescue Oliver and the others.

** Amaya doesn't appear despite supposedly being on the Waverider when it comes the rescue Oliver and the others.

** At the end, the Waverider (piloted by Nate and Amaya) shows up in the nick of time to rescue the jump ship carrying Oliver and the others.