The Monitor sends Oliver, John, and Laurel to Hong Kong.
Tropes
- All-Powerful Bystander: Discussed; John wonders aloud about why the godlike Monitor needs Oliver to act on his behalf. The ending implies that he has plans for Oliver beyond just acting like an errand boy, which would justify the approach.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: JJ’s men invade the Arrowcave and kidnap William.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Inverted when Oliver expresses sadness due to the death of the Dinah and Rene from Earth-2.
- Batman Gambit: JJ plays to Team Arrow's expectations (that he's trying to fence stolen items from Vasquez's vault) to distract them while his gang raids the Bunker and kidnaps William.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Tatsu saves Oliver and John from a bunch of Triads who have them at gunpoint.
- Lyla saves John during the fight with China White's men.
- Laurel saves Tatsu from being killed by China herself.
- The Bus Came Back: Tatsu and China White return.
- Call-Back: The episode is full of references to Season 3's flashbacks, as that's when Oliver was last in Hong Kong.
- Oliver and John visit the same internet cafe Flashback!Oliver tried to use to contact his family. John reveals that it's a front for an ARGUS safe house.
- Doctor Wong has recreated the Alpha/Omega virus, and China White is once again after it.
- Oliver and Tatsu talk about Maseo's plan to give China White the Alpha-Omega virus ten years ago, and how it failed.
- Tatsu warns Oliver that single-mindedly following a mission will corrupt him, as it did when he went after General Shrieve. She also draws a parallel between Oliver being coerced into working for the Monitor now, the same way he was coerced into unquestioningly obeying Amanda Waller ten years ago.
- In a reference to Season 4, Tatsu reveals that she was kicked out of the Order of the Lotus after giving Team Arrow the antidote for Thea's Lazarus Pit illness.
- In reference to China White being the first major villain the Hood fought, Oliver says to China White that "You and I have been enemies since the very beginning."
- Canon Character All Along: Lyla Michaels (codenamed 'Harbinger') seemed to be an original character who just happened to share the name of a character from the ''Crisis on Infinite Earths" comic. But this episode reveals that she is in fact an adaptation of the Harbinger character from the original story, and like her comic-book counterpart, she's working for the Monitor.
- The Chessmaster: The Monitor isn't relying solely on Oliver to prepare for the impending Crisis; he's also recruited Lyla, who is working with Novu without Oliver's knowledge.
- Dual Wielding: Tatsu now uses two katanas at once, mainly so China White can get hold of one so they can have a Sword Fight.
- Elevator Action Sequence: Oliver fights a few chinese guards at The Alcatraz he is breaking in to get info on Dr Wong.
- Expendable Alternate Universe:
- Averted. The deaths of everyone on Earth 2, particularly the doppelgangers of Moira, Tommy, Adrian etc., is treated with the appropriate depth. In particular, the episode focuses on Laurel's grief over the loss of her entire universe and everyone she loved.
- Deconstructed, as well; The Monitor treats the destruction of Earth-2 as a "necessary sacrifice", showing little regard for the lives lost and simply warning Oliver and Lyla that it was just a taste of what the Anti-Monitor is capable of; the only person who could or would treat the loss of an entire universe with such detachment is a godlike being who has an infinite number of universes to consider.
- Five Stages of Grief: Laurel goes through all of them in this episode: denial (she refuses to believe Earth-2 is gone and tries to get back there), anger (at Oliver and at Chin), bargaining (mingled with denial; she assumes the breach device is broken and tries to get it fixed), depression (her Survivor's Guilt), and finally, acceptance (joining Oliver to help prevent the Anti-Monitor from destroying more worlds).
- Good Is Not Soft: Overcome by desperation and grief, Laurel has no qualms with resorting to threats and torture.
- Hallway Fight: Oliver, John and Laurel have one during the beginning of the episode against Triads.
- Heroic BSoD: Laurel is in shell-shock after realizing that her universe really is gone for good.
- Heroic Rematch: When Tatsu and China fought offscreen during Season 3's flashbacks, China won, resulting in Tatsu's capture. This time, Tatsu wins. Unfortunately, due to her not finishing China off, the latter stabs her with a cheap shot and would have killed her, if not for Laurel.
- Lampshade Hanging: Diggle asks why the Monitor, with all his powers, doesn't just do all the things he tasks Oliver with by snapping his finger.
- Little Sister Instinct: Mia shows this for William when JJ's men attack the Arrowcave and take him prisoner, threatening to kill JJ if he hurts him.
- Living MacGuffin: Dr. Wong is this week’s object of interest to the Monitor opposed to last week’s Unobtanium. The Alpha Omega virus is just a straight MacGuffin though.
- Manly Tears:
- Oliver briefly tears up when he tells Tatsu about all the sacrifices he had to make.
- Connor does too when he emotionally tries to reach out to the man who used to be his brother and best friend.
- Mythology Gag: Laurel discovering that Earth-2 no longer exists is reminiscent of a similar scene in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths story, where Jay and Wally discover that Earth-Two no longer exists.
- The Needs of the Many: Discussed yet again by Oliver. While he has a point that infinite casualties dwarf a handful of people and that Tatsu and John were more than capable of rescuing people, he eventually relents to Take a Third Option as usual.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Monitor accuses Oliver of being responsible for Earth-2's destruction due to meddling.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Turns out the government wasn't happy at all to find out about the Suicide Squad, and even allowed China White to go free in exchange for not going public about it.
- Noodle Incident: The Monitor became known to the Order of the Lotus at some point; their legends about him are how Tatsu recognises Oliver's description of the Monitor.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Tatsu says that she still sees much of Oliver's ruthless self back then and even Amanda Waller in him. It gives him a pause and later leads him to stop just following the Monitor's orders, wanting some answers from him.
- Old Friend: David Chin is an old associate Laurel knew via Cayden James, who is familiar with The Multiverse.
- Poor Communication Kills: The Monitor's refusal to tell Oliver the reasons behind his commands is exactly what makes Oliver hesitant to carry out those commands.
- Redemption Rejection: In the future, JJ ultimately rejects Connor's offer to redeem himself, as he still feels that his brother is making everything about him. He even takes William prisoner.
- The Reveal: The Monitor confirms Earth-2 has been destroyed by the Anti-Monitor.
- Saved by Canon: Connor and JJ's conversation in the flashforward reveals that John was around when they were in school, making it likely that whatever the Crisis has in store, John will make it out alive.
- Survivor's Guilt: Laurel has this after accepting that her Earth is destroyed, feeling after all the things she has done as Black Siren, she doesn't understand why she gets to live and Adrian and all the good people on Earth-2 died. Lyla tells her about her own experience with this in Afghanistan and encourages her not to give up.
- Third Line, Some Waiting: The pace of the episode is a tad slower than last week’s with the addition of a C-plot featuring Laurel and Lyla that eventually loops back into the A-plot.
- Title Drop: China White does a slightly different version as a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner when confronting her long-time foe, the Emerald Archer. "Welcome back to Hong Kong."
- Uncertain Doom: China White is last seen being Canary Cried out of sight by Laurel; whether she survived the attack is left unaddressed at the end of the episode.
- The Unfavorite: JJ was implied to have been this.
- Wham Shot: Lyla meeting with the Monitor, revealing that she's working with him.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- A grieving Laurel rails at Oliver for the loss of Earth-2, briefly blaming his arrival for the tragedy. Once she calms down and comes to grip with what happened, she throws her lot in with Oliver to prevent the same thing from happening to other worlds.
- Tatsu calls Oliver out for being willing to follow the Monitor's orders and negotiate with China White.
