Stephen Amell Is Acting His Butt off on ‘Arrow’s Final Season

Speaking extremely generally, with few exceptions the characters on The CW’s Arrow have spent the past seven seasons working in two emotional realms: moody brooding, and grim determination. Like I said, there have been exceptions, but Arrow is a show that rightly prefers to have its cast deal with emotional trauma through expertly constructed fight sequences and big speeches instead of tearful heart to hearts. Yet two episodes into the show’s final season, it’s clear that Arrow is focused not only on putting Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) through the emotional wringer; Amell is also acting his taut tuchas off, as well.

Spoilers for Arrow Season 8, Episode 2, “Welcome to Hong Kong” past this point.

For a guy mostly known for rocking a salmon ladder like nobody’s business, that’s a big deal. But it’s also clear that where many shows would be resting on their laurels headed into a final (not to mention eighth) season of a TV series, Arrow is going for broke with its final few hours.

Last week’s premiere, “Starling City,” ended with a jaw-dropping sequence where the entirety of Earth-2, an alternate universe, was destroyed by an anti-matter wave. This held the plot significance of surprising fans with the news that the upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover was starting a little early, as well as allowing Oliver to rescue the formerly evil Black Siren, now Black Canary (Katie Cassidy) from the destruction of her universe. At the same time, Amell incisively conveyed the pain of a man who has given up his life and family in order to help the being known as the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) save the universe, only to be presented with alternate universe versions of his deceased family and friends. Particularly for fans who have been watching since Season 1, seeing Olivier interact with his dead mother and former brother in arms played for emotion first, action second was extremely rewarding.

This week’s episode, which found Oliver, Laurel (Cassidy) and John Diggle (David Ramsey) fleeing the wreck of Earth-2 and ending up in Hong Kong, doubled down on the emotional damage the characters were feeling. Cassidy has always carried some of the more emotional storylines on the series, but seeing Black Canary reject the idea that her entire world had literally been destroyed before ultimately, quietly accepting the reality was heartbreaking in all the right ways.

Oliver, though, feels it more than anyone. Towards the beginning of the episode, he describes leaving behind his wife, his daughter, his friends and family in order to save the entire multiverse (or at least try). He lays out everything he’s lost, and the weight he has to bear. That’s not necessarily new territory for Oliver, or Arrow; every season features some variation on the “no, I have to do this alone” trope as the hero sets out to save the day before learning he needs to rely on his friends. What Amell effectively conveys here though is that this time is truly different. Even though he will eventually learn the same lesson (as well Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen, who is dealing with similar issues on The Flash), Oliver Queen is one guy with a bow and arrow. Having someone who is basically a god say that he needs to save the multiverse? And he has to do it alone? For the first time in eight seasons, the trope makes sense.

For Amell’s part, it’s the most real acting I’ve seen on a CW superhero show in… Maybe ever, as his eyes become wet with tears describing his circumstances. It’s hard not to think this is Amell himself wrestling with the weight he has to bear, that Arrow wasn’t just the first superhero show in the Arrow-verse, it also effectively kicked off modern comic book television. Now, after nearly a decade, he has to say goodbye to all of that, bring home the first stage of a movement in a satisfying fashion.

Like Oliver, he has a team behind him —  actors, writers, directors, and other crew. But the weight of it all is very much on Amell’s shoulders. If he stumbles, not only does “Crisis” not work — the ending of Stage 1 of the Arrow-verse stumbles as well. Like it or not, the large majority of a viewing audience judges film and TV by final impressions. Endings matter. The closest analogue (and it’s almost a one to one analogue) is Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark. Same as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Arrow-verse has expanded exponentially over time, and the one guy with excellent facial hair and a chip on his shoulder who started it all is leaving the future of the franchise in good hands. But his ultimate sacrifice needs to stick the landing for it to be satisfying to viewers.

That’s the meta-textual emotion that’s pouring into every word and movement coming from Amell, at least in these first two episodes. The stakes are ludicrously high, and Amell’s performance is very much rising to the challenge, eking raw feeling from every pore and movement. It’s still early going, of course — there’s well more than half the season to go before the end. But as of now, Amell is jumping ably up that acting salmon ladder, and exceeding expectations.

Arrow airs Tuesdays 9/8c on The CW.

Where to watch Arrow