The CWNo one was more excited than we were when we heard the CW was spinning off characters from Arrow and The Flash into DC's Legends of Tomorrow. And then we saw what the set-up for the series meant for the shows that bore it.
Don't get us wrong, we're still excited, but take a look back at the first four episodes of Arrow's fourth season. Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) has been consumed with deciphering the last message Ray (Brandon Routh) left her before his assumed death, while Laurel (Katie Cassidy) took it upon herself to resurrect dead sis Sara (Caity Lotz), dragging the whole team into the mess of restoring a resurrected soul to its rightful state. And for what? Well, largely to have Ray and Sara's returns to life make sense once its mid-season and they're starring on their own show.
And that brings us to tonight's episode, an event that had even a canceled NBC series invading Arrow's turf with Matt Ryan reprising his role of John Constantine. Turns out Constantine and Oliver (Stephen Amell) met years ago while Ollie was on the island, which led him to call his old friend for help with the demonic disaster roaming the streets of Star City, killing everyone who bears a passing resemblance to Thea (Willa Holland). To restore Sara's humanity and also keep Thea alive, John has to take Laurel and Oliver into another realm, where Sara's soul is being kept—a place that John warns is no joke.
But once he takes them there (and did anyone else wonder why Oliver and Laurel were magically in costume on the other side?), they're faced with a weird room they can't escape, a few apparating ninjas, and a bubbling pit Sara must be pulled out of. That's it. That's the big, dangerous "other side." And they handle it in under ten minutes. The magic felt cheesy and forced, like something foisted on the show to make this resurrection make some sort of sense for Legends of Tomorrow. We're also treated to a Jack from Lost moment when we learn why Oliver has that tattoo on his torso. Turns out John magicked it onto him from his own forearm!
Oh, and Felicity and Curtis (Echo Kellum) finally heard all of Ray's message, ending with the words: "I'm alive." Cliffhanger! Except we all already knew that, so more like: Cliffhanger?
And that's not even mentioning the full episodes of The Flash this season that have been devoted to Legends groundwork, like the search for a new half of Firestorm to fuse with Victor Garber's ailing Martin Stein so he could survive long enough to get spun off. (Hi, Jax! Nice to meet you!) We're not saying that this all hasn't been fun—it has. But once Legends premieres in the spring, what exactly will these shows look like when a majority of their narrative thread is airing elsewhere? We're just hoping it was all worth it.
Are we worrying over nothing or has Legends of Tomorrow set-up overtaken Arrow and The Flash? Sound off in the comments below!
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.