Arrow, the series that began the Arrowverse, will soon be meeting its end on Tuesday, January 28th –when the eighth and final season wraps up. The Green Arrow-led drama has had a massive final season so far and with only a few episodes remaining, it is surely set to go out with a bang. 2019 was a big year for the series as a whole with several major episodes standing out from both seasons 7 and 8. The seventh season focused heavily on Oliver dealing with the repercussions of his deal with the FBI in season 6 when he agreed to turn in himself in. But with that lasting for a handful of episodes, Oliver was then forced to take on new unexpected blood in the form of his long-lost half-sister Emiko. Once he dealt with all of that, season 8 has had Oliver get ready for the looming Crisis.

Destined to die, Oliver goes down sooner than expected before becoming something else a.k.a. the Spectre. While there are still a few episodes left of the final season, it’s time to take a look at the 10 best episodes of Arrow from 2019 which involves both season 7 and 8.

Living Proof

Who doesn’t love when Colin Donnell stops by the show as any version of Tommy Merlyn? While most fans would be in agreement that they would prefer a Tommy that is alive and permanently around, whenever Donnell does a guest-spot, it has always been pivotal. In “Living Proof,” Oliver begins to see Tommy as a vision that does everything he can to convince the Emerald Archer to remember the best parts of himself.

The best episodes of the series have and always will be whenever the writers explore Oliver from inside his head. Using Tommy as part of that truly helps and this episode is no exception.

Star City 2040

While previous seasons had done full-on flashback episodes at least once per season, the case was different for season 7. The seventh season used portions of episodes to exploring the future of Star City as it followed the next generation of Team Arrow. In “Star City 2040”, fans truly got to spend more time in the future than ever as we followed Mia Smoak and the others.

It was one of the darker storylines of season 7, without a doubt. But seeing the next generation of heroes still fighting the good fight in an extended episode like this one made “Star City 2040” one of the better episodes of 2019.

You Have Saved This City

With the season 7 finale, it became one of the most discussed finales of the series of all time. Not only did the episode have Oliver and Emiko have their final showdown that turned into a partnership against the Ninth Circle, but it also concludes with the death of the Emerald Archer’s half-sister.

Another major highlight is seeing Earth-2 Laurel return and finally having embraced her role as a hero. But the episode also became the final installment for Felicity as a series regular as the finale includes the birth of her and Oliver’s daughter, Mia. But this is where the plot of season 8 was set into motion as a pre-cursor to Crisis as the Monitor reveals that Oliver had to fulfill the end of their deal which involves his death in the multiverse-shake up.

Lost Canary

The long-time question of whether or not Black Siren could be redeemed was finally answered in season 7. The episode “Lost Canary” becomes the show’s closest thing to having a Birds of Prey show for an hour. As Laurel of Earth-2 spirals down again, it is up to Felicity, Dinah Drake/Black Canary, and Sara Lance/White Canary to save the fallen canary’s soul once and for all. The moment when she finally turns to the hero side for good was incredibly satisfying.'

The episode also becomes the first time fans got to see Laurel in the flashforwards as she officially became another Black Canary of Earth-1.

Prochnost

The final season came with one final adventure in Russia with fan-favorite Anatoly Knyazev better known to DC fans as KGBeast. After a long-time clash between the Russian frenemy and Emerald Archer, Oliver and Anatoly share one final adventure together as it also becomes a bit of a healing point for the two of them. It’s highly unlikely that Anatoly will be seen again in the remaining episodes of season 8.

But at least the two of them got to reunite one last time and actually end on good terms, after everything that they had gone through together. This episode also solidifies once and for all that Laurel has left Black Siren behind and is now fully embracing her role as the Black Canary as she turns down the Monitor’s offer in betraying Oliver.

Purgatory

Remember how Lian Yu blew up in the season 5 finale? If you didn’t, then that’s probably a good thing as the island makes one final appearance despite its destruction years ago.

Lian Yu has always played an imperative role in Arrow’s run since the very beginning. Having one final episode with it in “Purgatory” was more than fitting for the final season.

Leap of Faith

The third episode “Leap of Faith” brings back Thea Queen a.k.a. Speedy in one big way as part of the final season. This also became Katie Cassidy’s directorial debut and for a first-time director, the actress did a phenomenal job.

It was also important that Oliver and Thea had the “I will soon die in the Crisis” talk that normal siblings, fortunately, doesn’t need to have.

Reset

The Arrowverse had its third Groundhog Day-inspired episode in the eighth season as Oliver was put in a similar position. Perfectly titled “Reset”, Oliver and Laurel are put to a test by Lyla who is now working with the Monitor to get them to overcome a major obstacle: Quentin’s death.

It becomes a heartbreaking hour due to some powerful performances, but also another fantastic usage of the Groundhog Day concept.

Present Tense

The fourth episode has Mia, William, and Connor stuck in the past with the present Team Arrow and that is when season 8 kicked into overdrive. After having waited for almost a whole season, fans finally got to see Oliver with his grown-up kids which were an emotional roller coaster in itself.

With the team finding out many details about the grim future that waits in 2040, fans got to see the beginning of the timeline starting to change immediately.

Starling City

The season 8 premiere “Starling City” became not only the best season premiere of all time but the best episode in 2019. As the series began getting ready for Crisis on Infinite Earths, we finally see Oliver on Earth-2 getting to meet doppelgangers of people who he had lost on Earth-1.

The episode also sets the stakes perfectly with Earth-2 being destroyed by the end of the hour.