Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

Arrow feels like its over. Similar to Supergirl’s season 3 finale, the season realized they were wasting time with Emiko Queen, Ricardo Diaz, Longbow Hunters, and The Ninth Circle. The first half of the season seven (series in a way) finale was dedicated to wrapping up the loose ends called Emiko and the Ninth Circle to propel the series into its rushed goodbyes. The season might as well admit they had no idea what to do with Emiko, and that’s going to be a separate post entirely. Emiko Adachi (Queen) had tons (3000) of story potential, and the dynamic between her and Oliver was working towards something, but the series chose to kill her off, taking the power away from Oliver’s decision to not kill.

The second half of the episode had a lot of goodbyes inter cutted with a rushed flash forward sequence. Of course, I cried. This show means everything to me, especially Oliver Queen, but that’s a different blog post in progress. Team Arrow is absolved of the blame, Roy Harper came back only to leave again (did I mention “rushed” yet?), and Oliver and Felicity leave to the safe house in order to protect their daughter, Mia from the Ninth Circle wishing to kill her(?). I put the question mark because this wasn’t super detailed, and it got muddled in Emiko’s final words. The show had an end goal, and it did whatever it could to place our characters where they needed to go.

The best part comes soon afterwards. The Monitor from the “Elseworlds crossover” arrives to retrieve Oliver because The Crisis is coming. Again, the emotional moments are beautiful and Stephen Amell’s performance elevated in almost every scene, almost as if to compensate for the bad writing. Knowing Felicity was leaving in this episode also made the goodbye so much stronger. I hated Felicity since 3+4, but not season five, and then afterwards, but she has been the greatest addition. It’s honestly sad she’ll miss the final season.

The flash-forward story was a mess throughout the entire season. I did love the sad ending with Felicity, William, and Mia standing in front of Oliver Queen’s grave. It gave the series an overall series finale vibe, and a way to initiate a “back-door pilot” involving the New Team Arrow while setting them up as the new heroes in the final season (they are confirmed to be in the final season).

Hopefully, season eight is Oliver and The Monitor setting up Crisis while the flash-forward story parallels Oliver’s desire to leave a legacy behind for his children and the other superheroes (Barry, Kara, and Sara deserve separate goodbye scenes in Crisis). The final season is essentially setting up an entirely different show if they go down this route, which is honestly the best way to do end Arrow on a high note.

I’m ready for the last 10 episodes.

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