The final bow has been drawn for Arrow and fans are still mourning. While the series finale closed off a lot of character arcs, we wanted to go over some of our favourite moments…
Goodbye, Arrow. Wow. Those are words we never thought we would say. The final bow has been drawn on the series that birthed the appropriately coined Arrowverse. Having spun off sister shows, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, the show had its ups and its downs, but looking back, it changed the dynamic that is the Superhero genre.
We’re still really behind on Arrow, but we couldn’t help but tune in for the finale. Here are a few of our thoughts.
The Flashbacks
Arrow is renowned for using flashbacks before jumping into flash-forwards in Season 7. Just for this episode, we got a look at how the show was back in the day. It was also nice to see Oliver sharing time in those sequences with his BFF Dig when he was a bloodthirsty killer who wanted to cut crime from Starling City (before it became Star City).
Dead Characters Are Alive Again
Since Oliver sacrificed himself to create a new multiverse, many of the characters who died due to his actions in previous seasons came back from the dead. Here’s a list of those we know walking amongst the living again:
- Moira Queen
- Emiko Adachi Queen
- Tommy Merlyn
- Quentin Lance
Though, there were characters missing:
- Robert Queen
- Samantha Clayton
- Laurel Lance (Earth-1)
- Malcolm Merlyn
From a story standpoint we need to think about why Oliver wouldn’t have bought them back.
While we don’t know why certain characters weren’t brought back we can work out an answer for some of them.
Robert’s sacrifice was the whole reason Oliver started his journey to become the Green Arrow.
Samantha’s death pushed him to become a better father to their son.
Laurel’s death pushed Oliver to realise that not even heroes are avoid death.
Barry And Kara Pay Their Respects
We knew Barry would make an appearance in the episode because he appeared in a photo released the week before. However, we had no idea that Kara would show up until the episode aired.
Oliver had known Barry for at least seven years and he and Barry had known Kara for about four years since she fought alongside him, Barry, and the Legends against the Dominators. Though, he was uncomfortable with her at first as she was an alien though he warmed up to her.
Seeing Barry and Kara was a really nice touch to the episode and it was awesome to see Barry embrace Mia and Felicity. And yes, we see Kara hug Felicity.
Laurel Struggles And Tommy’s Revelation
Earth-2 Laurel has really come full circle since she arrived from her former Earth and killed a bunch of people. We see her in this final episode really struggle as she thought since Oliver brought back Quentin, he might’ve brought back the original Laurel.
Quentin tells her that she is just as much as his daughter as his Laurel was which results in a heartfelt hug between them.
At Oliver’s funeral, Tommy reveals to the new Laurel that he was married to the original Laurel before her Earth-Prime counterpart’s death. We also detected a bit of a spark between Earth-2 Laurel and Tommy. Perhaps this will be addressed in Green Arrow & the Canaries if it goes to air.
Thea And Roy
You cannot have the final bow without finishing off story arcs. One of the stories that wrapped up was Thea and Roy’s epic romance. For the last eight years, they’ve been on and then they’ve been off. However, they’ve never stopped loving each other.
Despite everything that has happened between them, Roy still wanted Thea. So, what does he do? He proposes, of course! It takes a little while but Thea says YES! Woo!
Emiko Meets Moira And Thea
We never imagined that Emiko would meet her stepmother and adoptive sister. However, seeing them meet was just so beautiful to see. Thea refers to her as her sister and Moira say she is always welcome at the Queen Mansion.
Dig Becomes A Green Lantern
One fan theory people had was that John ‘Dig’ Diggle would become a Green Lantern. The last time we see John, he is about to join his family in Metropolis when he is hit by space debris. He pulls something out of the crater and opens it before a bright green light engulfs him.
According to Marc Guggenheim, DC Entertainment gave them parameters of what they could do in regards to Dig becoming a Lantern. David Ramsey (Dig) agreed to say there was only so much they could do and talk about.
Though, there was a massive giveaway in Season 7 where Ernie Hudson played Dig’s stepfather, Roy Stewart who in the comics is John Stewart’s grandfather. Also, there are several things they could do with Dig’s character if they choose to. We’ll cover that in a later article.
The Kidnapping of William Moves Over Into The Past
One small plot thread from the backdoor pilot for Green Arrow & the Canaries saw Mia’s brother, William kidnapped in the final few seconds of the episode.
In the series finale, a younger William is kidnapped by one of the guys Oliver didn’t kill during the early days of his vigilante career. According to this guy, Oliver came close to killing him but didn’t and instead, had him thrown in Iron Heights and made his life hell.
Mia goes after him to save her brother and doesn’t kill him either, preferring to follow her father’s example to throw him back into Iron Heights.
While William’s kidnapping here doesn’t resolve his kidnapping in the future, it was a nice way to have him ‘meet’ the future version of his sister. Later, we see Mia showing him the different parts of the bow.
#TheFinalBow
When it was announced the final bow for Arrow would be Season 8, it was like saying goodbye to an old friend we would never see again. Once the episode was over, we felt some relief, but at the same time, sadness. While we are still behind in episodes, watching the backdoor pilot for Green Arrow & the Canaries, mentally prepared us for what was to come.
