ARROW - Season 7.21

ARROW – SEASON 7, EP. 21:  “Living Proof”

For Team Arrow, everything has caved in on them this season---both literally and figuratively, and it has tested everyone’s resolve to their proverbial breaking points.  Plus, we’re getting to see the consequences of one Felicity Smoak’s actions, and what impact they have on the future of not just Star City, but of her children and the rest of the Arroverse.  


When last we left the team, Emiko and the Ninth Circle had planted a bomb inside a building, and lured Ollie and company into a trap.  She set off the bomb, and buried the team inside a now VERY unstable building.  We open up with Ollie beneath some rubble, trying to recover, get his surroundings, and see if he can get out.  As he assesses his situation, he sees an old friend:  Tommy Merlyn.

Elsewhere in the building, we see Roy recover, and begin to search for the other members of the team, and help them out.  As the rest of the team regroups, they go in search of Ollie.

Felicity and Alena are back at her pad, when they find out there’s been a warrant issued for the team, as the security tape showing Roy killing the two guards was given to them by Emiko, who, of course, covered as an anonymous tip.  They begin ransacking and collecting evidence from Felicity’s computers, and they’re about to arrest Felicity, when she puts her arms around Alena, and sets of a flash bomb, just enough for her and Alena to escape.  

Jumping forward in time, we see Felicity observing a Galaxy One commercial with Derek giving this speech about how great the future will be with their new technology.  Her and the kids talk about how to figure out WHO upgraded the ARCHER program for Galaxy One, and find a way to stop it.  Dinah goes to check in on what’s left of the Canaries, and William has a plan he believes would help, but Felicity will have none of it.  She and William argue about why he abandoned her, and she explains that she and Ollie wanted NONE of this for EITHER of their kids.  William won’t budge and walks off.

Checking back in with Ollie, we see Tommy trying to encourage him to escape.  Ollie does manage to free himself, and begins to search for a way out of the room, while talking to Tommy about needing to stop Emiko.  Tommy reminds Ollie that she’s his sister, but Ollie says she stopped being that the minute she started killing people and decided to destroy the city.  Ollie figures out an escape plan, however, Tommy points to his broken quiver and arrows---he’s weaponless.

Ollie and Tommy continue their conversation, and Tommy tries to reason with Ollie about killing Emiko.  He reminds Ollie of how he’s changed over the years, and learned that killing wasn’t the answer.  Ollie is being stubborn at this point, and refuses to see Tommy’s side of things.

Felicity manages to reestablish contact with the team, and they inform her that they’re trying to find Ollie.  Turns out, he’s on the lower level, but it won’t be easy to get down there.  Plus, she informs them how Emiko exposed them by giving the security footage to the SCPD.  They’re screwed.

Ollie, with Tommy’s help, works on an escape plan.  While floors above, the team is debating their situation.  Everything they worked for to get acceptance is now up in smoke, plus, they’re now fugitives for harboring a criminal.  Amidst some arguing, Roy says that he’ll turn himself in---especially if it means saving the team.  Just then, the generators in the building kick in, but that’s a problem, because, as Felicity explains…the slightest spark will set off an explosion.  They’re off to go shut them down.

The team reaches the boiler room where the generators are, but there’s some lethal gas down there, thus anyone attempting to go down there will die.  They have to find another way to get to the generators, which is what Felicity and Alena do back at the Bunker.  
Floors below, Ollie and Tommy continue their conversation, and argue about how he’s going to get out, knowing that any explosion could bring the building down on him AND the team.  Ollie makes the attempt, but fails anyway.  

Tommy continues to press Ollie about breaking the cycle that his Dad had laid out before him…the situation on the Queen’s Gambit, the Undertaking, Emiko, her mother….it’s an endless loop that Ollie can break.  Ollie rebukes Tommy’s opinion, and says this is just about Emiko.

At the air duct that leads to the generator, they all figure out that they’re not the right size, except maybe Rene or Dinah, to get down there, but Roy sees that it would take too much time, and decides to sacrifice himself for the team.  He heads down to the generators by going through the bad chemicals down there.  It’s a few heartbeats, but the generators go off.  It’s another few beats, before they see Roy reemerge, albeit a tad loopy.  

At the Bunker, Alena and Felicity are surprised by Emiko, and starts shooting up the place.  Felicity admits to her that she’s pregnant.  Emiko says that’s good to know and kills the power with an arrow.  When the power’s back on, she’s gone….but she’s cleaned out the place.

Back in the depths of the near collapsed building, Tommy and Ollie continue their talk.  Tommy tries to reason with Oliver that the only way to break the cycle, and escape, is to let go of his past.  Give his kids a clean slate, and not let them pay for the sins of their father, as Ollie has paid for his.  Ollie says his only plan is to stop Emiko.

Roy and Dinah have a talk.  Roy was willing to take the fall, and willing to die, and asked Dinah why didn’t they let him.  Dinah reminds him that they’re a team, and they stand by each other no matter what.

Felicity and Alena try to get reestablished with the team again, and they talk about what happened.  Felicity had HOPED that she could provide a better future for her kids.  Alena convinces her that maybe she needs to get off the grid…it would be the one option she has to give her kids a better life.

William and Mia talk about their mother, and the decisions her and their father made in order to protect them.  All he wanted to do is come home, but Mia said that, while at first, she was pissed that their mother lied to them, but now she understands.  He feels mad that he was abandoned, and Mia tells him to confront her, and be direct.

The team finally reunites, and they end up bumping into Emiko.  Ollie begins to fight her, as the team tries to escape while battling the Ninth Circle.  In the heat of the battle, Ollie shoots Emiko.  Then, inexplicably, each member of the team falls, and dies themselves.  Then…Ollie wakes up, still trapped beneath the rubble we saw him in at the beginning of the episode.  It was all an hallucination.  However, the Tommy aspect of his hallucination is still there, and urges him to use the best parts of himself to escape.

The team is connected back with Felicity, and they continue their search for Oliver.  She also informs them that Emiko paid her a visit, and made off with the team’s arsenal.  She then receives and alert that there are shots fired at the SCPD, and the new Green Arrow has been spotted.  

We jump into the future once again, where William has a plan, and goes off to enact it, with a little help.  Felicity also makes contact with the one person she knows that got the ARCHER program up and running for Galaxy One:  Alena.  She had sold it to Galaxy One years ago, because she was threatened that the people she loved would be killed if she didn’t.  She’s willing to help take it down she says, but suddenly, they’re surrounded by armed guards from Galaxy One.

William meets with Kevin Dale, and they talk about the new security measures Galaxy One is incorporating, and William wants to be in on it, since he’s got a stake in the company.  He’s also meeting with Rene.  As Dale takes a personal call, Rene and William talk about being exposed, and William tells him he’s downloaded Galaxy One’s database onto his watch.  Too little, too late, though, as they ARE exposed by Dale, and captured as well.

Ollie does manage to break free of the rubble thanks to the team, and they inform him of what’s going on.  As they leave, Ollie turns back, says goodbye to Tommy, and takes off.  One quick trip to the Bunker, and they’re off to the SCPD, where Emiko has taken the weapon, and she plans on using it to destroy the city.  The team catches up to them, and Ollie confronts Emiko, urging her to stop.  They fight, and she’s put down, where she dares Ollie to kill her.  Ollie refuses.  But that’s just enough distraction that Emiko needs to throw a flash in his direction, in order to aid her escape.  Just as Ollie recovers, Diggle tells him they got company as the police are hot on their trail.  Team Arrow is now the hunted.

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Another solid episode from the creative team, as we got a great surprise appearance from the (turns out in spirit), Tommy Merlyn to help Ollie on his quest to escape, and work out his issues.  Meanwhile, we see some slight discord in the team when they find out they’re exposed thanks to Emiko, Alena, of all people, telling Felicity to get OFF the grid…and the future plot finally coming it ITS climax, as we begin to tie the bow on Season 7.

Ollie has struggled for the better part of 7 years, his family issues, trust issues, and everything under the sun.  He’s been about as grim as a certain Dark Knight for a guy who calls himself the GREEN ARROW.  But he’s had a lot on his plate:  Dad was part of a huge conspiracy to destroy the Glades, had an affair from a woman FROM the Glades, had a kid out of THAT, killed the crew member, and burdens Ollie with saving Star City.  On top of that, his Mom gets killed, finds out that his sister is the daughter of one of this enemies, finds out that he has ANOTHER sister, and the man has been a mess.  All of that crap stew has now bubbled to the surface, and it’s caused him to be a bit near sighted at times, as he was in the beginning.  This is where Tommy…his best friend…was a good use of.  Even if he’s in spirit only, it served the purpose well.  Tommy is there as Ollie’s conscience.  The one guy who’s making Ollie face the crap that he’s seen and dealt with.  To show him that he’s keeping the cycle of garbage that his PARENTS (because, yes, Moira does NOT receive a get-out-of-jail free card here, either…I’m just sayin’!), have created, and look at what it’s caused:  Ollie to become a vigilante, his sister to become a terrorist and an assassin, another sister to become the heir to a version of Ra’s al Ghul, the deaths of BOTH the original Laurel Lance AND Tommy himself.  Plus, he’s lost his son, and he’s got a child on the way.  At some point, Ollie has to face these demons down, and break the cycle.  Whether he does or not, and convince Emiko of the same remains to be seen.  But if that is the case, and Ollie DOES have his little “breakthrough”…can he save Emiko from the same fate, or is she too far gone?  

The team’s squabbling in the wake of them being exposed for lying to the police threw a monkey wrench into their future…and the first one to panic was Dinah.  She’s proud to be a cop, and while she works OUTSIDE the law as Black Canary, she STILL respects the system, and looks to uphold it.  What she did in aiding in the cover up for Roy irks her to no end.  Later on, we see how much a burden it is on Roy, and he’s willing to bite the bullet and face the music, but Dinah understands how much this team means to her, and she won’t let Roy make the ultimate sacrifice for their sake.  

William and Felicity’s blow up was bound to happen at some point.  And it needed to be addressed, because it was looming just under the surface, and everytime he wanted to help, she’d refuse.  Felicity in THIS future timeline seems to have forgotten that her kids aren’t kids anymore.  And she needs to let them help.  Because they’re going to do it whether she likes it or not.  Of course, it has disasterous consequences, but she couldn’t honestly stop them.  And hey…who here thought that the person who sold the ARCHER Program to Galaxy One was Alena?  I did.  Go back a couple of episodes when Felicity had just erased the program, and Alena made a backup?  Uh huh…gold star for you on that one.  But it seems she did what SHE did to save those SHE loved….could that be Felicity?  Guess we’ll find out in the finale.

Either way, we got some heavy drama in this episode, and it sets us up for the final showdown between Team Arrow and the Ninth Circle.  And will this exonerate the vigilantes?  And if not…what will that mean for anyone ELSE with a hood or a cape visiting Star City?  I wonder about that.  Would the SCPD be quick to arrest the Flash for racing over the city borders?  I’m curious about the ripple effect of what’s happening in Star City having an effect either in Gotham or even Central City?  

Alright, kids…that does it for episode 21.  Next week---we (hopefully) get all our questions answered, and get some ass-kickin’ action as well.  Please do NOT forget to drop a comment, and subscribe if you have not done so already.

Until next week’s season finale---keep your sights on the bullseye!.