ARROW - Season 7.22

ARROW – SEASON 7, EP. 22:  “You Have Saved This City”

Team Arrow has faced many dangers and trials in their time together, but this is, no doubt, been their most difficult test to say the least.  Family is on the line, legacy is on the line, LIVES are on the line…what will the future hold for the team as the Ninth Circle and Ollie’s sister Emiko plan their assault on Star City to bring it to the ground?

We leave off where we were last episode, with Team Arrow caught on the roof of the SCPD, and the cops bearing down on them, looking to arrest them.  A quick flash bomb allows the team to escape and make their way back to the Bunker, where they plan their next move, and discuss the issues at hand:  exposed as liars, the cover up, and the police looking to arrest them.  Their reputations tarnished, their real lives in jeopardy.  But help is on the way in the form of Curtis and Laurel.  Ollie and Felicity have a moment, and he talks of trying to end the cycle of destruction that has claimed both him AND Emiko.

We hop forward to 2040, where Felicity and the team try to plot their final move on Galaxy One to destroy ARCHER.  However, they’re captured.  That doesn’t sit well with Mia, who instigates a fight, and the team takes up the battle.  They win, thanks to Connor being in disguise.  Now they just need to find William.  Speaking of which, he and Rene are being led down a hallway, discussing the plan they put into place, when they get to an elevator, it explodes, and Zoey appears to rescue her dad and William.  

We quickly shift back to the present, where the team tries to figure out Emiko’s next move.  They figure out she’s got a bomb located in a building, which has been evacuated.  The team scrambles, and gets to the building, where they’re met with resistance by both police AND the employees of the building.  Bronze Tiger shows up out of nowhere to lend assistance to the team.  They take out the cops when drones rise up and start moving around, spraying a virus at various people.  They manage to take out the drones, but not without a few casualties.  This is Emiko’s warm up act.  Back at the Bunker, a news report puts Team Arrow as the instigators of the attack.  They’re outlaws yet again.  Rene decides that if Emiko is serious about destroying the city, he needs to get Zoey to safety.  They agree, and Diggle offers to make sure Tiger’s son Connor is safe too.  He’s grateful.

Jumping forward in time once again, it turns out that Felicity put a backdoor virus into ARCHER, and it has to do with the fact that Mia’s fingerprints are the key.  She officially doesn’t “exist” because there are no records of her.  So, if she can get into the Tower, and place a bomb in there, they can take it out.  Felicity isn’t keen on the plan, but William assures her that he can guide her through the building, and Mia tells her Mom she can do it.  Roy then says that if she’s going to go, take these---handing her Oliver’s bow and quiver.

Quickly back to the present, the team is on the hunt for more drones, but they’re all over the place.  The one place she’s holed up is PalmerTech, where she plans to destroy the building, because it USED to be Queen Consolidated (I have a point to make later here), hence her finally bringing everything related to Oliver Queen and the Queen family down, thus ending the Queen Family legacy.  At Palmer, Virgil and the rest of the Ninth Circle are not too keen on Emiko’s actions…preferring to settle her personal vendetta over their overall plans to destroy Star City.  She reminds him just who is in charge.  She says that Oliver Queen is going to suffer.

The team finally makes its way into PalmerTech, looking for Emiko, the bomb, and the virus itself.  Oliver turns to Roy and gives him and arrow, telling him to do what it takes to stop the weapons, as he’s on the hunt for Emiko.  

We jump ahead once again, and Felicity fixing a gadget to help stop ARCHER.  Felicity talks with Dinah and Rene, and feels she failed the kids, and this was NOT the life she wanted for the kids.  Rene talks about how well Zoey turned out, and that she didn’t fail.  She did what she had to.  Plus, they tell her the kids are adults now, and they can handle themselves.  They go to work.

Ollie is still hunting Emiko, while the team is taking on the Ninth Circle.  Surprisingly, they get help from the police, once they figured out what’s REALLY going on.  Dinah orders the cops and everyone to evacuate the building.  Ollie finds Emiko and they face off.

Emiko tells Ollie it’s the end of the line, and goes to press the button on the detonator to set off the bomb, but it doesn’t go off.  She says she doesn’t need a bomb to kill Ollie.  The fight is on.

To the future we go, as Mia works her way through the Galaxy One building, while William is keeping tabs.  However, she’s caught as she uses her handprint to set off the backdoor virus.  A battle ensues, and they get back Kevin Deal and his goons.  William is upset that the virus didn’t activate, and didn’t take down ARCHER.  He feels he failed, but they press on.

A quick cut back to the present, where Ollie and Emiko are deep in battle, when Ollie gets the best of her.  She says she wants to destroy Star City and everything the Queens stand for.  Ollie says he wanted to kill her after he found out SHE let the Queen’s Gambit sink, SHE allowed their father to die, and that she allowed her mother to die by joining the Ninth Circle.  Her decisions led her down this path…the same as it did Ollie.  He tells her it’s time to put an end to it.  Just then, Virgil and one of the other members of the Circle said that now that they’re exposed, their plans to destroy Star City are out in the open, and they can’t have that.  Emiko tells them SHE is the Ninth Circle, and she gets a knife thrown into her gut for her troubles.  The Circle surround them, and it’s into battle once more.  With Ollie and Emiko fighting side by side.  

To the future once again, as Mia cuts a swath to reach the Tower to disable ARCHER.  We jump back to the past to see Virgil tell the group to set off the bomb while Ollie and Emiko battle the Circle.

We see Mia make the Tower, and she puts the detonator on the screen.  A slight hesitation follows as she tells William to look after their Mom.  She sets off the bomb, and she has 60 seconds to bail out.

We come back to the present as we see the bomb has gone off, and Emiko is mortally wounded.  She apologizes to Ollie, and he forgives her, but because the Ninth Circle is so dangerous, she tells him that his family will die if they don’t go into hiding.  She tells him she knows about his baby.  And she finally dies.

Mia makes her escape, albeit barely, as the walls surrounding the Glades are blown up, along with the Tower.  Meanwhile, in the present, we see her father barely escape the explosion from PalmerTech.  He looks up…knowing his sister is gone.

Things settle down at the Bunker, as the team has been cleared, and things are stable…for now.  But now, decisions are made, and Ollie and Felicity decide it’s time to go.  To save themselves and William, they need to leave.  Ollie feels he’s leaving the city in good hands.  Curtis takes off, and Bronze Tiger bids his farewell.  Roy feels it’s time to clear his head, and eventually get back to Thea.  The team, in this form, is disbanding, but promise to keep tabs on each other.  Thus, the Mark of Four is created.  Ollie feels that his true legacy has been the team itself, and the good it has done.

In the future, we see that Felicity, Dinah, Roy, and Rene will be considered fugitives, and will take the blame for the collapse of the Glades.  They decide to pass the torch down to the youth, feeling that they will keep the city safe in the future.  As they all depart, Felicity says she has one more thing she has to do.

Ollie and Felicity talk, feeling that it was a good idea to hide her pregnancy from the rest of the team…for now.  Diggle says that they have a chance to raise their daughter in a good environment.  Thus, they are taken to a safe house…the one we saw at the beginning of the season, that’s protected by ARGUS, and they’ll be safe.  The Bunker is officially shut down.

We get a montage of Ollie and Felicity’s time in isolation, and Mia’s eventual birth.  Afterwards, they both talk about bringing William home, when there’s a noise.  Ollie goes to check, and it’s the Monitor.  Ollie thought he had more time, but knows that it’s finally come.  The Monitor knows that he’s seen Ollie die in the future.  Felicity isn’t thrilled about what’s going on, but Ollie said this was the deal he made to save Barry and Kara from dying.  The CRISIS is at hand.  

We jump ahead once again, and Felicity says that it’s for the best that the kids be on their own, and that communication will not be possible.  She hugs her kids and tells them that she loves them and is proud of them.  They also say goodbye to Ollie, looking at his gravesite.  In the present, Ollie tells her to promise him to keep the kids safe.  He takes off with the Monitor after a final tender moment, and final promises to each other.

We jump ahead into the future one last time, where we see Felicity walking alone, and finally meeting up with the Monitor.  She tells him she’s ready, and he says that the place she’s going, there’s no coming back.  She understands, and he opens a portal, and off they go.  Goodbye Felicity Smoak.  

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Wow.  I have mixed emotions about this episode.  A lot went down, and some of it will STILL take awhile to process as we head into the summer break.  But let’s see what I can do, eh?

Well, right up front---we KNEW this is was Emily Bett Rickards’ FINAL episode of Arrow, and I was quite surprised how she departed the series….but it wasn’t in a BAD way.  It’s interesting that they tied the CRISIS in right at this moment, but I think ARROW runs a little further in time than say, FLASH, LEGENDS, and even SUPERGIRL does (though she’s on a different Earth).  The ending with the Monitor is somewhat of a different ending than what appeared in the comics, but, they took the same premise…only in the comic, is was the original Superman being reunited with Lois, and Superboy and Alexander Luthor heading into the unknown (Spoiler Alert…get over it).  But it was a bittersweet, sad, and yet, appropriate way to write Felicity off the show.  We only have 10 episodes left of Ollie’s journey before we see his final fate in CRISIS.  So…that’s a bit of a spoiler in and of itself.  However, with the series ending, honestly couldn’t avoid it.

Okay…Emiko dying.  I was REALLY hoping they weren’t going to bump her off.  HAD they decided to keep the show going, she could’ve EASILY slipped into that role….but I guess they felt that her character was far too gone on the evil side for her to be redeemed….except in death.  Such a shame, though, because they could’ve had some fun with that.  But, with the show ending, this was the only way her story comes to an end.  And hey---I watch LEGENDS, and Neron’s plan to overthrow the Earth and bring Hell to the surface, he’s shacked up at PalmerTech, impersonating Ray.  Now…if PalmerTech is destroyed, just WHEN in the HELL did the LEGENDS story take place?!  I know there are SOME slip ups to happen now and then, but let’s be REAL here---not that hard to keep track of these things.  That’s going to nag me all summer.

Interesting how Ollie and Felicity decided to keep the pregnancy secret from the rest of the team…outside of Laurel (who figured it out), Emiko, and Diggle.  Was that to keep Mia safe, and make sure the team didn’t falter in giving up that info?  Just another curious writing decision.

Ollie and Emiko’s family is one of tragedy…and it carries over into the children.  I wonder what Ollie and Felicity said in regards to Emiko?  Did they lie and say she was a hero?  Do they know about their Aunt?  And the future sequences definitely wrapped up a story that was sad at best.  We now get the role reversal with William the brain, and Mia the muscle.  Add Connor and Zoey, and the future has new heroes to keep the city safe.  Again, had they continued the show, this would’ve been ANOTHER great spin on it…and seen new stories featuring the kids.  Again…a lost opportunity.

Either way, it has been one hell of a ride this season, and I appreciate you being on it with me.  It’s been a blast reviewing the Emerald Archer’s adventures this season, and look forward to the final 10 episode stretch in the final season.  Again, please subscribe and leave a comment.  What was your favorite parts this season?  Did you like the way it ended?  Let me know.  

Until our final 10 episode run next season….keep your sights on the bullseye!