Arrow: Star City 2040 (7x16)

This episode is going to be hard to give a number at the end, because I think it had tons of problems, but it also contained so many things I've been waiting for, and really escalated the story.

Cons:

I remember when William first found Roy on the island, I was so, so excited to see him. He's been one of my favorite characters from day one. And I still love Roy, but he's ridiculously underutilized in this story. He's just kinda... there. Nobody's talking about Thea, which is weird, and also he doesn't seem to add any additional skills or insight that wasn't already being provided by Dinah or any of the other characters. I'm so happy to see him, I just wish he had more to do!

Did I miss something about Connor that I'm supposed to know? He's John and Lyla's son, right? Why does he keep talking about being "adopted" by his parents? This isn't really a complaint, I suppose... maybe someone can fill in the missing gaps for me.

I don't want to be overly critical of the visual effects on this show, because... well, come on. But I do have to mention that the "twenty years later" thing is kind of hilarious, when you've got Dinah, Rene, and Roy looking significantly older, and then Felicity has a haircut and very slight crow's feet that you can only see on close-up shots. And William should be in his mid-thirties, but he's playing the character like he's in his twenties, and doesn't seem all that older than Mia. I'm just saying, they could have worked a little harder to be consistent about these things.

Pros:

But finally, things are heating up! The whole team is together, Rene has come to his senses, they've found Felicity, and they're taking on Galaxy One, fighting bad guys, saving the city, and looking cool while doing it. After weeks and weeks of little flash-forward snippets with several reveals all building up to... something, it's great to finally start in on the something.

This episode did a lot for Mia's character. I'm glad that this episode chose to slow down at certain points and really focus on her development. She grew up isolated, raised by Felicity, alone and without Oliver, training to defend herself but not allowed to really explore the outside world. (Side note: it was AMAZING to see Nyssa again, if only for a second. I hope we see more of her very, very soon). Felicity is doing the age-old thing where she hides information from her child "for her own good," and ends up causing a rift in their relationship as a result. There are a couple of reasons why this somewhat cliche plot element doesn't annoy me, though. For one, how often do we see mother/daughter relationships get this much focus in a genre show? I'm so happy that we're exploring the intricacies of Felicity and Mia's dynamics. Secondly, Felicity's paranoia feels earned. We all know what she's gone through over the years, and we also know that obviously something big happened that either killed Oliver, or at least separated them semi-permanently. It makes sense that Felicity would go too far to protect her daughter, just like Oliver has done so many times to protect the people he loves.

There was also a great sort of thesis statement in this episode, about what it means to be a hero. Mia scapegoats vigilantes, buying in to the propaganda and blaming vigilantes for her isolated upbringing and her broken family. And when it comes down to it, Felicity chooses to remain in danger to save Star City, instead of escaping with Mia. Mia is justified in being a little bit pissed off by this, but ultimately, with Connor's help, she's able to realize that her mother is a hero, despite some less-than-ideal parenting decisions.

Another relationship that got a good deal of development here was Mia and William's. I like seeing their sibling bond begin. William is clearly so happy to have a sister, and Mia can't lie to herself either: she cares about William. It was smart to show that Mia, while always a bad-ass, wasn't always so cold and intense. That's a consequence of her rift with her mother, and being around William is slowly starting to defrost her. I really liked that. I think my favorite "sibling" moment was when William flirted with the evil Galaxy One business guy, and Mia made fun of him for it. That was just hilarious. I was really hoping William would need to seduce the guy to save the day, but alas they went for the action-oriented climax instead of comedy.

I honestly think it was quite smart that Oliver was barely in this episode. The entire thing takes place in the flash-forwards, except for book-ended scenes. One shows Felicity giving birth to Mia, and then Oliver and Felicity leaning over their new baby. And then at the end, we see Felicity create "Archer," the supercomputer security system that she's been toying with all season. I hope that this episode was the catalyst that will speed up the pace for the remainder of the season, because I'm really excited about a lot of these plot points, and I don't want it to all get lost in the shuffle!

8/10