Arrow: Living Proof (7x21)

TOMMY. Tommytommytommytommytommy TOMMMMYYYYY. 

Cons:

The only thing wrong with this episode is that there's not more Tommy.

Okay, that's not quite true. There are other things I might mention. First of all, just because an episode points out that Oliver is stuck in a dangerous loop doesn't solve the problem of it being somewhat uninteresting to watch a person stuck in a loop. We've had Oliver decide to make a change before, and yet he always comes back to the same drama. Over and over again this season we've seen him wrestle with how to handle the Emiko situation. Here, he wrestles with it again, and it's still unresolved. We all know Oliver isn't going to kill Emiko in cold blood, so where's the tension supposed to be coming from here?

Next week is the finale, and yet I'm still waiting for basic questions to be answered about the flash-forward. There are still so many things that we don't know, and the tension of waiting for answers has kind of been lost for me. William resenting Felicity for abandoning him makes sense, but being really reckless and getting everybody caught? All he's doing is proving Felicity's point about keeping him out of the action. There's a moment when Alena shows up and I think it's supposed to be something of a twist that she's the reason Archer ended up taking over the world or whatever... but didn't we already know that? The flash-forward stuff isn't quite interesting enough to keep me focused, so sometimes things happen and I don't quite understand their significance, and I also don't care? So... not a great sign.

Pros:

If I were being really picky, I might point out that Felicity's character development here feels a bit rushed, and that might be a consequence of the actress bowing out and maybe not having enough time to fully flesh out her departure. But focusing on the good stuff, I really do like Felicity and Alena's friendship, and if the flash-forwards were better executed, it would have been cool to see the then vs. now with the two of them. We get to see Felicity being a clever, innovative bad-ass, escaping from the police and finding a way to help her teammates out even in an extremely stressful situation. I'm going to be so sad to say goodbye to Felicity next week, but I'm happy we've had so many great moments with her this season.

I have FEELINGS and they are about Tommy Merlyn. I seriously adore this character and the fact that he died so early on in the show causes me unending anguish. We don't get to hear about him nearly enough, so this episode was a balm to my soul. So many moments, I don't even know where to start. Oliver telling Tommy he looks good with a beard? Yes please. Reminiscing about the shenanigans they got up to as kids? I'm living for it. Oliver telling Tommy that he misses him every day, and Tommy saying he's always with him? CRYING FOREVER. It's just so stunning and perfect and lovely. I particularly liked that Dream!Tommy brought up Oliver's PTSD. Oliver is trapped in a collapsing building, which is very similar to how he found Tommy when he died. The idea of Oliver having PTSD over Tommy's death isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it is enormously touching and heartbreaking to contemplate.

We see that in his concussed dreams, Oliver believes he's escaped from the room he's trapped in. He confronts Emiko. Emiko threatens Felicity and the baby. Oliver kills her, only to see John shot through the chest with an arrow - he looks down to see that Rene, Dinah, and Roy are also all dead. Great acting from Stephen Amell in this scene. When he "wakes up" and is back with Tommy, he is completely crushed and horrified. I'm reminded of the other times we've seen Oliver at his breaking point - when Slade killed his mother, and when William's life was threatened. He's just completely broken up at the thought of his family being in danger. Losing John, losing any of his team, losing Felicity... he's already suffered so much, and having Tommy there as a reminder of that was making it all the more heart-wrenching.

Also, we've got the amazing scenes of John, Rene, Dinah, and Roy all finding each other in the wreckage and working desperately to find Oliver, with an important assist from Felicity. This is peak Team Arrow. Roy sacrificing himself was really intense, even though for now it looks like he made it out alive. I like that Roy and Dinah had that conversation, because truthfully, they don't know each other very well at all. And yet they're united by a common purpose. They both have the same noble goals in mind. And John's worry over Oliver is always going to be incredibly touching for me. I love the moment when Team Arrow finally finds Oliver. Very beautiful.

I mentioned that the stuff with Emiko has been going in circles for far too long, but I did love the moment when she broke in to the bunker and Felicity told her she was pregnant. That was seriously tense. Turns out, she was just there to get some green arrows so she could impersonate Oliver and wreak havoc. That seems pretty extreme for someone who has already gotten a ton of revenge over the last couple of months. I wish I could trust that this was all leading to something epic enough to justify the buildup, but we'll just have to wait and see about that. I want Oliver to be okay. I want Felicity to be okay. I want Roy to be okay. Fingers crossed for next week!

8.5/10