Arrow: Fadeout (8x10)

I don't really know what to say. I wish I felt differently, but this finale left me feeling a little bit underwhelmed! But let's get into the specifics.

Cons:

So first of all, Oliver's final fate is that he dies, creates a new world that's better for everyone, and then gets to reunite with Felicity in some sort of pocket world there at the very end. Here's the thing that's tripping me up - this is still just straight-up a tragedy. So he brings his mom and Tommy and Quentin Lance back from the dead but he never gets to see them? And more importantly, he still doesn't get to raise his kids. I get that it's supposed to be this big sacrifice, like, in his final act he finally did what he always set out to do and he "saved his city." But it's just kind of too sad for me, to be the ending of Oliver Queen.

Related to that is the problem I've already discussed in the past two episodes. We have episode eight, which was the Crisis crossover thing, then episode nine, which was a backdoor pilot... so Oliver's fate, dying the way he does, surrounded by people from other shows, doesn't really feel appropriate to the story of Arrow as a whole. Everything about the Crisis is disconnected from the beating heart of eight seasons worth of buildup. It's someone else's big bad, some other characters' final stand. It doesn't feel like it should have been Oliver's.

Since I won't be watching the spin-off and I don't watch any of the other shows in the Arrowverse, I don't want to get too bogged down in the weeds on this, but I'm a little bit confused - why do most people forget/not remember the Crisis? In the spin-off future it looked like Dinah and Laurel found each other and were just then realizing that they weren't the only ones who remembered. But they're together at Oliver's funeral, and everyone there seems to know the full deal. Did something happen in the intervening years? Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but if Oliver's sacrifice is supposed to be worth it, doesn't it suck that in the future, the Green Arrow is needed once more, as Star City falls again into crime and disaster?

You know I loved seeing Thea, and Roy, and Tommy, and Moira, and Quentin Lance... but some of these returns rang a little hollow. Why do I love Tommy? Because he's Oliver's best friend. But we don't get to see them interact. We don't get to see Oliver with Moira or with Thea or Roy one final time. It all goes back to the fact that Oliver and Felicity reuniting is sweet and I'm glad it happened... but it still feels like only partial happiness for Oliver.

This is a nitpick, but Thea is right about Roy's timing being for shit... William is still missing when Roy decides to rehash their breakup and propose. Dude, save it for when you know the kid is safe!

Also, I try not to be too critical about things that the writers can't do anything about, and I know that actor availability is the reason why Felicity wasn't in this final season. But the fact that she shows up for Oliver's funeral, leaving baby Mia with a sitter, just emphasizes how stupid and pointless it was that she remained in hiding the whole season. Oliver was around for a lot of it. When he was taken to go to the Crisis, there was still plenty of time for him to run around dealing with smaller issues as he prepared for it. Why oh why would he and Felicity not have seen each other in the intervening months?

Pros:

The biggest compliment I can give this episode is that they decided to make it more of an epilogue. We had a chance to spend some time with all (or most) of the key characters from seasons' past, and the conflict of the episode was a brief kidnapping incident with William, which was resolved swiftly and allowed for the seeds of Mia's journey to continue to be planted, all while commenting on Oliver's journey and how much he's grown since Season One.

Even though Oliver wasn't there for most of it, this episode still truly felt like a tribute to him. So even though I have my complaints about his ultimate fate, I'm still glad that there was this chance to reflect on his hero's journey, and really let his sacrifice sink in for all of the characters whose lives he's changed for the better.

John Diggle loves Oliver so very much, and it was probably him, more so than any of the other characters, who made me feel my feelings. He has the most trouble letting go of the "mission," because letting go of Oliver's life's purpose feels like admitting he's really gone. I loved the speech he gave at the graveside, loved the way he offered comfort to Felicity, and how ultimately, he finds a way to accept that this part of his life is over. It was sweet to see John and Lyla moving on to the next stage of their lives (we're just going to ignore that Lyla was kind of a villain this season, huh?). And that little teaser, where we see John getting what I assume to be the Green Lantern ring, was really compelling and fun. It makes sense that he wouldn't be ready to hang up his hero cloak. Diggle is always going to show up when people need him.

Despite Roy's less than stellar timing, I'm also big in my feelings about seeing him and Thea get engaged. Felicity and Oliver are an epic love story for sure, but Thea and Roy really have something special, and it was so lovely to see that culminate for them. Much like with Diggle's final moment, this moment for Thea and Roy felt like the beginning of a new adventure.

Another moment that really landed for me was Laurel talking to Quentin. She wonders why the original Laurel didn't come back, like Tommy and some of the others. And Quentin says that nothing about this Laurel needs to be fixed. It's sad that Laurel died, but what Oliver did wasn't simply to erase every sad thing that had ever happened to him. He put right some avoidable tragedies, but the shape of this world is still the one we've been living in for the past eight seasons. And Earth Two Laurel is a part of that. She's earned her place in it. I loved that!

I also loved every frame we got of Tommy Merlyn, of course. Apparently he and Laurel were married, which is just delightful! And he gets to live with the knowledge that even though Oliver is gone, he has the opportunity to live on because of his sacrifice. I'm so happy to see him, and to know that he gets to stay alive!

As much as I had some problems with this episode as a whole, there were definitely several moments within it that I enjoyed. Along with what I've already mentioned, I have to give a shout-out to Nyssa's "my beloved" moment with Sara, and Barry and Kara both giving Felicity a hug at the funeral, and Rory telling Rene that he and Oliver have a lot in common, and Mia showing her weapons to her "older" brother William.

Speaking of Mia - I love that Sara brought her to attend her father's funeral. We're going to ignore how stupid it is that William is still apparently kidnapped in the future, and that Sara didn't think to snag him as well... whatever. It's cool. It was great that Mia could be there, could don the hood and save young William. And could see her mother. Poor Felicity is in the middle of intense grief over Oliver's death, but seeing her daughter, learning what the future holds for her, is something of a balm. Their hug was another highlight of the episode for me.

I think I'm going to end things here. I wish the "cons" section of this review wasn't so long. I wish this episode had felt the way I wanted it to feel. Honestly, 8x07 felt more like a culmination of Oliver's journey than anything we've gotten since. Trying to wrap up a show that lasted for eight seasons is a hard task, but to do it while also having to contend with this crazy crossover event made it even more challenging. Unfortunately, I don't really feel that Arrow went out on a high note, despite this finale having some lovely character moments.

For this finale, I'll give a score of...

6.5/10

As is tradition, I must try to come up with a score for the show as a whole. I've got to say, the early seasons of Arrow were exactly my kind of shit. I loved the mix of the superhero origin story with the almost soap-opera-esque drama of the Queen family. I liked that the show went dark, and that major characters died early and often, and that Oliver got to be that tortured hero with a heart of gold and questionable morals. As the show went on, I definitely think it lost some of what made it magical, but even the later seasons featured some great times with characters I had grown to care deeply about over the years. I'm glad I watched Arrow, even if this final season was a bit hit and miss for me. As a final score, I'll say...

8/10