Arrow’s 150th episode, “Emerald Archer”, raised a number of questions as it looked back through the series’ past. At the same time, season 7, episode 12 began to lay out a foundation for the show’s future, both for of our heroes in 2019 and the alternate future timeline of 2038.
Most of the episode was filmed through the literal lens of a mock documentary, which was meant to explore the history of vigilantism in Star City and how their police department was breaking new ground by employing its superheroes as peace officers. This led to a film crew following Oliver Queen as he performed his duties as a deputy of Star City’s police department. Naturally, this resulted in complications, as Oliver began hunting a new costumed criminal who collected the masks of vigilantes. It also featured in a number of the thrilling action sequences for which Arrow is famous, which have also made it one of the most popular superhero shows airing today.
The documentary also included interviews with a number of people whose lives were touched by Star City’s vigilantes - some of whom had not been seen on Arrow in several years. This culminated in a fantastic flash-forward sequence, which hinted at just how far the legend of Oliver Queen has spread in the years to come. Here are the biggest questions on the minds of Arrow-heads in the wake of the 150th episode.
8. Who Is Cindy Simone?
One of the first civilians to be interviewed for the Emerald Archer documentary in Arrow’s 150th episode is a young woman named Cindy Simone. Cindy claims to have known The Canary, The Arrow and their whole crew since “back in the day.” She also says the heroes got her out of some tight spots and she’s not sure where she’d be today if it wasn’t for them.
Fans might be forgiven if they completely forgot about Sin - a street-wise youth from The Glades who was a confidant to both Sara Lance and Roy Harper during Arrow season 2. Sara looked after the young woman and protected her because of a promise she had made to Cindy’s dying father, whose plane was shot down over Lian Yu while she was shipwrecked there with Oliver Queen. Sin disappeared from the show after the season 3 episode “Uprising,” where she told Quentin Lance that the woman in the Canary costume protecting Star City was not Sara Lance.
Cindy’s full name was never given in earlier seasons, but its reveal here offers fans of the comics an amusing Easter Egg. Cindy’s last name of Simone is a nod to writer Gail Simone, who created the character of Black Canary’s adopted daughter, Sin, during her legendary run on the Birds of Prey comic book. Most fans consider Simone’s take on the character of Black Canary to be the definitive one and Sara Lance’s sassy personality was largely based upon Simone’s version of Dinah Lance.
7. What Were The Terms of Team Arrow’s Immunity Deal?
When Oliver Queen turned himself into the FBI and pled guilty to a number of federal charges in Arrow’s season 6 finale, he cemented a plea deal for the rest of Star City’s vigilantes. The exact details of this bargain were never made clear, but it was presumed that Oliver had effectively bought a full pardon for past crimes for all of his teammates and immunity from prosecution provided that they give up vigilantism after their joint mission with the FBI to try and capture Ricardo Diaz. The fact that the rest of Team Arrow had retired their costumes in season 7’s premiere seemed to confirm this.
Arrow’s 150th episode called this into question, after Oliver and Dinah discovered an unmasked and injured Rene “Wild Dog” Ramirez in the field, just after Emiko Queen (the new Green Arrow) was abducted. When they question Rene later at the police station, Oliver notes that the FBI had apparently made Rene’s immunity from prosecution as a vigilante permanent but that the local laws of Star City still made it illegal to be a costumed vigilante. It is unclear if Rene has been given special status (perhaps due to his working with the FBI during the events of season 7, episode 3 “Crossed Lines”) or if the permanent immunity to prosecution from federal crimes has been extended to the rest of Team Arrow.
6. What Happened To Helena Bertinelli?
Helena “Huntress” Bertinelli was introduced into the Arrowverse in Arrow’s season 1 episode “Muse of Fire.” Daughter of the head of the Bertinelli Crime Family, Helena’s efforts to bring down her father’s criminal empire from within led to the death of her fiance; after the laptop containing the evidence Helena had been gathering was found in his apartment, it was assumed that he was an FBI mole. Oliver Queen thought he’d found a kindred spirit in Helena and the two became romantically involved for a brief time as he began training her as a vigilante. Unfortunately, Helena’s blood-lust would prove greater than her desire for justice and the two parted as enemies when Helena refused to give up in her quest to kill her father.
Helena was last seen on Arrow in the season 2 episode “Birds of Prey,” where she was sent to prison after achieving peace of sorts with Oliver Queen when she realized that her father’s death didn’t bring her the closure she thought it would. A reference was made to her in the season 6 episode “Divided,” which suggested that Helena was out of prison and working as a vigilante again. This is confirmed in “Emerald Archer,” after Oliver finds Helena’s mask in Chimera’s collection and says that he has the means to contact Huntress but is unable to get ahold of her right now.
5. What Happened To Rory Regan?
First introduced in the Arrow season 5 episode “The Recruits”, Rory Regan had a brief but memorable run as a member of Team Arrow. The sole survivor of the missile attack that destroyed the town of Havenrock, Regan lived only after his father dressed him in a suit made of rags from the time of Devarim. The suit possessed certain mystic properties that protected its wearer from harm and had been passed down, father to son, through generations of the Regan family. Under Oliver Queen’s tutelage, Regan turned from the path of vengeance that sent him after the defense contractor who made the missile that killed his town and sought to honor his father’s sacrifice as Ragman. Regan left Star City after his rag costume seemed to lose its magic when he used it to contain the explosion of a nuclear bomb.
Rory Regan appears briefly in the Emerald Archer documentary, where he is interviewed under his own name, suggesting that his identity is now public knowledge. Regan says that he stopped wearing a mask but didn’t stop doing good. He appears reluctant to say more, however. This might be because his mask was stolen by Chimera (a fact revealed later in the episode) and he’s either ashamed of this fact or his suit is still not working properly two years later. Either way, there is still no indication of precisely what Regan has been doing or where he has been since the last time he was seen two years ago.
Page 2 of 2: Questions About Arrow Season 7’s Future
4. Who Is Chimera?
The main villain of Arrow’s 150th episode is a costumed criminal whom Curtis Holt dubs Chimera. Clad in a military-grade armored exo-suit designed by Wayne Enterprises, Chimera hunts costumed heroes and takes their masks as trophies. At the episode’s end, Chimera is unmasked and revealed as Kevin Meltzer - a superhero fanboy with a history of mental instability. who became obsessed with vigilantes after the Hood saved his life seven years earlier. Strangely enough, the name Chimera has been used by several characters over the years at DC Comics, but none of them resemble the character seen on Arrow.
Two different heroes - one a shape-shifter, the other a reality manipulator - used Chimera as a code name while working with the Teen Titans. Another Chimera, this one a Batman villain, was a master of disguise, who used his advanced make-up skills to both steal the identities of his victims or terrify them with a monstrous facade. Adam Sharp, an agent with the spy organization Checkmate, also used Chimera as a code name. Finally, the heroine Nightshade used Chimera as an alias while working undercover as a supervillain during her time with the Suicide Squad, only to have the name and her costume design stolen by a different super-villain with similar powers!
3. Are All Of Team Arrow’s Identities Publicly Known Now?
At the end of “Emerald Archer,” John Diggle, Curtis Holt and Rene Ramirez are arrested for violating Star City’s anti-vigilante laws and SCPD Captain Dinah Drake’s status as the former Black Canary was revealed to Mayor Emily Pollard. The former councilwoman butted heads with Oliver Queen repeatedly during his time as mayor and rose to power on an anti-vigilantism platform in the wake of Oliver’s impeachment and arrest. As such, Dinah and Oliver didn’t expect any mercy from Mayor Pollard and were fully prepared to be fired from their jobs and arrested after Team Arrow rallied to bring down Chimera when he attacked Mayor Pollard’s town hall debate on the subject of vigilantism.
Surprisingly, despite being handed all of Star City’s vigilantes on a silver platter, the opportunistic Mayor Pollard elected to give Spartan, Mister Terrific and Wild Dog the same special deputy status as Green Arrow under Dinah Drake’s command. This was not done out of gratitude for their saving her life so much as her cynical belief that eventually they would cross a line and prove her right about how dangerous they were. However, with Team Arrow having effectively saved the crowd at the town hall meeting, the timing was all wrong for her to make a push to send them up the river. It remains unclear, however, if Dinah Drake, Curtis Holt and John Diggle will have their secret identities made public like Oliver and Rene in the name of transparency.
2. What Did William Do To Get Expelled?
William Clayton spends most of Arrow’s 150th episode in the background, clearly upset but not wanting to talk about why. By the end of “Emerald Archer”, Felicity Smoak discovers that William didn’t take his mid-term exams and fabricated an entire website to hide this fact from his parents. When she confronts William on this and asks why, William confesses that he was expelled from his boarding school. The scene ends before we find out why but this will likely lead to a very long talk with Oliver in the days to come.
1. Who Are Connor and Mia?
The final few minutes of Arrow’s 150th episode bring season 7’s two storylines together, as we see the Emerald Archer documentary being watched by Blackstar, a street-fighter, thief and information broker in Star City 2038 who has a deep hatred of vigilantes. As she is turning off the video, she is joined by a young man who addresses her as Mia. She, in turn, addresses him as Connor and tells him to come with her. She was watching this apparently outlawed piece of pro-vigilante propaganda to find clues that reveal the location of the lost Team Arrow bunker.
Theory: Arrow Season 7’s Real Villains Are In The Present And Future
Connor may look familiar to Arrow fans who saw the “Star City 2046” episode of Legends of Tomorrow. The same actor, Joseph David-Jones, appeared in that episode playing the new Green Arrow of 2046, Connor Hawke. This was later revealed to be an alias used by John Diggle Jr. because he felt unworthy of his father’s name.
Fans of the Green Arrow comics will also recognize Connor Hawke as the name of Oliver Queen’s illegitimate son from a college romance, who went on to adopt his father’s mantle and become the second Green Arrow following his death. They will also recognize the name Mia as being like that of Mia Dearden - a teenage girl forced into prostitution, whom Oliver Queen saved from being assaulted by a corrupt city councilman in the Quiver storyline. Offered a job at the same youth center Oliver Queen managed, Mia would later go on to become the second Speedy.
It seems likely that with Joseph David-Jones returning as Connor Hawke that something is in the works that will link the two alternate futures or pave the way to a revised Star City 2046. While it is unclear precisely why Mia is looking for the old Arrow Cave, her meaningful name proves that there is more to her character than a simple Easter Egg for fans of the comics. Doubtlessly Mia’s plans and their relation to the bombing plot at the center of the 2038 storyline will be revealed in future episodes of Arrow.
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Arrow continues Mondays on The CW.
