After a long year, Arrow has wrapped its seventh and penultimate season as the Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) and his team faced Star City’s latest threat. This season, the Emerald Archer was put to the challenge as he had to fight his half-sister Emiko Queen (Sea Shimooka) and the Ninth Circle. A lot of things went down in the seventh season for our characters, both in the present as well as in the future as we have been following the older versions of some of these characters along with a few new faces.
With Season 7 officially over, after a massive season finale, it’s time to breakdown the 22nd episode of the season. What brought us closure and what didn’t? Disclaimer: this will feature full spoilers from “You Have Saved This City.”
10. NO CLOSURE: Star City 2040
In the flashforwards, we see Mia Smoak (Katherine McNamara) and the rest of the 2040 team stopping Archer, but something felt incredibly incomplete about the conclusion to this story. While the enemy was finally defeated, what is next for these young heroes? With one more season to go, it seems like the show isn’t entirely done telling their story.
That’s why it would have been appreciated to have gotten a hint to what they may face next, maybe a name drop of a new villain for them to take on. The way this chapter was concluded, it felt choppy as it was happening at the same time as we were following our heroes in the present.
9. CLOSURE: The Whole Team Finally United
After 22 episodes, we finally got the team reunited in a proper way. Given that they haven’t been able to operate as normal, compared to previous seasons, it was satisfying getting to see our heroes all together. Who knew that the laws against vigilantes of Star City would make things so complicated in Season 7?
We even got the bonus of seeing a few familiar faces - more on that later - assisting the team, including Michael Jai White’s Bronze Tiger who became a bigger fan-favorite earlier in the season. With that said, the show works as best when the team is all together and kicking serious butts.
8. NO CLOSURE: The End of the Ninth Circle
It needs to be said that there wasn’t enough development made for the Ninth Circle this season after Emiko was introduced and later revealed to be the big bad. The conclusion to it felt rushed and a little too typical Arrow for our taste.
There wasn’t anything special about this showdown other than a bunch of kicking, punching, and explosions. With the show ending in 10 episodes later this year, the final big bad need to be a major step-up from the Ninth Circle.
7. CLOSURE: The Return of Earth-2’s Black Canary
Towards the end of “Lost Canary,” we saw the supposed departure of Earth-2’s Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) as she was finally redeemed from Black Siren into Black Canary. But the redemption came with a twist as she headed back home to Earth-2 to be the Black Canary of that universe. However, in a surprise twist, Laurel shows up to back her friends.
What remains unclear though is if Laurel is planning on sticking around on. With no words about Cassidy not returning for Season 8, we assume, at least for now, that this isn’t the end of Laurel Lance from Earth-2 as the series head into Season 8.
6. NO CLOSURE: Diggle’s Whereabouts In 2040
Throughout the season, we met most of our characters in the flashforwards as older versions of themselves. Either that or we found out that some had passed away, but there are still a couple of characters that we have yet to meet in the 2040 timeline. One of them is Diggle as we never got a slight clue throughout Season 7 where he is or if he is even alive.
Even though Diggle isn’t the only character that is MIA in 2040: 0ut of the current main characters, we still need an update on his whereabouts in the future. Maybe that can be answered in Season 8?
5. CLOSURE: Curtis Finds Happiness Again
We got the surprise return of Echo Kellum’s Curtis Holt after he left the show as a series regular earlier in the season. But with the Ninth Circle prepared to strike the city, Team Arrow needed all the help they could get. While we don’t spend a lot of time with Curtis, one major thing is revealed about his personal life.
Curtis reveals to Felicity that he is planning on proposing to Nick (Evan Roderick) which is why he has to take off again and return to D.C. In more ways than one, it was fulfilling to see Curtis being able to live a normal life again, with a new love by his side.
4. NO CLOSURE: Roy Leaving…Again (?)
We got the announcement last year that Colton Haynes would be reprising the role of Roy Harper as a series regular in Season 7. But we were never prepared for how he was going to be utilized in the season as it was eventually revealed that Haynes was mostly back to play an older Roy in the flashforwards. It wasn’t until a few episodes ago when Roy showed up again in the present.
With Star City saved again, one of the final scenes of the finale features Roy taking off again as he has things to figure out. But we haven’t gotten any word yet whether or not Haynes is set to return for the final season. Given that Season 8 will only consist of 10 episodes, it would be appreciated to see one of the core Green Arrow characters back for the final season.
3. CLOSURE: The Monitor Returns
After his debut in the Elseworlds crossover last fall, The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) reemerged with a major bombshell to our hero in green. After helping him save Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) in the crossover, he came to collect. As many fans have predicted, Oliver does indeed die in the Crisis according to the Monitor,
As he bids farewell to his wife, Oliver honors his deal with the Monitor by leaving with him. Until we see The Flash and Supergirl season finales, this marks as the biggest setup for Crisis of Infinite Earths that we have gotten so far.
2. NO CLOSURE: The Death of Emiko Queen
Over the course of the finale, the table turns on the villainous archer as the Ninth Circle as they grow tired of Emiko’s complications with killing off her brother. As they turn on Emiko, they injure her which leads to Oliver’s half-sister dying before the building blows up. This became Arrow’s latest female character to face the woman in the refrigerator trope because of Oliver.
Despite the fact that Emiko warned Oliver to get his family out of the city, killing her off still doesn’t feel right. Emiko is so much more than what the show allowed her to be which is why her death is incredibly bitter.
1. CLOSURE: Felicity Smoak’s Send-Off
It had been known for quite some time that the Season 7 finale would mark as Emily Bett Rickard’s final episode as a series regular. The finale featured Felicity leaving Star City to live with Oliver in safety as Mia was born. Even though the Monitor’s visit became a major tearjerker for the couple, Felicity ended up being safe while protecting their daughter.
In the flashforwards, after all, is said and done, we see Felicity leaving with the Monitor to see Oliver who we learn died in 2019. The Monitor makes it clear that where they are going, there was no way she could come back after that. While that final scene may have been heartbreaking, if we focus on Felicity in the present: this was a powerful departure for the fan-favorite.
