Jessie Robertson reviews the season 3 finale of Arrow…
Can we hinge a whole season’s reputation on the ending of it? Just like a great book or good movie, the end is always the thing you remember and leaves that last impression. Arrow’s finale was much different than last season, which was fully about concluding Slade Wilson’s takeover of Starling City, and how Oliver needed to come through up until nearly the last moments. This year’s finale came with multiple extra scenes after we knew the fate of Starling would be okay. So, was it cleanup after a messy season or cleansing the palate after a bad one? It’s hard to say, honestly. Season 3 had some incredible moments (Oliver v. Ra’s #1, Oliver and Felicity finally, FINALLY getting together, Thea’s storyline, Arrow & Flash team up) but also some really low points as well (Ra’s inactivity, constant double cross of killing a character then them not being dead, Roy being ignored for nearly the whole season). But, it was a journey that has clear road marks; Oliver can’t be himself, nor the Arrow, vigilante prowling the streets at night; if he’s to continue the path his comic counterpart takes, this season became a long, arduous necessary evil. But enough about what’s to come, let’s look at what exactly happened in the finale.
So, Oliver wakes up to find himself in a cargo plane with Ra’s, Nyssa and a squad of Assassins; the plane is sabotaged and is going down and Oliver reveals himself as the culprit; we get Oliver v. Ra’s #2, which is quick, leading to Ra’s jumping from the plane with the last parachute and the Bio-weapon. Oliver then needs to land the plane (which he seems to know a lot about?) Meanwhile, the Flash bails out Team Arrow (who aren’t dead thanks to an anti-dote skin graft Merlyn implanted on each member- thank god this is a comic show) and they re-route back to Starling. Oliver and Nyssa (on their honeymoon?) meet back up and are met with a right hook from Diggle and general anger. Oliver reveals his plan was never to have to face them again, as he was planning self-sacrifice to take down Ra’s and destroy the Bio-Weapon. With Ray and Felicity on surveillance, they find out Damian Dark (remember him? Ra’s nemesis when they both wanted the League) is in Starling, at a hotel; so they do recon and find out it was just a henchman, which Ra’s promptly kills and tells them the weapon will be released in 4 vessels, which turn out to be actual people. The Arrow crew split up and takes them down as Ra’s sends for Oliver to have fight #3. Before he goes, Oliver gets one more pep talk from Felicity, his personal cheerleader, and it gives him the will to fight to live; which helps him defeat and kill (?) Ra’s, ascending to the throne. Oliver is immediately shot by SCPD, knocking him down over a dam, but before he hits the water, Felicity (wearing the ATOM suit) saves him. Whew.
So, what can we pull from all of this? This season was all about identity and can a man or a name be saved? The title of this episode was “My Name is Oliver Queen”, which he unequivocally states to Ra’s in the plane, almost therapeutically, saying it aloud, giving him strength. Oliver’s plan, while convoluted as all hell, didn’t go completely to waste because despite his best efforts to die during all of this, he didn’t and he’s still left with needing an identity. While Felicity and Diggle put on a tough exterior, they are his closest friends and both, in their own ways, forgave him, Felicity obviously more than John. Our ending scene is Oliver driving down the coast (Coast City?) with Felicity in tow, saying “You want to hear something strange? I’m happy.” A surprisingly cheerful ending to Oliver’s story this season and I think it shows yet another evolution in the growth of him as a character, and to see what he will evolve into next.
Everyone goes through an identity change though; Laurel stepped up big time, from everyone’s least favorite character to a woman who stopped crying and acting out and became literally, proactive, getting training from both Wildcat and Nyssa, and taking her addiction and eventually, the secret about Sara into her own hands and doing something about it. We get one short scene with Quentin tonight, because it almost seemed necessary, to let the audience know, the ground is still shaky, but there’s a chance to rebuild what’s left between them. Now, Laurel is the Black Canary, and steps up to help fill a void that Oliver left. As does Thea, proclaiming Roy’s costume as her own, and becoming the latest hero to join Starling’s campaign. At the beginning of season 3, she was a just a traumatized rich girl who’d lost her mother and had a boyfriend she couldn’t trust; by season’s end, she’d found her own strength, become assertive, and took matters into her own hands. Even Malcolm Merlyn, still a standout from Season 1, was a villain, then a hero, and now, as he states to Oliver, he’s back to being the villain, and the head of the League of Assassins as the new Ra’s al Ghul. It was a transformative season, if nothing else and I think we can take that away as being a positive.
Let’s quickly take a look at the flashback: this season, these were the least effective parts of the show. They barely built on Oliver as a character, gave us that weird episode where he actually did go back to Starling City and randomly ran into everyone that was on his team current day, but tonight’s scenes definitely were a step up. Oliver’s torturing of Shreve was pretty satisfying, especially when a young boy lies dead at his feet. Tatsu dividing up Akio’s ashes and Maseo’s broken, soul-less speech to his wife, whom he can’t love anymore, were all very good character pieces that fully flesh out those people even more. But, what about the overall arch of the flashbacks? Presumably, when this show started, we’d get 5 seasons worth of flashbacks, to track how tortured Oliver was and what he had to endure while being away from home; then we find out this season, he wasn’t always on Lian Yu. But, now, we end with him and Tatsu going their separate ways, but it’s interesting to me because Oliver could legitimately go home, but he tells her he’s not going to. It throws a weird wrench into the whole premise of the opening season that when Oliver gets back to his family, we are under the impression that he’d been waiting for it to happen. Yet, unless something drastic happens at the beginning of season 4 like him being kidnapped or something, he had the perfect opportunity to end his family’s suffering 2 years earlier! Let’s see how this plays out.
Other Notes:
– Pretty good season recap to begin the show; good idea
– Ray questioning why they are still alive and Felicity mentioning “a triple-cross” to Merlyn were both good lines that every viewer at home was thinking.
– When Oliver is brutally torturing Shreve, he tells the Yamashiro’s ‘He failed this city’ He must have liked the way that sounded.
– Ruthless and Cold-Blooded: APPROVED by Malcolm Merlyn, every time.
– Thea tells Oliver she wants to take the name “Red Arrow” a nod to Roy Harper, who uses that moniker in the comics; but he already told them she would be called “Speedy” his nickname for her, and a name used multiple times by Green Arrow’s sidekicks.
– I liked the speech Oliver gave Diggle at the end; calling him the rock of not only the team, but of Starling City. Now, about that costume…..
– So, Ray blows himself and the top 3 floors of Palmer Technologies up…..or did he blow them down? Like down to the floor? Like he shrunk? Ok, you get it.
– We see Oliver boarding a ship called Triton’s Daughter- who could that possibly be referencing?
Thanks so much, to any of you reading these reviews this season, and commenting, I do appreciate it. Looking at maybe switching the format up for next season, if you have any constructive ideas, or suggestions feel free to hit up the comments here or email me at phdreamer81@yahoo.com. Have an awesome summer!
Jessie Robertson
https://youtu.be/8HTiU_hrLms?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
