In this finale we see Oliver at his most desperate, Chase has put together his own evil Team Arrow consisting of Talia Al Ghul, Captain Boomerang and Artemis, so Oliver has to recruit his former enemies to help him including Deathstroke, Nyssa Al Ghul and Malcolm Merlyn. Let's talk about Deathstroke, because I have always been adamant that he was Arrow's best villain, now I'm starting to consider him being Arrow's best character. He joins Oliver after he appeals to his sense of fatherhood, offers him a chance to be united with his son and reminds him of the fact that they were allies at one point. In fact there's a very nice subtle callback to season one of the show where Slade makes it look like he's double crossed Oliver and tells Artemis to point the gun at point blank range, giving Oliver a chance to counter, a manoeuvre Slade taught him back in the first season. It felt so good to see Slade again and it's rather fitting that they save his return for a time where the show is finally good again.
Something I'm curious about is how they'll handle the flashbacks next season, are they going to pull a Lost and do flash-forwards? Will we get flashbacks for other characters? Because being honest the flashbacks only felt necessary half the time, the other half they were very clearly just filler and either didn't tie in thematically or tell a compelling parallel story, but were there to make the 40 minute run time. The flashbacks in this episode while didn't feel completely like they tied in, mostly there just to finish the story, being honest, it was a damn good story. That final scene of Oliver calling his mother is possibly the best performance we've ever seen from Stephen Amell, mostly for how different it is from his usual gruffness, he's a broken man finally able to speak to his family for the first time in 5 years, it was a touching moment and was really well done.
Now for Adrian Chase, I don't recall if Oliver was always able to beat him or if this is just Chase making it easier for him but I really like that Oliver just completely kicked his ass this episode. It is most likely because he wants Oliver to kill him so he puts up as little fight as possible. Though granted at times he was a villain who felt far too much in control, it wasn't to the extent of Ra's Al Ghul where he unrealistically godlike. He was a character who was so adamant in his beliefs and had planned everything out and did it with such sadistic glee, I think that's what makes him a great villain above all else, his personality. He was a psychotic madman but he took so much pleasure in torturing Oliver and bringing him down that I'm willing to overlook some of the more critical elements of him, like his motivation felt rather weak, or the fact that he was always 10 steps ahead somehow. Then of course is him doing the villain cliche of killing himself so he can get the final win, by blowing up Lian Yu with all of Team Arrow on it...GEE, I WONDER IF THEY'RE REALLY DEAD.
This is a weird choice in cliffhanger because we know they're not going to have killed off 90% of the cast off screen in the season finale. I guess the hanging question could be "Oh how did they survive?" but we know there are underground bunkers on the island, that would be my best guess. But what about people who weren't in the group? Artemis? Black Siren? Malcolm? Did they somehow have time to pick all of them up and then rush to a bunker? Oh yeah, speaking of Malcolm, we all know he ain't dead. Rule One of superhero deaths: Unless they die onscreen, they ain't really dead. Rule Two: Even if they do, they'll get better. But regardless it makes for a good closure on Ollie's life, 5 years of flashbacks of him on the island to end with the island itself being destroyed.
Like I said at the start of this review, I was surprised by how consistently good this season of Arrow was, but that's not to say it was fully consistent. I'm still pissed about Ragman and how they just got rid of him so unceremoniously, and how they screwed up Artemis as a character (And also forgot about her for a while), and hey, what ever happened to The Vigilante? But overall the writing seemed a lot more well thought out. Chase made for a great villain, everything tied in thematically to fatherhood and coming full circle with the 5 year journey, the romance took a back seat, the fight scenes are still really well done and we were able to avoid some of the dreaded cliches that plagued the past few seasons. While I'm not sure this season is as good as season two, I could definitely see it being on par with season one. Though I do think some people are blowing the quality of this season out of proportion just because of how much better it is than the past two seasons.
I'm giving this finale an 8/10.
And I'm giving the season as a whole a 7/10.
-Danny
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