Thus, Lyla disappears … and then reappears as Harbinger, a herald of The Monitor. She is the one who carries his message and recruits the heroes but … it seems that she is no longer our Lyla. That is precisely what she says to Oliver when he ask. It is as if she has become another person, with her same appearance, her same story but completely different person. Will Lyla be gone forever? Honestly, I think not and somehow she will return at the end of Crisis.
It has caught my attention that Oliver says he is “not alone” in the middle of the battle with Fyers. That speaks of the evolution of the character. The moment he met Fyers, Oliver was not only alone, he felt alone. He was on a strange and brutal island with no friends and only the occasional ally. At that time, Oliver would have faced Fyers alone, but now he has a whole team that supports him. Oliver began his journey fighting his battles alone and ends up fighting them with a team. It is a perfect metaphor.
At the end of the episode, the most emotional moments come: goodbyes. I think they are very well separated by time and importance, in this way, the most important ones have been left for the end and lasted longer.
The first farewell we see is that of Oliver, René and Dinah. He taught them to control themselves and to have a much greater purpose, taught them that the path of blood and revenge was not the only one to follow. He taught them that a team could be a family and that working alone didn’t lead anywhere. He taught them the same lessons he learned. He is proud of what they have achieved, of the heroes they have become … and now it is their turn to follow the same path, to continue fighting even if he is no longer there. Pretty emotional this farewell, even if we don’t love René and Dinah or forget what they did to Oliver.
After that farewell, comes Roy. Roy was Oliver’s first real student, the first to whom he gave a purpose and a family when he had nothing. Roy found his true life, destiny and family thanks to Oliver. And Oliver also learned from Roy that he was able to inspire people and how to do it. Roy will always be special, will always be like one of his children. And he is so happy to have him by his side … but at the same time he regrets what has happened to him, that he has paid such a high price for being by his side.
Oliver wanted more than anything to have him by his side again on the team but he would have given everything just so Roy didn’t suffer what he suffered. But for Roy it was worth it, the team is his family and the sacrifice for the family is never a sacrifice made in vain. He would do it all again. In this way he thanks Oliver for everything he has given him, almost without knowing it.
At that moment William appears to give him the totem, the same that meant so much to Thea at the time, and him later. That totem that connects William with his family, with his mother … and that connected him with Roy, with his sister, the team … and his father. And William wants Roy to feel what he felt: that he is not alone. But Roy doesn’t need it because family, no matter what happens, they are part of you.
After Roy’s farewell, an even tougher one comes: William’s. The first thing William wants to do is give his father the totem, he wants Oliver to feel that they are with him wherever he goes, he will never be alone. But Oliver wants William to keep it, he carries them in his heart and he will never feel alone if he thinks of them, but William … Oliver wants him to keep that totem and remember, remember him and remember how much his father loves him.
The first thing Oliver does is to ask for forgiveness, he just wants William to forgive him for leaving him, spending time with him has been a huge gift … he is so glad he was able to steal those moments from time and the universe, he is so happy to have known him …. that he can hardly breathe when he thinks about leaving him. And he needs … Oliver needs to hear that William doesn’t hold a grudge, that he understands, he needs to know that he doesn’t feel like he’s leaving him.
Before, William felt that way, but now everything has changed. When he was a child he didn’t have enough maturity to understand, but now he does. Now he knows what it is like to have to protect lives above your own, to have to fight and sacrifice for the rest. Now, William knows what it means to be a hero and is proud that Oliver is his father.
For Oliver, this means the whole world. He needed this. He needed to know that his children understood and felt proud of the man he has become, that despite all his shadows, his past and his darkness he has managed to be someone his children take pride in. And Oliver is so proud of William, of the man he has become, of the man he is … he loves him with all his soul, William is all he could ask for in a son. He is a man of worth.
Thus, father and son merge into a hug that speaks of longing, of pain, of the need to never separate, of the desire for more time … but also of forgiveness, pride and love. It’s beautiful.
After recovering a little, we cry again without stopping with the farewell of our most beloved brothers: Oliver and Diggle. The first thing they do is agree to keep their children safe, anything can happen to them but they will not allow their children to suffer the same fate, no matter what. And that’s just what any parent would do.
They are both so much for each other that they just don’t know what to say. No words seem enough to describe what they mean to the other. John simply cannot wrap his head around the fact that his brother is going to go forever, after all to what they have survived together … he cannot accept that Oliver will not survive Crisis. He always does. Oliver always lands on his feet … and he won’t do it anymore. And he feels as if he failed, as if he couldn’t protect him as Oliver would have protected him, but John has never failed him and this is no exception. It is only Oliver’s destiny.
Oliver has a hard time not letting tears out, not getting carried away by despair. He instructs Diggle to take care of them all, as he has always taken care of him. Everything they have lived together … seemed unthinkable when they met.
That is one of the best things in life, a seemingly insignificant person can become your whole, your family and can reach your heart without meaning to. It is what happened to them. Oliver was determined to fulfill his mission of revenge alone and it was so dark that he isolated himself so as not to spread that darkness to anyone and Diggle … he had just lost a brother, his family and never expected that rich playboy who had had everything in life (although he really had nothing) to become a companion of arms, a brother, a family. But he did. They did it and now … saying goodbye is simply unthinkable.
As Oliver tells him, if he is there, it is thanks in large part to Diggle. John was always his rock, his voice of reason, his conscience even when he wished he did not have one. John Diggle is one of the most important people for Oliver and this is also true the other way around. Diggle has been Oliver’s rock, but Oliver has also been so for Diggle. He always had him when he needed him, no matter what. Both merge into a hug so heartfelt that it gives us chills. Everything is said in that hug. Brotherhood falls short for what they are, but it is the only word that comes close.
And while we try not to become dehydrated from so much crying, let’s stop for a moment to analyze a detail. Oliver asks Diggle that when everything is over, look for Felicity to tell her to do her best so that their children grow up together. He has seen them and knows that not having each other made everything that happened even harder … and he wants them to stay together, so that neither of them feels alone, because part of their family is there. It’s a wonderful detail but … does this change the future?
Maybe, because, as far as we know so far, William and Mia grew apart but if that changes … the future must also do so.
After this, comes the toughest farewell: that of father and daughter. It happens in an emblematic place on the island, in Oliver’s personal purgatory. It was in that place where Oliver buried the people who started it all, there is the beginning of his story and the beginning of his anger, of his pain. The same pain and the same anger that Mia has felt.
Oliver needs to know that she is fine. Mia is like him and that is why he knows that, in spite of the hardness that she shows, she is emotional and can be permanently damaged. Not only that, he knows that he’s the one hurting her. That’s when Mia opens up.
She has only met her father through stories of a fallen hero. A hero who sacrificed everything, including her. And that felt so bad, made her feel so abandoned… and now she has to re-live that nightmare, that pain again and again, just when she had allowed herself to let her guard down and start feeling safe.
Oliver is dying inside knowing the suffering his decision caused her. He just wanted to do the best for her, protect her, even with his life, never wanted to harm her, never wanted to leave her. She is not just enough, she is everything and leaving her, her mother and William was the hardest thing he had to do. Mia has finally managed to understand. She, like William, now also knows what it means to be a hero, what it means to love your family above all things.
Mia blamed Oliver for leaving, but now she can’t blame him because she knows that he did everything for them to live in a better world, to have a life.
Oliver is honest with Mia about what the island meant and means to him. It was always his purgatory, he hated the island, he avoided it but at the same time he looked for it when he was lost because it was the only thing he knew. But that island and what he got over there made him a better man, made him the man he is today.
In spite of all the horrible things that happened there, if it were not for that, his life and destiny would have been totally different and he would never have been really happy because he would never have known or had his family.
That is life after all, finding your destiny despite the difficulties and having hope … hope that everything happens for some reason, that is what Oliver did and he would not change that life for anything. But now it’s Mia’s time, she has that legacy, his legacy, she can’t be in better hands, she will continue to learn just as he did. Mia will learn her own lessons and suffer her own losses, but Oliver wants her to know that everything will be worth it because it will make her the woman she has to be.
This Green Arrow legacy brings even more tears. It really makes you see where it all started, and how the journey is still going on, even with another protagonist.
Mia can only thank her father for giving her the opportunity to be part of his story, to meet him, to give her a piece of his heart and to open the doors to that tormented soul he had always feared to show. But Mia has nothing to thank him for, his story may be over but hers has just begun. It won’t be easy but, as Oliver once said, nothing worthwhile is easy.
At that moment they both hug, cling to each other without wanting to let go, almost breathing out, grateful to life for the gift of having met and full of the love they have for each other.
After this, Mia agrees to go home but has no time … Crisis has just begun.
And so, they give us the entrance to the crossover. I still think that Oliver is not going to die in the end, either literally, or because he will still be alive even if the world thinks he is dead. Of course, I do expect Oliver to “die” in an episode of Crisis … so I’m already preparing the tissues.
As for the stunts, they especially highlight the final fight of the whole team against Fyers and his henchmen, and the fight of Oliver and Laurel against the same bad guys. Really well choreographed, both of them.
In conclusion, if last week we were left with a bitter taste of an episode that was not up to par, this has far exceeded it. It’s sad, it’s emotional, it’s hard, it’s … real. After all, one of Arrow’s greatest things that set it apart from other shows of the same style is that, in the midst of superheroes and super powers, Arrow is as real as life itself, and tells the story of a hero who built all of this without superpowers. This episode could not be a better reflection of that.
For years we have witnessed Oliver’s birth as a hero and this is his peak moment, where we see and live from within everything he has built on the basis of sacrifice and pain … but also on the basis of happiness.
We met Oliver as a broken man who was the dark shadow of himself and didn’t believe he deserved love or a family, much less thought of being a hero, he only savored the taste of revenge. Today, Oliver is complete hero that has a team that supports him and a family that would give all for him.
It has been so … shocking to live it. Really live and realize all that this man has suffered, fought and achieved. Seeing him say goodbye to his loved ones has been a moment for posterity. In those emotional scenes nothing has been left unsaid. Also important to see how Oliver let his last ghosts go, those ghosts of the past that have taken him where he is and, finally, observe how Oliver contemplated from a distance everything he has built and what life would be like without him.
His team, his family, are fighting side by side thanks to him. For Oliver it is like observing his purest legacy, the result of all his sacrifices, even that of his own life. It is a retrospective of everything he has fought for, knowing that he can be proud of having achieved it. For us, it is a clear look at the end of Oliver’s journey, a journey in which we have accompanied him during these years and that is also, in part, ours.
I don’t think I’m mistaken if I say that this episode is the best of the whole show. The brilliant way of dealing with emotional conflicts, the fears of the characters, their history so raw and real that it has been full of suffering for the spectators and that has made us really get into the story and be there with Roy, supporting him while they cut off his arm or next to Diggle while trying to understand why he couldn’t save the people he cares about or along with Mia, William and Oliver who tried to say goodbye without wanting to. The emotional meaning of the episode is wonderfully sad and bittersweet, as are all goodbyes. And that’s how this episode ends: goodbye.
And, with that, the Crisis has begun.
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to discuss everything with us in the comments below!
Arrow airs on Tuesday on The CW at 9 pm.
