For its entire eight season run, Arrow has been a superhero show masked in darkness. Much like its hero, who managed to find his way out of the darkness and into the light and proved himself to be a true hero.
Still, I never doubted that Oliver Queen deserved a happy ending.
But would he get a happy ending? That’s what I doubted, and I was proven right in Arrow ‘s series finale, where Oliver Queen remained dead and was robbed of the rest of a life that he’d earned.
Even after all of the darkness, all of the sacrifice, all of the pain, it only served to strengthen the argument that Oliver deserved his happiness in the end.
Sure, you could argue that Oliver was granted some semblance of satisfaction in the end — he was able to save his family and be reunited with Felicity in the afterlife.
But why couldn’t Oliver have saved his family and then been reunited with them in life? Why couldn’t Oliver get to raise his children? Why couldn’t Oliver get to grow old with Felicity? Why did Oliver have to die?
Why didn’t Oliver Queen get the happy ending he deserved?
Of every damn hero in the Arrowverse, Oliver Queen deserved a happy ending. No one has suffered more. No one has sacrificed more. You figured he’d get a metaphorical “get out of death free card” considering his resume of pain, loss and suffering over the years.
While there are some fans that will be satisfied with the ending, there are some like me that aren’t. To me, it felt like a cop out. They’d always planned to kill Oliver, and they knew the only way to avoid complete bedlam was to grant as close a happy ending as they could deliver — without bringing Oliver back to life.
But since they killed Oliver off, you think about what’s the next best thing. And that’s what Arrow gave us. They reunited Felicity with Oliver in the afterlife, much like Rose was reunited with Jack in Titanic.
The scene itself was absolutely stunning, heartfelt and left me sobbing. And even as Oliver and Felicity prepared for an eternity together, I couldn’t help but wonder what could’ve been if they’d been able to live their lives not dictated by a ridiculous crossover event.
You could argue that Oliver did get somewhat of a happy ending — his children got to live and he was reunited with the love of his life. But if Oliver got to choose his happy ending, this wouldn’t be it. Oliver wouldn’t have chosen to be separated from his children. He would’ve chosen getting to raise his kids and grow old with his wife.
Considering everything Oliver went through in his eight seasons of this show — and the five on Lian Yu — he deserved to get the happy ending he wanted.
Arrow aired Tuesdays on the CW.