In the previous decade, fans who
tuned in to the unique superhero series “Smallville” on The WB (2001-06) and
its successor The CW (2006-11) felt that the show, about a young Clark Kent
coming into his power and growing up to be Superman, helped define the place of
superheroes in live-action TV. Come the following year, another TV adaptation
of a DC superhero premiered on The CW. “Arrow” starring Stephen Amell elevated
the concept of a non-super-powered crime-fighter on the small screen, that it
became the foundation of The CW’s “Arrow-verse” franchise. Eight seasons later,
the show came to an end just this past Tuesday.
Airing January 28 on The CW, the
series finale for “Arrow” showed more of how the primary setting of Star City
has changed following the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover that Oliver
Queen/Arrow (Stephen Amell) died (twice) to resolve. In what feels like a
time-honored tradition among multi-season long-running TV shows, the final
episode “Fadeout” according to E! News
Online features the return of many early-season characters that have either
left the show by write-off or storyline death. The latter being undone is
easily explained by the post-Crisis changes to the multi-verse; combining the
worlds of the “Arrow” shows, “Supergirl” and “Black Lightning” makes several
resurrections seem tame in comparison.
That said, it looks like all
members of the Queen family that could be brought back are together again in
the wake of Oliver’s death, with Moira Queen (Susannah Thompson) even adopting
her late husband’s illegitimate daughter Emiko (Sea Shimooka). Those are the
prominent resurrections by the way, alongside the Black Canaries’ dad Quentin
Lance (Paul Blackthorne). Thea Queen (Willa Holland) gets her happy ending with
fellow “living” returnee Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) after the latter proposes.
They are also present for Oliver’s funeral alongside his many super-buddies and
frenemies.
Finale writers Beth Schwartz and
Marc Guggenheim manage to justify having Amell return in costume as Arrow by
having a flashback sequence circa season 1, which ties into the present-day
season 8 timeframe when the criminal Oliver was pursuing then (originally
killed but revived post-Crisis) returns for vengeance on the relatively happy
Queen Family and Team Arrow. Thankfully Oliver’s daughter Mia (Katherine
McNamara) was visiting from the future courtesy of the Legends, so she foils
that post-arc threat pretty easily.
Seeing as the creative team have set
up the ending of “Arrow” to introduce some future plot hooks for the other
shows in the franchise (and backdoor-pilot the “Green Arrow and the Canaries”
spinoff), it was expected that some great parting shots will be delivered as
the episode winds down. For example, longtime Arrow ally John Diggle (David
Ramsey) encounters a crashed meteor with a box containing something green, a
possible tease of a Green Lantern ring. But the real meat of emotion was the
circa 2040 reunion between Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and the
long-dead Oliver in the afterlife courtesy of the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett).
It seems a rather mundane afterlife for the founding father of the “Arrow-verse,”
but it also feels fitting.
While it is unfortunate that
ratings for “Arrow” season 8 episode 10 “Fadeout” was a ratings slump of only
723,000 viewers (or 19% lower than last week’s “Livin’ in the Future/Green
Arrow and the Canaries”), analysts only remark that this is due to the general
decrease in TV viewers watching broadcast, preferring later-date streaming or
viewing of recordings. On that note, it is still an epic conclusion to “Arrow,”
the “Smallville” of this decade for DC superhero TV, and the franchise it
birthed on The CW will continue on still.
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