Emiko has placed her bioweapon across the city and waits for Oliver in the Queen Consolidated Building. Team Arrow, fugitives from the law themselves and with back up from Curtis, Laurel and Bronze Tiger, go to war one last time. While in the future, Rene, Felicity and the others find themselves faced with a choice that will change their lives and their cities forever.

This is all about passing the torch, and not just to the next hero but the next hero to wear the cowl. Emiko becomes Green Arrow once she embraces the same kindness and love Oliver did last week. Oliver can retire from being Green Arrow once he knows he can protect his daughter and wife. In the future, that same daughter takes up the bow and arrow to solve the problems she’s inherited. There will always be a Star City. There will always be a Green Arrow protecting it. That’s a comforting thought and a clear message to viewers that while the show may be ending the characters will not.

It also gives the episode a welcome bounce that cuts between the plots, mid scene at some points. James Bamford is one of the best directors the show has had and cutting from Mia line-arrowing out of the exploding wall to her dad doing the same thing decades previously looks especially cool. The episode is gnarly and brutal, but it’s also not showy. The vigilantes use violence as a tool rather than an expression and that means the action is always crunchy but the violence rarely glamorized.

Plus the overarching theme ties the two plots together really well. The older generation taking the fall for the wall coming down and spending the rest of their lives on the run has some nice symmetry to them standing down for a while in the present day. What gives that an added kick however is Felicity’s final scenes. Firstly we see her and Oliver have and raise Mia. Then we see Oliver taken away by the Monitor. In the future, a gravestone confirms Oliver dies in 2019 and the last we see is Felicity, greeted by the Monitor, asking to be taken to him.

that will give him an edge against an opponent who refuses to.

Verdict: So many questions, especially about next season, but it’s a nice touch to functionally end Arrow’s uber plot here. The city is saved, the hero behind it still has some work to do and so do the people around him. No stories end, no one or nowhere is saved forever and no victory is complete or tidy. But this collection of them certainly has the emotional weight it needs and deserves. One more time, Oliver, whatever form that takes. We’ll see you then. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart