Originally published May 27, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Jessie Robertson reviews the season five finale of Arrow…
Say Goodbye to the Island
Arrow ends its fifth season with a huge cliffhanger with the hour preceding it playing like a greatest hits of the complete five seasons of the show.
“Lian Yu” was action packed, dramatic and full of tough choices and death. We get to see the opening moments of the show replayed here again, when Oliver, shaggy beard and tattered clothes, runs along the shores of Lian Yu to light a signal fire; this time, however, we see him change into this disguise to further sell the story that he has never left this island in the last five years. We see Slade Wilson, Oliver’s new recruit in his war against Adrian Chase, in a scintillating scene to open this weeks’ show. Wilson, as we know, is still imprisoned on Lian Yu in a special ARGUS holding cell. As Oliver gives him the low down, Wilson has a more serene look and a different viewpoint on life. He even states “I don’t want to point out the obvious, but I killed your mother.” As Slade has been locked away, thinking of probably nothing else except the twists and turns of his life, he’s shocked to see Oliver standing in front of him, after the last time they saw each other, willing to forgive and move on after such a heinous perpetration by Slade in the past. This seems to be the reason he’s willing to help Oliver fight this battle; they also bond over having no contact with either of their sons and Oliver promises to help him with this problem.
With the finale, it feels like the conclusion of a lot of things; the Adrian Chase saga is finally at an end. Chase lured Oliver there to save all his friends but had an alternate plan in motion: rig Lian Yu with enough explosives to sink the island. Bombs were a theme on this mission; along with Slade and Captain Boomerang (also imprisoned on Lian Yu), Oliver brought some League back up in Nyssa and Merlyn. Once Oliver rescued Felicity, Thea and Williams’ mother from cages where Evelyn had them imprisoned, he sent Merlyn back with them. Since it’s Lian Yu, of course Thea steps on a land mine as she’s arguing yet again with Merlyn over their relationship. Merlyn tricks her into him taking her place and advises her to leave as quickly as they can and despite what she says, she’ll always be his daughter. As they hear the bomb go off in the background, Thea begins to immediately regret their relationship but gets some good advice from Felicity. It was a quiet yet soulful ending to these two (if it’s their end) with Merlyn’s one redeeming quality being that he did try to always protect Thea no matter how much she hated him.
Once Chase is defeated in a series of epic battles (Nyssa v. Talia, Black Siren v. Dinah, Slade v. 30 Ninjas), he again begs Oliver to kill him. But, Oliver now firmly has control over his rage; the beauty of this fight is it’s cut in between flashbacks of 5 years ago when Kovar had Oliver trapped and they fought. There, Oliver securely defeated Kovar but killed him anyways. 5 years later, the man who has kidnapped his friends and family, he lets live. It just shows off the trophy of Oliver’s new found path in life and that he is secure in knowing that side of himself lurks below, but he’s able to control it now. Oliver has everyone depart for a plane on the other side of the island as he searches for William; one problem; Chase disabled the plane so they have no where to go (except, dare I say the ARGUS bunker?) Oliver tracks down Chase on a boat and has one last stand off with him. He tells Oliver he has to choose: save your son or let your friends die or save your friends and let your son die. Oliver chooses neither and shoots Chase in the foot, but he never searched him!!! Chase blows his own brains out and Lian Yu explodes in a fiery explosion.
So where does this leave Oliver? Surely the show isn’t starting over with just Oliver and William – that’s how it looks but maybe so. The flashbacks are now over, so there’s a lot more room to tell different stories at this point. But, there’s way too many principal characters there to let die. There’s a brilliant moment where Felicity kisses Oliver, saying she doesn’t want to regret not doing it. Oliver is so one-track focused it doesn’t register with him very much. But, seeing as how it ended, I’m sure that moment with stick with him. Arrow Season 5 ends in a crazy cliffhanger and if they keep this course next year, I’m very much looking forward to Season 6. See ya guys next year in Star City!
Jessie Robertson
