Did Arrow Just Kill (Spoiler)!
Reaction to the explosive Arrow season finale
By Daniel Schwartz
So. That just happened.
Spoilers abound below for the season finale of Arrow. You have been warned!
Greg Berlanti may have just put up a body count that Game of Thrones could be proud of. How did we get there?
The episode serves as the fitting final chapter of the Adrian Chase/Prometheus saga. With all of Oliver’s friends and family being held on the island, Oliver channels his inner Amanda Waller and assembles his own Suicide Squad to free them.
With the help of Nyssa, Merlin, Boomerang, and Slade Wilson, Oliver takes on Chase and his own team of villains holding Team Arrow. After several sword fights and fist fights, Oliver makes his way to Chase’s boat for the final showdown. Knowing that he can’t kill Chase because his death will trigger explosives planted all over the island, Oliver must choose the life of his fiends or his son. Thinking he is clever, he finds a way to injure Chase and get his son back. Chase, having been ten steps ahead of Team Arrow from day 1, chooses to then kill himself and sets off explosions that appear to engulf the entire island and everyone on it.
Did we just witness the death of everyone Oliver cares about (except William)? Not likely. Shows often shake up their casts, but they do not usually kill off almost everyone in it. It is likely that several Team Arrow members survived, but they could have killed off a couple of people during the explosions.
That said, Team Arrow did not represent the only deaths during the finale. Fans also witnessed the death of Kovar and the flashbacks. Unless Arrow wants to spend the sixth season flashing back to the first, we have seen the last of these plot devices.
With Chase’s death and the possibility of several other deaths, Arrow left fans in shock and anticipation for the new season. Until then, fans are left with several questions going into season six.
Who survived and who died? Was Merlin really taken out by a land mine (prior to the island exploding)? How will the survivors move forward? How did Chase plant bombs all over an island that serves as an ARGUS black site without being noticed?
Answers to these questions and more will follow when Arrow returns the the CW in the fall on its new night and time (Thursdays at 9PM).