How the Arrow finale said goodbye to Emily Bett Rickards' Felicity, teased 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'
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The CW
Overwatch just signed off on Arrow (hopefully, for now).
Emily Bett Rickards' run as tech-genius Felicity Smoak came to an end in Monday's season 7 finale, as the actress is leaving the show ahead of its eighth and final season. Not only did the finale give Felicity an emotional send-off, but, it also planted some major seeds for the Arrowverse's next crossover, "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Here's how it all went down (We'll have a full recap later tonight):
In the finale, Team Arrow (which also included Black Siren, Bronze Tiger, and Curtis) rallied to put an end to Emiko's terrorist attack on the city. Despite everything she did, Oliver (Stephen Amell) firmly believed that he could convince Emiko to stop and redeem her. And he turned out to be right! When the Ninth Circle turned on Emiko, she saw the error of her ways and fought alongside her brother. Unfortunately, she died in the battle, and with her dying breath, she told Oliver that he and Felicity needed to go into hiding to protect their daughter.
So, that's what Oliver and Felicity did. After leaving the rest of the team to defend the city, Oliver and Felicity relocated to that isolated home we saw "Star City 2040" and remained there for Mia's birth. Their lives calmed down and they even started discussing the possibility of asking Williams' parents for joint custody — of course, that's exactly when the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) shows up to remind Oliver of the deal they made.
What deal you ask? Well, let's flashback to December's "Elseworlds" crossover event, which ended with Oliver and the multiverse observer striking a deal: In exchange for the Monitor saving Barry (Grant Gustin) and Kara (Melissa Benoist), Oliver had to agree to leave his life and go with the Monitor to save the multiverse from the impending crisis (you know, the one coming in this December's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover). And now the time has come for Oliver to hold up his end of the deal. Despite Felicity's protests and learning that he will die in the "Crisis," Oliver leaves with the Monitor, but not before making Felicity promise she'll keep their children safe and give them normal lives.
Flash-forward to 2040: Future Team Arrow manages to take down the ARCHER program and the Zetas by destroying the wall that separated the Glades from the rest of Star City. This is technically an act of terror, and someone needs to take the fall. So, Dinah, Roy, and Felicity decide to do that and go on the run for the rest of their lives because they know Mia (Katherine McNamara), William (Ben Lewis), Zoe (Andrea Sixtos), and Connor (Joseph David Jones) can keep the city safe.
Before hitting the road, though, Felicity visits Oliver's grave — which confirms he dies in 2019 — with Mia and William because she wants to say goodbye to them one last time. Her two children don't understand why they can't stay in contact while she's on the run, but Felicity simply says it's time for her to go on her own journey… which leads her right to the Monitor.
When she meets up with the Monitor, she tells him she's ready. "Where I'm taking you, there's no return," he says. But Felicity doesn't care because she's waited a long time to see Oliver. From there, they breach away to only God knows where to be with the fallen Green Arrow. And thus, Rickards' time on the show came to an end.
Honestly, it's unclear what all of this means for the final season. As of right now, all we know is that the final season will include flash-forwards, too, which showrunner Beth Schwartz confirmed to EW. Beyond that, we just have several questions: Will the final season just follow Oliver's adventures with the Monitor? How will the remaining characters fit into that? Is this actually the end of the Ninth Circle, which is apparently hunting Oliver and Felicity's kid? How did Roy end up back Lian-Yu? Does the fact that Felicity heads off to join Oliver mean he's not actually dead-dead? Is there a salmon ladder wherever Oliver and the Monitor are going? And so many more.
Guess we'll just to have wait until Arrow returns in the fall for its 10-episode final season.
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