Arrow finale: Did everyone just… die?!
Warning: This story contains major spoilers from the season finale of Arrow. Read at your own risk.
The season finale of Arrow went out with a bang — literally — leaving the fates of just about everyone up in the air.
In order to rescue his friends and family from Chase’s (Josh Segarra) clutches, Oliver (Stephen Amell) enlisted the help of villains Captain Boomerang (Nick E. Tarabay), Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett), and Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law), the latter of whom swiftly took care of her sister, Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig), leveling the playing field. Boomerang double-crossed Ollie, of course. And while it appeared Slade did, too, the man formerly known as Deathstroke came through in the end and helped Oliver infiltrate Chase’s home base to rescue his friends.
However, in their attempts to escape the island, Malcolm (John Barrowman) was forced to sacrifice himself to save Thea (Willa Holland) from a landmine. Yes, Malcolm is ostensibly dead, which makes sense since Barrowman already revealed he wasn’t a series regular next season.
And that wasn’t the most explosive part of the finale. As everyone tried to escape the island, Oliver went after Chase, who tried to leave with Oliver’s son William via boat. Ollie was subsequently faced with an ultimatum: Either he kill Chase and show William the monster he is, or Chase will kill William.
But there’s a catch: Chase has a kill switch rigged to explosives on the island, which means if Oliver kills Chase, he kills his team. Thus, Oliver declines to slaughter Chase. However, Chase then takes matters into his own hands by killing himself and setting off the bombs, leaving Oliver dumbstruck as he may have just lost everyone he loves.
Did Arrow really just kill everyone?! Let’s be honest, that’s doubtful, but surely not everyone escaped that giant explosion. Unfortunately, we won’t find out until Arrow returns this fall on The CW.
