‘Arrow’: Oliver Queen SPOILERS in “Fundamentals”

Spoilers ahead for tonight’s episode of Arrow, titled “Fundamentals.”

Following a grueling day physically and emotionally, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) found himself impeached as the Mayor of Star City on tonight’s episode of Arrow.

All season long, there has been an ongoing investigation into claims that Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow are one and the same. In the past, he has managed to get around this by having someone else don the hood briefly, but this time around, it did not work to convince anyone when John Diggle (David Ramsey) served briefly as the Green Arrow, and throughout the season, Oliver has slowly alienated the rest of his support network, leaving him with nobody else.

After firing a district attorney and a police captain, both of whom he had discovered were working for drug kingpin Ricardo Diaz, Oliver found himself facing obstruction of justice charges led by Councilman Kullens (Greg Rogers).

The storyline, of course, mirrors real-world events as the U.S. government is currently embroiled in a controversy over the limits of executive power amid persistent rumors that President Donald Trump wants to fire Justice Department employees investigating him as part of a broad-ranging probe into Russian influence on the 2016 Presidential election. Some have argued that if Trump were to fire the special prosecutor or those who are in charge of his probe, it would constitute obstruction of justice.

Still, in the real world one would need the Republicans in Congress — most of whom are friendly to the President — to decide to act on such a charge. Even if it were determined that Trump obstructed, and even if someone were to advance articles of impeachment, there is a buffer there that could protect him.

Oliver Queen is not so lucky, with a hostile Council who felt disrespected by his recent candor and wondered about his fitness to serve after seeing him apparently under the influence during an impeachment hearing.

That he presented exculpatory evidence that he admitted had been obtained and provided by the Green Arrow, then denied (once again) being the Green Arrow, did not help his case.

It is not immediately clear which charges were used to remove Queen from office; he could have been ousted for obstruction, perjury, or vigilantism (or all three). Future episode descriptions, though, make it sound like he will be facing a trial for his freedom as well…which presumably could mean that the impeachment could be reversed if he is found not guilty (although that seems farfetched).

What do you think of this latest Arrow bombshell? Sound off in the comments below.

Arrow airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, following episodes of Supernatural.