After eight seasons and 170 episodes, the end is finally here for The CW’s Arrow. With Oliver Queen having died to save the Multiverse all that’s left is to say goodbye to not just the hero who saved Star City and the world, but the series that inspired a whole franchise, the Arrowverse as we know it today. The final chapter sees the return of familiar faces as they pay their last respects, but there are quite a few surprises in store for fans as well. Read on for our spoiler-filled final recap of Arrow below.
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Warning: spoilers for “Fadeout”, the series finale of Arrow, below,
The episode opens with a voiceover montage with Oliver Queen giving a very general recap of his journey, bringing the audience up to his death and the rebirth of the universe due to his sacrifice. At the end, he declares that some part of him will always be the Green Arrow.
Starling City 2014. It’s the night that Deathstroke killed Moira Queen, but this time, that reality is different. Oliver frees himself and takes down Deathstroke, saving his mother. In the present, Moira talks to the Emerald Archer documentary crew about knowing about that alternative reality. She also explains that Oliver’s friends have told her that he’s the reason “everything changed” and that their world is a gift from him.
Dinah is next, talking about processing everything, as does Rene, touching on Oliver’s legacy. Diggle also talks, struggling a bit with the loss of Oliver. Once the cameras stop, Rene comes to chat with him. Turns out Oliver just fixed things. He got rid of all crime in Star City and it’s time to honor him. At the bunker, the team – including Roy – toasts to Oliver. They chat about their future. Quentin Lance is alive and still mayor. He’s endorsing Rene as his replacement. Dinah is chief of police. Diggle feels like things aren’t over.
Flashback, Starling City 2012. Diggle wants to help Oliver in the field. Oliver resists and researches his next target: John Byrne, a human trafficker. Diggle wants to know how many names are on the list. Oliver tells him the mission is never over. Flashback: the raft after the sinking of the Queen’s Gambit. Robert Queen still ends his own life. We then move to Star City 2040. Mia wakes up in her bed and Sara is in her room, having time portaled to come get her for Oliver’s funeral.
At the bunker, Laurel is struggling. Roy gives Dinah her “Mark of 4” tattoo and reveals that he’s nervous to talk to Thea. It’s revealed Emiko is alive, too. Another flashback. Diggle continues to clash with Oliver about joining him in the field, with Diggle trying to convince Oliver that there are other ways to get justice than killing people and losing himself isn’t worth it. In the present, Mia uses the computer in the bunker and tells Dinah that something happens in the future – William’s kidnapping – and she currently feels helpless. The news then breaks that in the present, William is kidnapped from Central City.
The team has a mission: save William. Felicity shows up. Ragman is also there, as is Curtis and Lyla. Felicity reveals she implanted a tracker in William, but it’s not helpful now. She gets a list of possible locations and now the entire assembled team sets off to check them out to save William. Thea and Roy check one location and he’s not there. Before they go to the next, Roy opens up to Thea and says he wants to marry her. Another location, Ragman and Rene clear it. His rags work at long last and he’s been fighting for justice to honor Oliver. Ragman tells Rene he is the member of the team most like their slain leader. Diggle and Lyla clear another. William’s kidnapping has her rattled as she feels indebted to Oliver for giving them back their daughter. Green Arrow Mia then lands on a rooftop and finds William. John Byrne has him.
A flashback explains the significance. When Oliver locates Byrne back in the day he doens’t kill him. Instead, Oliver put him in prison and ruined his life. In the present, Mia chooses not to kill him either. He is going back to prison. Back at the Bunker, Felicity learns Mia is her daughter. The news reports the that Oliver must have inspired a new Green Arrow. Another flashback. Oliver gives Diggle training tips and tells him that he didn’t kill Byrne. He took Diggle’s advice. At Queen Mansion, Thea says yes to Roy’s proposal.
Laurel meets with Quentin. She is having trouble with her existing and Earth-1 Laurel not since Oliver “fixed” everything. Quentin tells Laurel that Oliver didn’t fix the Laurel situation because it didn’t need fixing. At the bunker, Diggle, Dinah, and Rene have another moment together before turning off the lights one last time. Later, a statue of the Green Arrow is unveiled in Star City.
And now, the funeral. Thea questions why Oliver couldn’t bring back their dad. Moira explains that Oliver could only change the things that didn’t change him, meaning Robert remains dead. Emiko approaches to meet Thea and is welcomed by both women as family. Tommy speaks with Laurel-2 and reveals that he’s aware of the reality in which he was dead. He also says that Laurel-1 was his wife. It’s unclear what her fate was, though implied that she died and remains dead. Nyssa and Talia are there as well with Nyssa explaining she had her marriage to Oliver erased. Mia introduces herself to Felicity and reveals that she did, in fact, meet Oliver. They hug. Barry pays his condolences as well, as does Kara. Anatoly is present, they buried a casket of mementos. Diggle offers a eulogy honoring Oliver’s journey and sacrifice.
Everyone begins to move on. Lyla heads to Metropolis with the kids. Mia returns to the future. Rene oversees his campaign. Dinah heads out into the unknown. And, then, something crashes into the earth near Diggle and he pulls an item out of the crater. Opening the box, he’s bathed in a glowing green light.
We flash forward one last time, to Star City 2040 and the moment where, in Season 7, The Monitor took Felicity into the unknown. She arrives, dressed as she was back in Season 1. She’s in Moira Queen’s old office. This is Oliver’s afterlife: he’s been waiting for her in the moment he first saw her and it’s not in the IT department. It’s when he saw her talking to his photo on his mother’s desk all those years ago. Now, they have all the time in the world together in a perfect world.
