Finale Forecast: Will ‘Arrow’ season 4 end on a happier note?
At the time in which we are writing this particular entry in our Finale Forecast article series, “Arrow” is still in mourning. The show lost a hugely important character in Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), and it bears the enormous challenge in trying to justify to many of its viewers that this death will not be in vein. It has to pay off the battle against Damien Darhk, set off a storyline for season 5, and try to resolve an Oliver / Felicity relationship that while fun in practice at times, has since become overdramatic when the two characters are clearly better off together.
With this Finale Forecast, we’re going to strap on a thinking cap here for a moment and try to figure out, if at all possible, how to resolve the show of some of its problems and set up an excellent story for the fall.
What could happen – Given the “Arrow” mold, much of this feels fairly predictable. Oliver and Damien will fight, the latter will be defeated, and in the end Star City will have a moment or two to breathe. Meanwhile, we imagine that Oliver and Felicity will likely get back together or at least start down that road, and Diggle will start to come to terms with how wrong he was about his brother. We don’t exactly think Andy was playing the long game when his moves helped to set up the death of such a close friend. Hopefully Captain Lance will also still be breathing, given just how much tragedy has befallen him.
What should happen – If “Arrow” really wants to get fans excited about season 5, how about introducing the possibility of Malcolm Merlyn freeing Slade Wilson, and the two teaming up for a villain battle of the ages? Merlyn knows where he is, has a motive to go after Oliver Queen now, and the show hasn’t quite been the same without Manu Bennett as a major part of it. We’re not sure about his availability, but wouldn’t it be fun to go down this road one more time?
On the romance front, we’d really just like to see Oliver and Felicity stable, since Diggle and Lyla seem to be capable of handling that without a problem. There’s nothing wrong with characters in stable relationships! Also, we’d like to see Oliver get that position as Mayor, that way his life is arguably as interesting as life as the Arrow … and also maybe cut down on some of the flashbacks while we’re at it.