Is ‘ARROW’ Winter Finale Just Blowing Smoak?

Coming off of an action-filled and new character spawning crossover event with ‘The Flash,’ the ‘ARROW’ mid-season finale makes decisions that will leave even loose fans of the show reeling.

CAUTION! Spoilers ahead. If you are not current on ‘ARROW’ up to its recent mid-season finale and wish to maintain your untainted experience, then leave now and be spared unforgettable reveals.

After what I considered to be a very “Happy” Season 4, ‘ARROW’ makes a decision that may finally turn Oliver Queen back into the stoic fan-adored hero from previous Seasons – Smoking Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards).

Ever since Oliver and Felicity, or Fel-iver for short, became official at the end of last season, Stephen Amell’s Oliver has put his salmon ladder days behind him to focus on his budding relationship. Since then the show, in my opinion, has suffered. I get that the writers wanted to de-power Oliver, a necessary move after he pretty much effortlessly de-throned Ra’s Al Ghoul last season – a foe that even Batman would have had more struggle with. Starting off with Oliver and Felicity in suburbia the decommissioned hero is exchanging recipes with the neighboring ‘Stepford Wives’ is just odd. Again, I get the transition from darker killer Arrow to a lighter, happier and non-lethal Green Arrow, but to quote the ‘Matrix’ – “Not Like This.”

Now fast forward to the Mid-Season finale. A lot is going on in the former Starling city. Oliver Queen, now the Green Arrow, is running for Mayor. There is a new, as Paul Balckthorne would put it, “baddie” in town by the name of Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) with a H.I.V.E. of lethal “Ghosts.” Darhk wants Mayoral Candidate Queen to join in on his plan to crumble the freshly rebranded Star city for the gain of his shadow organization. Instead, Oliver outs Darhk leaving himself and his entire team in the crosshairs of H.I.V.E.

As the mid-season finale culminates, we find a newly engaged Oliver and Felicity all smiles and adulation as they depart in their limo. That’s right he pops the question at a campaign speech, and just when all is well audiences learn that it’s really not. The limousine is surrounded with automatic weapon wielding ghosts, who Swiss cheese the lim and Felicity in the process.

What we are left with is an image of a panicked Oliver clutching a bloody and unresponsive Felicity in his arms. Could this be the end of Felicity Smoak? Is this the mysterious grave that we saw Oliver visit?

First of all, we saw a very similar mid- season finale last season. Remember when Oliver gets stabbed through the chest and kicked off a cliff by Ra’s. I’m pretty sure if the writers of the show can justify Oliver surviving that, they can certainly justify Smoak’s survival.

While it was one hell of a cliffhanger to perhaps rejuvenate interest in a floundering season, I highly doubt that Felicity has truly met her end. As with many of the characters who have died on the show in the past, they have been resurrected in one way shape or form just as easy. Sarah Lance was thought dead twice and was literally dead and buried before her sister Laurel tossed her into the Lazarus Pit. Thea Queen was borderline-dead after getting stabbed by Ra’s Al Ghoul, and Oliver tossed HER into the Lazarus Pit. When in doubt, toss Felicity in there too. I know Meryln said he took care of it, but he’s a liar and the show’s writers are probably saving it as a Deus Ex Machina type twist for something down the line.

The plus side is, if Felicity does take a dip in the pit she’ll come out with some enhanced strength and a nifty keen bloodlust. Given that Merlyn is the new Ra’s Al Ghoul, a position he received from Oliver, accessing the pit should be of no consequence. Or, you know, Oliver could just take Felicity to the hospital.

The grave theory is easily debunked as the mysterious scene says “6 Months Later,” whereas in “ARROW” world only a few months have gone by. So, unless felicity slowly dies in a hospital bed over the next few “ARROW”-months (which would make for horribly boring and depressing TV), I doubt it’s her grave.

At the same time, somebody very important and close to Oliver WILL be dying by the end of the season and leaving their inscription on that tombstone. I can’t help but think, given her conversation with her Father in this past episode, that it might be Laurel that is going to bite the dust. It would certainly rattle and redefine the Arrow-Verse. What would become of Det. Lance… or perhaps WHO would he become?

You just be careful out there, alright? Because I don’t know what I’d do if anything were to happen to you. That’s not true. I know exactly what I would do, and it’d be ugly. – Quentin Lance

I will just let that one sit with you.

While I love the quirk of Smoak, a part of me really wants to see Felicity’s demise be concrete in order to allow the show to move forward and outside the realm of a romance. Another option is that the “Bloom” gases that Thea, Diggle and Felicity were exposed to may still have some sort of delayed effect. Perhaps this will put Felicity under Darhk’s control and stress the bonds of team Arrow at a critical moment. In any case, we will just have to wait and see what the latter half of the season holds in store for the fan adored Felicity Smoak and greater ‘Arrow’ team.

‘ARROW’ returns to The CW on January 20th 2016.

What do you think? Is Felicity dead? What could this mean for the future of ‘ARROW?’ We want to know, so tell us in the comments section below.