Arrow Final Season: Can We Trust the Monitor?

The nostalgia continued this week in the final season of Arrow. This time we were in Hong Kong, and once again we saw some old faces.

One of the things I love about these episodes so far is how they are letting us reminisce and say goodbye to characters, at the same time, keeping the story arc going and upping the ante for the impending crisis. The writers have created a beautiful final season so far.

This week we saw two old faces, Tatsu Yamashiro (Rila Fukushima) and China White (Kelly Hu). Tatsu taught Oliver (Stephen Amell) a lot when they’ve crossed paths before, and once again, she was teaching him.

Is Oliver on the right path? That seemed to be the big question of the episode, brought up by John (David Ramsey) and Tatsu. What does the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) want Dr. Wong for? These missions that the Monitor is sending Oliver on are a little odd. Maybe, in the end, they will all make sense, but now they seem random.

And why do Oliver, Barry, and Kara have to die? There has to be a way to save the universe and preserve our heroes.

The Monitor knows Oliver well, and he has someone in his pocket to make sure his plans move forward. I did not see Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) working with the Monitor behind Oliver and John’s back. Lyla’s heart is always in the right place, but she’s hard to trust.

How will Lyla siding with the Monitor affect her and John? He was the first one to second guess the Monitor. How does this fit into the fates of The Flash, Green Arrow, and Supergirl?

While we had the nostalgia and the next mission for the Monitor, the writers made sure to pay attention to how Laurel (Katie Cassidy) in the aftermath of her planet being destroyed. No one can imagine how they would feel if their entire plant was erased from the universe, but Katie did such a great job portraying the denial, anger, and pain that someone may feel in that situation.

I hope this isn’t the last we feel the effects of Earth two vanishing. Everyone on The Flash still needs to acknowledge what happened, and we need to find out what happened to Harry and Jesse Wells. Did they die like everyone else, or did they happen to be on another Earth? Which is a good possibility, if the writers don’t want to kill them off.

I’m still not getting into the flash-forwards. I’m trying, I really am, but I’m too invested in the present Arrow story.

What’s your favorite part of the final season so far? Tell me in the comments below or tweet me at @MandyTTCarr.