Arrow – Lian Yu

• Title: Arrow – Lian Yu
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The Fifth Season of Arrow comes to a close in an explosive season finale that returns Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) to Lian Yu to save his kidnapped friends and put an end to Prometheus (Josh Segarra) once and for all. And with the deck stacked against him, he’s not going alone. It’s homecoming week in the season finale as Ollie enlists the help of Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law), Digger Harkness (Nick E. Tarabay), and Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett). The final choice is a bit odd, considering the last dozen times we’ve seen him Deathstroke has been murderously intent on killing Oliver. Apparently sometimes prison rehabilitation works, as Slade is less murdery and crazy than we saw him last. While one of Oliver’s rag-tag band betrays him, Slade proves to be worthy of his trust.

The flashbacks also wrap-up Oliver’s time on Lian Yu and his personal war with Konstantin Kovar (Dolph Lundgren). Ending with the show’s opening scene, the show comes full circle (even if it has to cut a few corners to do so concerning our heroic vigilante’s look from the show’s premiere). And there’s a temple on the island? Really? Since when? It’s a minor complaint, but you think something like this would have been shown before now. With the entire episode taking place on the island, the finale has a much-needed different feel than so many focused on Star City under siege. The women of Arrow get their chance to shine as well as both the al Ghul sisters face off as do alternate versions of Black Canary. While Talia (Lexa Doig) certainly drew the short-straw in terms of character development and screentime, her fight with Nyssa does allow her to grab a final memorable moment if she doesn’t return next year.

The final sequence of events thankful puts Prometheus out of his misery, but it does end on a cliffhanger with the survival of the entiriety of Team Arrow (and his enemies) in doubt. If they choose to, the show’s writers can certainly make some wholesale changes headed into next season (which hopefully won’t involve another evil archer). One positive, it seems likely that Evelyn Sharp (Madison McLaughlin), an incredibly annoying character given far too much screentime this year, will likely be among the casualties of Prometheus’ final move.