“It’s gonna hurt because it matters.”
So, here we are. The end of an era.
Arrow is ending, and the time remaining is short.
I’m not surprised. I have long suspected that Season 8 would be Arrow’s last. The abbreviated season isn’t even a shock, especially when you consider that Crisis on Infinite Earths has been set up to be a major crucible for Oliver. But I will admit a stab of panic when I read that piece of the puzzle.
I’m sad. When I first read the news I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to cry. Really, I still feel that way and it’s been a few hours. Like the end of many things in life, there’s a grief attached.
The end of Arrow will hurt. That’s a certainty. All we can do now is wait and hope that the producers and writers (and cast) keep the promises they’ve been making all evening to end Arrow right and on a high note.
As John Green says, “it’s gonna hurt because it matters.”
And, oh, how it has and does matter to so many of us.
I may be sad, I may feel like crying, but mostly I’m grateful.
In fact, Stephen Amell’s Facebook Live video shows that his decision to leave after Season 7 or an abbreviated number of Season 8 epsiodes was already made. So, I’m grateful that the decision was made to simply end the show and not try to go beyond Stephen’s departure.
Arrow has brought me so much enjoyment, not only in what I saw on my TV but also in the social media interactions with those directly involved and with fellow fans. And don’t even get me started on the fan fiction.
Promise me we’ll still write Olicity fan fiction. I need it.
Has Arrow been perfect? Of course not. No TV show is. But that’s been half the fun, hasn’t it? We’ve analyzed, speculated, celebrated, commiserated, and had a blast along the way (even if it was sometimes painful.)
I’m grateful for this journey and for the characters who we’ve loved along the way.
And while we don’t know how this story will end, I’m grateful that the executive producers and writers have been given the opportunity to end it in a time frame that allows for resolution and closure.
We’re so lucky in so many ways. Arrow could have been cancelled abruptly. Or it could have trudged along for a decade, bleeding original cast members until it was a shell of its former self.
So, am I worried about the fate of our favorite hero? Sure.
But, I think there are plenty slivers of hope.
Ironically, this sad news has actually given me some new insight into Season 7 as a whole. Now that we know that Stephen Amell expressed his desire to leave at the end of a Season 7, it has become clear to me that the Flash Forwards were definitely meant as a jumping off point for a post-Oliver Arrow. They knew that Oliver’s time on-screen was coming to an end and they needed a way forward if Arrow continued.
But, I think that while Arrow continuing was always a possibility, it wasn’t a likelihood. I believe that Arrow has been constructing a storyline, both in the present and the future that could have multiple resolutions — ones that highly depended on the fate of the series in the aftermath of Stephen leaving. I’m heartened by the very really possibility that the conclusion of Arrow is not set in stone.
I also believe that Stephen’s departure is what solidified the decision to do Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Could Oliver die? Yep. Might he stay dead? Sure.
But our Captain said it best in his Facebook video tonight: Arrow might be over, but he has a feeling he won’t be gone. Hopefully the same goes for Oliver Queen.
Here’s hoping for a little bit of happily ever after for our very deserving heroes.
In closing, let’s remember why we have loved (and sometimes love-hated) Arrow so much over the last 8 years and why it’s gonna hurt so fracking much when it’s over — even if it’s time:
Because it mattered.
