Figured it out. Claire is dead. That's why Leon has a gun with wings on it. For remembrance.
Wait...no...Leon dies. The gun was given to him by Claire for good luck and she shows up as he's dying and then she gets her own game for RE X and...nope that's delusional.
Here's what really happens. Claire died. Leon is fighting on for her. Cute tribute at the end for Claire bc no one can convince me that cap*om doesn't hate one of their strongest female leads.
Cap*om's fave female lead Ada will show up & ruin the game for me. Yay. So now I don't have to play it.
I remember thinking it was strange that the show went out of it's way in 2x20 to show us that Ollie wanted the baby on some level by showing us how sad he was when he thought the girl miscarried. At first I thought they just wanted us to see that Ollie wasn't a total jackass, but that doesn't exactly make sense. They've never pulled punches at showing us how poor his character was back then, and him being totally relieved would have just illustrated once again how far Oliver has come in the past seven years. Instead we get him tearing up over the loss and it's heartbreaking. It's probably the only time the show asks us to feel sympathy for him before he gets on the boat.
So now we know that Oliver wakes up in Hong Kong and Waller somehow coerces him into working for her. How? By threatening his physical safety? I'm not sure he would care after the events of the island. What about by threatening his family? Oliver would probably think they were out of her reach- they're rich, they're famous, they have a certain level of protection already. If something happened to them, especially after the boat accident, someone would ask questions. I also don't know if that Oliver would be selfless enough to not let them know he was alive. It seems like he would continue to try to reach them, like he would continue searching for ways to be rescued. His family's money and reputation has always been able to solve his problems. Why would this be any different?
So what does that leave Waller to work with? I think it's revealing Connor. He and his mother are completely vulnerable, they have no protection, no one even knows they exist. Waller can reach them easily, hurt them, make them disappear. That seems like enough to make Oliver fall in line and, more importantly, it feels like a worthy next step in his journey. It would be the first time he's making a sacrifice that wouldn't benefit him in some way. Everything before has been about surviving, getting off the island, getting home. This would be what makes him give up that dream. This would be the first decision that really shapes him and maybe it becomes the shred of humanity that stays inside him when everything else is stripped away.
As for why he wouldn't seek out Connor after he returns home, I think he would cling to the decision he made in Hong Kong. He has no hope, no reason to think he'd be a good presence in someone's life, no reason to even think he's going to survive the quest he's on. It's the whole because of the life I lead line all over again. It's having the mission or having a life. It's the same struggle he'll be having with Felicity.
With this season being about fathers and family and identity, his knowing is more active and gives the show more interesting places to go. Was part of his struggle with Moira based on her taking his child away from him? Or did Waller not reveal that Moira paid the mom off? Is Diggle not making the same sacrifice as Oliver undermining his resolve? Does he tell Diggle about his child? What does Digg do with that information? What about Felicity? Does he tell her? Or does she eventually come to him with the information and he confesses he knows? What would she think of him for making this choice? We know she has abandonment issues, and the loss of her father defines her in so many ways, I can't imagine she'd be okay with this. She'd want him to seek out his child and this could be a nice source of tension for them. Could this be part of what makes her try to move past her attraction to him?
Ugh. Can it be October now? The show has eaten by brain. I can't wait for this season.
