The Arrow season 3 finale, “My Name Is Oliver Queen,” airs this Wednesday. In preparation for the episode, we look at what we know about and what we want from the episode.
In the penultimate episode of season 3, “This Is Your Sword,” Malcolm Merlyn revealed to Team Arrow that he and Oliver had been working together all along, and Oliver was never, in fact, brainwashed. However, Oliver’s impending marriage to Nyssa al Ghul and Ra’s declaring that he must use the Alpha-Omega bioweapon on Starling City forced his hand.
Despite their hurt, Team Arrow plus Tatsu, Ray and Malcolm headed for Nanda Parbat, only to be captured and apparently exposed to the virus while Oliver married Nyssa. Meanwhile, Roy and Thea reunited, only for Roy to leave once again and bequeath his Arsenal costume to Thea.
With all that going on, what can we expect from the final episode of season 3? Let’s start with…
What we know
Synopsis
The synopsis for Arrow season 3, episode 23, “My Name Is Oliver Queen,” reads:
“THE HEART-STOPPING SEASON FINALE — Everyone’s lives are in danger as Ra’s al Ghul (guest star Matt Nable) puts forth his final plan. Oliver/Al Sah-him (Stephen Amell) must decide if he’s strong enough to take on this new role and what it will mean for everyone on Team Arrow, and his soul. John Behring directed the episode with story by Greg Berlanti & Andrew Kreisberg and teleplay by Marc Guggenheim & Jake Coburn (#323).”
Watch a promo for the episode:
Crossover
As we see in the promo above, the fastest man alive, Barry Allen, will appear in “My Name Is Oliver Queen,” breaking Team Arrow out of their cell in Nanda Parbat.
With Oliver appearing in the penultimate episode of The Flash season 1, airing this Tuesday, we have to wonder if that’s when Oliver called in a favor with Barry. (Keep in mind that the episode timelines are out of sync due to Arrow airing on a week The Flash was off earlier this spring.)
Extended time
“My Name Is Oliver Queen” will run a full 2 minutes, 33 seconds longer than a usual episode, which tells us there is a lot going on in the episode!
Focus on identity
“We’ve always said the season is about identity, and Oliver trying to decide between being the Arrow and being Oliver Queen,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “That’s obviously very present, as the title suggests, in the finale. Oliver’s arc over the course of the last episodes of the season relates to this question of ‘am I Oliver, or am I the Arrow?’ [It’s] very focused on that threesome” of Oliver, Diggle and Felicity.
Guggenheim also describes the season finale as having the “same epic scope that we’ve established in season 1 and 2″ with “some of the most emotional scenes that we’ve had in a season finale.”
He adds, “We’re at the point in the season where, I think our fans know, it’s usually when the culling happens, so I think everyone knows that they’ve got reason to be afraid.”
No cliffhanger
Despite the uncertainty going into the episode, fans can be assured that there won’t be a traditional cliffhanger at episode’s end. “The season 3 finale of Arrow is very definitive. It really feels like the end, not just of season 3, but of the first three seasons,” Guggenheim says.
No spinoff tie-in
“The Arrow finale doesn’t relate to the spinoff at all,” Guggenheim says of Legends of Tomorrow, which recently received a series order. “It’s pure Arrow.”
(We believe this tie-in will actually happen in the season finale of The Flash, based on this tweet from one of the spinoff’s stars.)
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