Spoilers ahead for the Arrow series finale on The CW, called "Fadeout."
Arrow is over. The founding series of the Arrow-verse pulled out all the stops for its series finale, which brought back characters ranging from the long-dead like Tommy Merlyn and Moira Queen to the previously villainous like Emiko to even the heroes of the other Arrow-verse series with Sara, Barry, and Kara in attendance. The biggest return however, was Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, and it was Felicity who finally reunited with Oliver in the final moments of the series. But was it a totally happy ending?
The end of "Fadeout" revisited Felicity's scene with The Monitor from the Season 7 finale, which evidently still happened despite the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" changes that made the hellish Star City 2040 of Season 7 flash-forwards into the peaceful Star City 2040 of the Green Arrow & the Canaries backdoor pilot. Despite The Monitor's warning that there would be no coming back from where they were going, Felicity was sure that she was ready to reunite with her husband after 20 years of separation. So, off they went to the "afterlife," as Felicity call it!
Which Spectre-Oliver designed to look just like his mom's office from Queen Consolidated. With husband and wife joyously back together, Oliver shared that he'd chosen his mom's office as the layout for their reunion because that was the first place he'd ever seen Felicity. No, it wasn't down in the IT department, where Felicity made her first chronological appearance on the show, but when Oliver spotted the blonde IT girl babbling to herself during his flashback journey to Starling City circa Season 3.
It made for a very romantic final scene of the series, and what these characters (and Olicity fans) deserved. Oliver was rewarded for his years of struggles, pain, and heartbreak by getting to be with Felicity again, and Felicity's patience and yearning paid off as she got to be with her husband again. The happy couple was last seen in Moira's office, and the camera zoomed out to show the building still labeled "Queen Consolidated" and Star City looking complete and untroubled.
On the one hand, of course that's a happy ending! The epic romance of Arrow didn't end in tragedy, and our last memories of Oliver and Felicity don't have to be Oliver dying for the second time in "Crisis" and Felicity crying at Oliver's funeral. Oliver was looking happy and unburdened, and Felicity was even back in her ponytail and glasses combo.
Everybody else's lives went on, with Diggle seemingly headed in a Green Lantern direction, Mia and the Canaries potentially getting their spinoff (and hopefully rescuing adult William!), and Rene becoming mayor of Star City, to name only some of the developments. Not a gloomy ending for the darkest Arrow-verse show, right?
On the other hand, the ending for Oliver and Felicity looked an awful lot like they were the only two people who existed in their afterlife. The shot of Star City didn't show crowds of people or cars moving or pretty much any activity. Oliver and Felicity genuinely looked like the only people in their own little world.
Although that is very romantic and I'm sure they'd enjoy just being with each other for a while after so much time and so much weirdness keeping them apart, it also strikes me as very lonely and kind of sad. Epic love story aside, Oliver and Felicity also had friends other than each other. They got to interact with people. It's not like either one of them is likely to die in the afterlife. And is there more to this place than Star City? Does their eternity consist of just the two of them in an empty world with nothing ever changing?
I like to think that this afterlife will slowly be populated by the people who knew and loved Oliver and Felicity and would want to reunite with them when their time comes to die, so Oliver and Felicity will just have their world to themselves until others are ready to join them. That leaves me a little more at peace than imagining them alone in an empty world together literally forever or imagining them in a world full of versions of their loved ones that Spectre-Oliver created.
So, was this a happy ending? I would say that this was definitely a happy ending in the short term, with a potentially not-so-happy future. We'll likely never know, so my admittedly depressing theories shouldn't bum anybody out. At this point, whatever happens for Oliver and Felicity after the final credits rolled is up to viewers to decide for themselves unless the Arrow-verse reveals otherwise. Despite my depressing theories, I'm choosing to imagine a genuine happily-ever-after for these two deserving characters.
Arrow may be over, but the Arrow-verse continues on The CW. The universe founded by Oliver Queen currently consists of The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Batwoman, and post-"Crisis" Black Lightning. A Superman/Lois Lane series is on the way, and the Green Arrow & the Canaries spinoff could happen. For some viewing options now that Arrow is done for good, swing by our 2020 winter and spring premiere schedule.
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