ARROW Recap/Review: 'Unthinkable' Season Two Finale - A Hero is Made (S2E23)

Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW

“To fight the unthinkable, you have to be willing to do the unthinkable.” -Sara

In the season finale of Arrow entitled 'Unthinkable,' we get two conclusions for the price of one. There's the impending destruction of Starling City and the torpedo aimed at putting to rest anymore Island flashbacks. This is as close as you'll get to a cinematic action film on broadcast network television and showrunners pulled out all the stops bringing it on the season two finale.

The tone is set right from the start as Nyla launches a rocket grenade straight into the clock tower teeming with Slade's super soldiers from a helicopter. When we last saw Thea Queen she had just discharged two bullets presumably into her real dad Malcolm Merlyn. A Kevlar-wearing Malcolm was all grins as he praised his distraught daughter for being "made of iron" and taking the shot her brother didn't have the stones to do. Sara returns with some backup - Nyssa al Ghul and the League of Assassins. Amanda Waller has a Mexican stand-off with Diggle while double-fisting semi-automatic handguns. 

Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW

One thing is crystal clear - the women of Arrow are not to be trifled with. 

Showing a great amount of maturity and clarity, Ollie insists on a no-killing policy despite arguments by Sara and Nyssa against such foolish thoughts. They load up their arrows with the cure and storm Slade's hideout at Queen Consolidated. Slade escapes the brief battle but Ravager is beaten by Sara and Nyssa. Ravager begins to babble on but Nyssa put an end to that real quick with a little neck snap. An irritated Ollie draws an arrow on her but she quickly throws shade his way, "Your resistance to do what is necessary is why your city burns." Point taken.

On the island or rather the Amazo, Ollie and Sara face a delusional Slade who keeps getting some bad advice from the Evil Shado in his mind. She convinces him to shoot Ollie but right on schedule Antoli from the submarine fires the torpedo  causing the boat to sink bringing debris down on them. 

Back at Q Consolidated Quentin Lance informs Ollie and company that Slade's men took Laurel. Felicity notices Slade's troops are leaving town before it goes boom through a tunnel. Nyssa sees it as a chance to take them down in one place. Despite more eye for an eye talk, this time from Papa Lance, Felicity reminds Ollie to stand by his convictions. Felicity once again standing in for Ollie's conscience and the voice of reason. 

Thea meets with Roy to reconcile now that he's out of his coma and cured from the Mirakuru. The plan to leave town and start over was great except for one little thing - helping save the city. He said he was done with the vigilante stuff and he'd be right back but of course Thea later finds a quiver and arrows under his bed. Trust broken again! Poor Thea. 

Ollie brings Felicity to the empty mansion and informs her he wants to keep her safe from all the chaos. A befuddled Felicity wants some answers. 

  

And with that the longing lovelorn #Olicity shippers gave the collective squeal heard around the internet. This was the moment many had been waiting for and here it was. An admission of love and wanting finally revealed...

...but...

...it was all a ruse to trick an eavesdropping Slade into kidnapping Felicity so she could stick a needle into his neck full of the cure. Oh the reversal of feels!

Some have questioned Felicity being used this way but considering the stakes at play I'm sure she was a willing participant and as much as Ollie has grown so has she. She's not the wallflower in the I.T. department anymore. She's as brave and capable as anyone. 

Just as quickly another battle ensues, as big if not bigger than the show has ever tackled, in the tunnel. After Slade's army dispatched the troops from ARGUS it was time to face Team Arrow. One of the show's greatest assets have been their fight choreography. The ensuing confrontation offered some of the best fighting ever seen on television. The hand to hand combat, the firing of arrows amid the chaos, the clearly visible combatants like The Canary, Nyssa, the newly masked Roy, and even Papa Lance can be seen kicking Mirakuru soldier butt. It never gets bogged down with muddled photography. An Emmy-worthy scene for stunt and camera work. 

Cut to scenes of Diggle and Nyla infiltrating ARGUS to release Deadshot and other prisoners to help stop Waller from firing on the city. During the stand-off Waller drops a spoiler on Diggle - he's going to be a daddy. 

Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW

Back on the sinking Amazo Ollie fights Slade and this fight scene is inter-cut with them fighting in the present time. After the tunnel was well in hand Ollie tells Slade it's over but he now has Felicity and it isn't over until he says so. Ollie had found the cameras Slade left at his mansion and this is where Felicity injects him with the cure. The fights mimic each other with similar but different outcomes. This electric sequence ratchets up the tension until Slade is beaten not once but twice. One ends with an arrow in his eye and the other tied to a pole. How things have changed for Ollie. 

With things in hand Ollie convinces Waller to abort the drone strike which she does. Some closure comes to Starling City. Sara returns with Nyssa to the League of Assassins. She says her goodbyes to Laurel and Papa Lance. She gives her jacket to Laurel which (not) surprisingly fits like a glove. Could this be some foreshadowing of things to come for a new Canary? Maybe but not if Papa Lance gets his way. He suddenly collapses from possible internal damage from the fighting earlier. 

Thea left Roy a note saying goodbye because she doesn't trust anyone anymore and "Thea Queen" is weak and wants to be strong. She is leaving forever. She drives away in a limousine with the only blood relative she has left who is trustworthy (albeit a sociopath) in her eyes - Malcolm Merlyn.  

Now with Slade locked away in an underground ARGUS prison back on the island the show leaves some questions for next season. Will Thea return as a villain now that she's with the Dark Archer? Will Roy take on the persona of Arsenal? Will Laurel become the new Canary? Will Ollie and Felicity finally be together? Will Diggle and Nyssa find a decent babysitter in Starling City?

A couple things are certain about next season. It appears the new flashbacks will involve how Ollie met Amanda Waller. The other is that after two seasons, Arrow has raised the bar for comic book based television shows. Despite the incoming influx of new shows on the horizon Arrow is the gold standard.