Brothers and Sisters: Arrow 714 Review

      Brothers and Sisters offered us parallels of two brothers and sisters: Oliver and Emiko and William and Mia.  I enjoyed this episode.  It showed the character growth of both Oliver and Felicity.  There is nothing better than to watch those characters you love grow as individuals. Arrow, by its very nature is dark, and the viewers responded to the light that Felicity brought to Oliver when he appeared in her office.  This season has been particularly dark, and so the light moments that we got in this episode created hope for the viewer.  Now we discover that we are approaching the last episodes  of Arrow, but I  will give my thoughts on that at the end of this review.

       Oliver as a Brother:  Oliver tells Emiko that his parents were not the best, but "if there is one thing they taught me, it was the importance  of family." Oliver holds  family dear.  He does really know Emiko, and he's  clueless  that she knows Dante,  but he knows that she's his sister, so he  for that reason alone, he cares for her. He wants to take all the  knowledge he's  learned  in the last seven years, and  give to Emiko all  at once.   He knows how hard  it was to go it alone, and he knew you really can't go it alone.  We need others in our lives, and he wants to be a person she needs in  her life.  I loved the part where Oliver looks at her arrow, and already knows how he can make  it better,  and she said,  "Don't touch my things."  How many times have I  heard my siblings tell me that!  Oliver has started to open the door to Emiko, and I think she's now faced with the fact, she  just might care for  her brother,  and  Dante  wants  to bring  him  down.

       Oliver and Felicity:  My  have these two  people  grown.  There might not have been  much time with them on  screen, but the time they had  depth.  For all of the  years  that Felicity has known Oliver, she has always backed  him  up even when she didn't agree with him.  She didn't force  anything  upon him. She  told what she thought he could do to find a  better way to be in the light, and  let him make the decision.  I  think  that is what drew  Oliver to her in the first place. She showed him how to walk  in the light rather than told him.  He followed her lead.  In episode 714, we see two important changes in Oliver.  First he tells her that John needs his  help, and he  wants to do it, but won't if she's not behind it. He no longer keeps things from her.  Second,  Oliver now allows Felicity the same choice.  He's  going to back her play.  He understand how hard it was  for her after he was in prison.  He saw things from her point of  view. He said to her, "There's a better way, but it's not my choice. I understand  you. I want you to have closure so that we can  move forward."  He knows she wants to kill Diaz, and he will back her up.  He's allowing her to make the choice and no matter the choice he  will  there for  her  as she has for him.  At that moment, he's her light, and she has  been for him.  She goes on the mission  with them.  She comes  face to face  with Diaz  and  she's  ready  to pull the  trigger, and she tells  Diaz, "I'm stronger than you are."  She's stronger because she has  chosen  not to kill  him. Later, when Oliver comes in  after seeing  his  sister,  she tells Oliver that the reason  she  didn't kill Diaz, is because she wants to be in the light,  for their children.  Oliver at the word  children  almost seems frozen in time, his breath catches, they hadn't talked about children,  did she  say children?  Then Felicity all smiles says, "I'm pregnant," and that special smile  comes on his  face and he hugs Felicity so tenderly.  In season 3 he watched Felicity stand over John and  Lyla's baby, thinking  he  wanted that but could never  have it, and look how he has  grown.  He let Felicity in, he  married  her, and now they are having a  child together. He's going to have  his family.

             Oliver, Felicity, and John (OTA):  John knows that now he has to tell Oliver about Diaz, and the response from Oliver showed  his growth he says, "I  trust John".  He's not happy about John using Diaz  in the Ghost initiative, but he  trusts John  enough to know there must have been not other way.
Felicity's response flowed from  frustration with John from earlier on.  It's understandable.  she  told John something  she truly needed to say when she  said, "You know this is the second time you've chosen  your job over keeping  your friends safe."  I think both Oliver and John knew then how very  difficult those months Oliver was imprisoned  were for her.  When Felicity tells Diaz  she's not going to kill him, John shows up and knocks Diaz to the  ground, Felicity says, "I thought Dante was the priority." John follows with, "He  is the objective, not the priority,  not this time."  Later when the three are together again, John says, "I  needed  to protect your family, that's what you two are."
I do think  we have OTA back again.

     William and Mia:  William, like his  father, knows the importance  of family.  That's a legacy that Robert  Queen  left his family.  William wants to find  his  Mom  as much  as  Mia.  Both have  issues with their parents, but both love them.  Mia said, "My  Mom's  all  I care about," but it's clear  she has issues with her.  She believes her mother is alive, because  "She's in hiding,  because she's paranoid.I have an entire lifetime  of dealing with this."  We can see that already in the  current timeline.  Felicity had  that same type  of nightmare that Oliver had  in prison.  Diaz is out to kill Felicity  and she can  hear a baby crying.  She  wants to protect her children.  William is just as angry, but I think there's a part of him  that doesn't quite  believe they would  abandon  him, though he keeps  saying this.  Felicity taught both her children about the rubix  cube, and this Mia finds the cassette tape.   It's then that William realizes that Felicity wanted William  to find Mia.  Together will they find  Felicity?

      Felicity and  Laurel:  I thought the talk with Felicity and Laurel a good one.  Felicity tell offers her jabs at her, especially when she called her  a "fake lawyer".  Felicity didn't tell  her that she was pregnant, Laurel somehow deduced  it  from the empty box of chocolates and no wine bottle around.  Not sure that would  be a giveaway, but okay, I'll accept the writers choice.  Just who was Laurel on the phone with?  One possibility is she could  have let Dante know what was going down.  I did like the fact that she told Felicity that she was bad ass and  that she was stronger than she realized.  Perhaps that helped her later not to  kill Diaz.

             Dante:  Well Dante is the big bad.  I  am  thinking he  may be the big  bad  until the end of the series. What do  you think?  Who could have tipped  off Dante?  Emiko could have, she  knows him, when he said, "I'ts time to come home," do you  think he helped  raise her?  Could  Dante also know BS?  She could have met  him  when she first went to  work for Diaz.  Could Emiko be getting close  to Oliver and BS to Felicity for the  sole purpose of  bringing  down Oliver and Vigilantes?  Could BS  have been the one to set Diaz on fire?  By killing  Diaz that way  she  keeps  on being the DA while getting her revenge  for Lance  at the same  time.  I  have lots of  questions, don't I.  Did  you  see  anything in that?

Flash-forwards:  We learned  a lot from the flashforwards.  We learned  that only Original Team Arrow  knows about Mia.  John knew about Mia.  John also has  an adopted  son, Connor, and  he told Connor  to  keep Mia  safe.  We  know that Felicity has always been  worried  about being  attacked. We know that she lead  both Roy and  William  to Mia.  We know that even though William is hurt, he knows his parents loved  him in the best way they could.  We know William considers their Dad a hero, and that Felicity has  always  called  Oliver a  hero. We know that something went very wrong, and Mia somehow blames Oliver and  the vigilantes for the way the  city is.  I'm looking forward to episode 16 for I  think  we  learn a whole lot more.  The story will move  quickly now.

       My thoughts on the End of the Series: Every series has to come to an  end.  I think we  all felt a little caught off guard  for we thought we had  a full  series ahead  of us to adjust.  I think this  series will end  on a  hopeful note.  Even if  they  do  have Oliver die in  808, they still  have two episodes to bring him back.  I also think they could  be leading the way for a spinoff with the younger generation taking  over, William, Mia, and Connor.  Stephen Amell  has put in a lot of hard  work  and has been very good to  his fans. I wish him well.  The same goes for Emily Bett  and David  Ramsey for they are as big  a part of  Arrow as Stephen. These there people especially have stayed the heart of Arrow.  Arrow for me has been a story about family and hope even in darkness.

Final  Thoughts: 

• I loved it when Felicity said they were having a spontaneous OTA moment. 
• I think it was  interesting to  find out that only OTA knew about the baby. I think we shall leran more about this
• John has an  adopted  son, I'm thinking  we  will find  out  more on this when we get  to the episode about John and his family.
• Am I the only one thinking that BS may know Dante?
• Loved the  Fake Lawyer comment
• Loved  how both Oliver and Felicity have helped each other to walk  in the Light
• All  in all this was a solid  episode.
• I enjoyed the way they  used Oliver  and Felicity having the same type of  dream both of them love family