Star City 2040 Arrow 716 Review

    We got to see Oliver and Felicity have their baby!  I'm still hoping to see the whole birth from first labor pain until delivery in 801, please Beth, don't let me down!  Two great episodes  back to back, and  I'm enjoying it, are you?  We learn quite a bit in this episode, so are you ready, let's dig in.

              Legacy: Mia, Willam, and Connor: I totally believe that Star City 2040 lays the groundwork for a spin-off with Mia, Connor, and William.  Arrow's Odyssey like story is about more than one man trying to go home and save his  city from destruction.  It's about legacy, and what we leave behind.  Oliver did not think  he could  have a  "normal" life because of  he danger he's constantly put in trying to save his city, his home.  Oliver's come a  long way because he had to learn that saving the city is  not the only goal.  His goal is to leave a legacy.  Remember when Robert and Oliver was  in the boat, what did Robert tell Oliver?  Didn't he say,  "survive, right my wrongs?"  That's a heavy burden to lay on anyone.  No one person can right the wrongs of another.  Then this season, when Oliver had his session with doctor and  Oliver saw  he and William  in a boat, what did Oliver tell William  in that drug induced  vision?  He said, "Live!"  He wanted William to live his life. I think Oliver and  Felicity's legacy is for the children to live as  heroes  in their own right. To live and to survive.  Mia, Connor, and  William, are the Legacy to carry Arrow into a new direction, to be "something else".

Mia is  every inch Oliver.  Felicity standing in the yard watching Nyssa  train Mia was interesting.  I'm sure she  wasn't thrilled that it was Nyssa, but I'm equally  sure that it was Oliver's decision, and she went along with it, because she knew it was the  right thing to do.  Even Felicity admits that Mia is  Oliver's daughter.  She fights like him in the field.  Felicity respects that. As much as Mia is  like Oliver,  William  is like Felicity.  He knows  the computer and tech  field just like her.  Felicity wasn't with William long, but she  left an indelible impact on his life.  She influenced  him in many ways, and he  knew she loved him every bit as  much as his birth mother.  Love has a  huge impact and  you don't have to birth a child to love a child  deeply.  In a  way, William's  relationship with Felicity prepared Felicity to accept motherhood as part of  her life.  William and Mia make a good team.  They are bound by one person, Felicity.  William on the ledge with Mia was so funny.  It reminded  me of Oliver and Felicity on the elevator shaft.  Mia is just like season one Oliver.  She  want to go it alone, she doesn't need  anyone.  Also on the ledge when they are trying to get into the Glades, William asks her, if your're so mad at Felicity, why are you trying to save her?" She responds, "No one's going to kill Mom but me." She has a lot of unresolved issues with her parents, and with the whole idea of heroes. She embodies the dark Oliver.  When Mia leaves home for Star City, she gets a tattoo of  a Black Star, and the artist asks her why that symbol, "Mom told me my  whole life starts have so far to travel that the starts might not even exist anymore.  They fade black and are erased--like me."  That was such a dark Oliver statement.

William is season one Felicity, he's more optimistic and hopeful just like Felicity was with Oliver.  William and Mia balance each other. He's savvy with tech like Felicity. Just as some of Felicity's ramblings annoyed Oliver, so some of them annoyed Mia.  In season one as Felicity rambled on about the earpiece and Oliver being in her, and she finally said, "I'll stop talking and Oliver said, "That would be my prefrence.  William rambled on and Mia said, as an annoyed sister would, "shut up." I enjoyed the parallels, did you?   They will bring out the best in each other.

When they make  their way to Galaxy One to meet a Kevin Dale,  Mia worries how they are going to get in.  William informs her he's not Clayton anymore, he's William Harris, of Harris Consolidated.  William started his own company.  It's  here that Connor again enters the picture. One safety feature that the Glades has is bio technology, and so a hand scan  with DNA recognition is required.  William gets in, but Mia doesn't until Connor come in with his badge.  He's part of Knightwatch, a "good" version of ARGUS.  So we learn here that ARGUS is not a help and we know things go bad in current time with ARGUS.

Connor had a relationship with Mia, and she trusted him, but when she found out that his father, John Diggle, had him watch over her, it makes Mia angry, and she turns on him, until William stopped it, by reminding them they needed  to get Felicity out. In the beginning Connor did just want to keep  her safe for her Dad.  Here we learn that John is alive.  Felicity must have told him that Mia went into the city.  After they find Felicity, and Felicity tells them she won't leave until they find the bombs, Mia gets angry.  She's tired of her Mother putting everyone else first instead  of  her family.  William  however, stay  with  his Mom.  As Mia picks up her  things and prepares to go, Connor talks to her.  Connor shares that his parents were not always around either, and it's difficult to share your parents when they are heroes.  He tells her, "We have to learn to share our parents and be a little selfless." He tells her that he had a choice and she really didn't.  Oliver and Felicity chose to isolate Mia.  To train to be a hero, but they kept her close. He tells Mia not to make the same mistakes her mother did, but that whatever she decided  to do, he would  be there for her.  These three make an amazing team.
       

               Mia and Felicity: After giving birth to Mia, Oliver must have been there for a while, for there was a photo of Oliver, Felicity, and baby Mia.  Why Oliver chose to leave, we have no idea, but I'm pretty certain he was involved in getting Nyssa to train his daughter. I don't think he abandons his family. I think together Oliver and Felicity decide for reasons we don't yet know or understand that to keep Mia safe and alive, no one must know she exists.  Does he go underground?  Does Felicity keep in contact with him?  Perhaps through Diggle she does.  I think  all this will be made clear later on. Did you wonder why not Thea?  So a question arises, Nyssa knew about the baby so why didn't Roy, if Roy were with Thea?  Perhaps Roy knew. More on that later.  Mia and Felicity seem like they may have had a good relationship.  They watch old movies and Felicity reads to her.  Did she homeschool her?  Mia said she didn't go to school,  but we know she's as intellectual as Felicity.  She didn't go to the big city.  They are in small town.  Felicity isn't a helicopter Mom as much as she's trying to keep her alive from those who hate or are after Oliver. Mia  comes home with groceries, and she calls for her Mom, but her Mom doesn't answer  so Mia takes a knife  and looks for her.  Felicity surprises her and said she's on the phone with Smoak Tech,and Mia asks her if she'd like to go to work and Mia could go  with her, but Felicity reminds her that they can't because of  who  her father is.  No one knows that Oliver and Felicity have a child except John, and Nyssa, and the woman who delivered the baby.

Things go awry when Mia shoots an arrow that hits the family photo, and the photo sort of lights up,and when Mia turns the arrow and we hear a click,  we find a secret room with computers and chair, and the computer  has Rene's  photo and also Kevin Dale's.  Mia, who knows nothing about computers attempts to type and sets off an alarm that will destroy the computer, but Felicity arrives in time.  Mia is angry to find out that Felicity's been acting as Overwatch.  Felicity trys to tell her that she's about to expose a corrupt official in the Glades, but Mia is angry and leaves.  You don't lie to Mia, and isn't that part like Felicity?  She never wanted anyone, especially Oliver to lie to her. I think that's why Connor tells Mia  not to be like her Mom, keeping things inside  her.

Later, with Mia's help they destroy the bombs.  There is now a ten million dollar bounty on the heads of Black Canaries  and the Calculator (Felicity's identity).  Mia walks off and Felicity follows her.  Mia believed that the Vigilantes were not heroes. She believed the propaganda against them.  Felicity tells her she is proud of her, because she so much like her father on the field, so "badass".  It brings a smile to Mia.  Then Mia asks Felicity if Oliver was  responsible for all of this trouble.  Felicity responds with, "No,that's all on me."  Camera sweeps to current time and Felicity's in their apartment, and she gets Archer online.  Whatever this has become, it's responsible for the mess in 2040.  How will all turn out?

     William and  Felicity:  Felicity has always loved William and never forgot about him.  When William is in Dale's office distracting him so that Mia could get a DNA sample, Dale asks William how he could get his company off the ground so quickly.  William said, "I  had an Angel investor, City of Emerald's Capital, backed me.  They wanted to remain anonymous."  Mia quickly looked at William. We knew she knew something, and in the elevator she revealed it to William, "Mom's been watching over you after all.  I'm pretty sure Emerald City Capital  is Mom. The Wizard of Oz was her favorite story and she read the book to me a lot."  Oliver and Felicity never abandoned William, they watched  over him always.  Later when they  find  Felicity both just stand  there a bit afraid to move, and then William makes the first move and hugs her tightly.  Felicity confesses that she was afraid of this moment, because she didn't think William would even want to see her.  That moment touched the heart of his reviewer.  Mia looked on at the two of them.  Both William and Mia understood why their parents had to do what they did.  It didn't make any of it any easier.  Earlier Felicity tells Mia as William watches, "Being a hero, Mia, means choosing other people's safety above your own, including  family."  Oliver and Felicity made a lot of  sacrifices to be heroes, and now their children will make them too. I think when William hears from Mia that Felicity was his  angel investor, he knew that he had never been forgotten.

        Roy:  Roy at some point received the mark of four from Oliver, so I'm guessing he's going to turn in the current timeline.  He didn't hug Felicity as Dinah did when she saw Felicity alive.  I'm thinking Roy new about Felicity and about the baby.  Why was Roy on Lian Yu?  I have a guess.  When he fought Anson, did you notice his violence.  Dinah literally had to pull him off.  It coudn't have been the Mirakru, so I'm thinking he has the bloodlust that comes from the Lazarus pit.  Thea and Nyssa went off to destroy them, and Roy went along.  What if something happened to Roy and somehow the pit was used?  So that he wouldn't hurt anyone with his bloodlust, he banishes himself to Lian Yu?  Something has happened to Roy, right?  I doubt Nyssa would have put in the pit, but Thea's love for Roy may have overruled her thinking and she used it?  Something is up, right?

     Rene: Rene took a long time to grow on me.  I know some of my readers aren't going to be happy with me, but I'm still okay with Rene.  Why?  For one reason, Oliver thought enough of him  to give him  the mark of  four.  He trusts Rene.  When Rene turned on Oliver it was because they threatened to take Zoe from him.  Oliver understood that, because in all reality  Oliver might have made the same choice.  Rene must use Felicity's Archer when he becomes a councilman.  I'm not justifying what Rene has done, I'm trying to understand it.  Putting yourself in someone else's shoes helps us to understand where they walk.  Rene probably got so wrapped up in the "good" he has done, that he's lot sight of the real goal.  This can happen.  I wonder if somehow he's involved with Emiko in 2040?  Perhaps Emiko has held some influence on him?   Anyway, I do think he will become a hero. He's going to risk his life.   If they are going to make a spin-off of the series with just the young people, then my guess is both Rene and Dinah will die a hero's death at the end of the season.

             Oliver:  Oliver was in this episode via Mia.  Mia is nearly a  parallel Oliver.  When she picked up her bow, I  immediately thought of season one Arrow when Oliver held  his bow. In Mia Oliver's presence is keenly felt.  Oliver wasn't in this episode long, but he's there in the background of everyone's mind.  Did you notice they chose their words carefully.  Oliver's not mentioned as dead nor alive.  They have to be careful because of the Crossover.  If Oliver dies in the Crossover, he will not stay dead, of that I am certain.  They will not end this series by killing off the hero.  I know they all say it's been done before, but this show is about being able to lay the bow down and rest.  He will be reunited with his family, and his legacy will be carried on through William and Mia.

Final Thoughts:

• This episode ranks among the best of this season along with 715.  We are moving toward the end of this season, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the season  being great.
• ARGUS  has trouble in the future Star City, and we watch it unfold in  current time.
• Could  ARGUS somehow copy the Archer program and use it for their own purposes?
• What about the Helmet Like Thing that will supposedly take out the Vigilantes?  Will Rene be able to clue Felicity and the others in on that?  It looked like it had a gas-type mask on it as well. 
• We learn Diggle and Lyla are alive in 2040, well at least John is, because he told Connor to watch over Mia. Connor never spoke of them in past tense, and it was his father who encouraged him to keep an eye on Mia.
• We learn that something is up with Roy. There's more to discover with Roy.  It seems plausible that he somehow suffers from the blood lust.
• Oliver is never referred to as dead.
• Rene seems to like Emiko, and I predicted that she would be the Red Arrow, which seems is going to happen.  Does she walk the line between good and evil?  Does Oliver turn  to the good side?  I know she will be in the future, and am wondering what part she will play.  Are you?
• Mia, William, and Connor make a great team.  I clearly see spin-off and rumor has it that Beth Schwarz signed with Warner Bros. She probably could be developing the spin-off for them, as well as other projects.  You don't sign Kat McNamara for show without the possibility of  a future project.  Would you watch it?
• Some people complain they didn't age Felicity enough, but she had wrinkles in  her forehead and around her eyes.  My grandmother at 97 looked like a 70 year old.  It's all genetics.
• Leave your thoughts in the comment section  below, please, and thank you. :)