Diaz is gone, for now, but that is the least of the Green Arrow’s concern. In the bombastic Season 6 finale of Arrow on The CW, Oliver Queen gives himself up to the FBI in exchange for a well-equipped army to help him take down Ricardo Diaz once and for all. They succeed, but at a staggering cost.
Spoilers for the Arrow Season 6 finale ahead.
In “Life Sentence,” Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) makes a last-ditch move to take down the elusive Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo): Align himself up with FBI agent Samandra Watson (Sydelle Noel), knowing full well that the only price Watson will accept his Oliver Queen’s confession that he is the Green Arrow. The rest of Team Arrow gets immunity, but what good is Team Arrow if there is no Green Arrow to lead them?
Meanwhile, Diaz has Earth-2 Laurel (Katie Cassidy), which lures Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne). Lance has a pacemaker — which he’s had since the Mirakuru days, apparently — that acts as a GPS for Team Arrow, but they’re too little, too late. Diaz shoots Quentin, leaving him alive just long enough to say goodbye in the hospital. A surprise appearance by Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) isn’t enough of a Band-Aid over the emotional wound. This is the death of Quentin Lance, which hurts quite a lot for anyone who has been around Arrow since day one.
A good man is laid to rest. Paul Blackthorne turned in his final appearance as Quentin Lance in the 'Arrow' Season 6 finale.
But was it all for naught? Because while Laurel vanquished Diaz with an especially powerful Canary Cry, like as if Laurel had just filled up her special meter, the episode’s closing moments reveal Diaz is alive. And pissed. And embarrassed, because not only did he get his ass kicked, but now his nemesis is being escorted into a supermax prison — a place he can’t even touch him — while the world knows for sure that Oliver is the Green Arrow. Without the Quadrant or Star City’s cops at his disposal, Diaz is just an angry boy who was tormented in his childhood. What awaits Diaz in Season 7: Revenge, or change?
Anyone who has read Daredevil comics may think Arrow just became familiar: A gritty vigilante who single-handedly populated the prison with criminals is now outed as a criminal himself, and is now stuck with them. Season 7 of Arrow may play out like the Ed Brubaker run of Daredevil, but is that a bad thing? Brubaker’s Daredevil rocked, and no matter what Arrow is in a very interesting place again. The prospect of tuning in for another season actually feels like a worthwhile endeavor. Furthermore, Season 7 may be a true season of John Diggle leading the team, which is long overdue.
Arrow will return to The CW this fall.
