Taking a bullet doesn’t mean you’re really dead.
The midseason finale for season 4 of Arrow really left audiences shocked (myself included). After standing up against Damian Darhk and proposing to Felicity, all seemed right in the world of Oliver Queen. That is, until Oliver is leaving a press conference and Darhk’s men showed up and shoot his car, with Felicity inside, full of bullets. Ollie was able to drive away safely with some quick thinking, but Felicity picked up a stray bullet or two. We are then left with a shot of our hero holding his dying fiance in his arms.
To add more fuel to the fire, the preview for the 2nd half of the season shows a trip to the hospital because “Felicity’s out of surgery…they didn’t say what was wrong,” followed by Oliver standing at a grave (the same one from we saw in the first episode of season 4) in tears. The writers are pointing all fingers to Felicity’s death, but are you sure she’s really dead? I’m not. After all, this is modern television. You never believe somebody is dead unless you see it happen on screen.
She is Too Important to Die
Hear me out on this one. While it seems like it could be a bold move by the writers to have a main cast member die, it would ultimately do them more harm than good. First off, Felicity is the source of almost all of the comic relief in the entire show. Yes there’s also Curtis, but he only exists when Felicity is around. Killing her off would make it much harder for the creators to keep the show in a lighter tone as they promised before season 4 began.
She is also the most unique and valuable member on Team Arrow. We saw Oliver Queen nearly bite the dust last season, but the team was able to still function without him (and did so between seasons 3 and 4). Felicity is the only one they need. Her set of tech and computer skills are so vast and incredible, that the only person who could rival them lives in Central City and primarily works on an entirely different show. And they’re not going to call him every time there’s a crisis.
Codename: Oracle
One of the biggest tells that Felicity is still going to be around is that she is in fact going to be getting a codename in season 4, episode 11 (the midseason break came after episode 9). Unless they’re going to awkwardly give her a codename in memoriam, she’s still going to be around. Now here’s where it gets interesting. There’s no doubt that she’s going to suffer some severe physical damage after being wounded so badly, and now that we’re so close to season continuation, we have a better idea of what that may be: paralysis.
A big rumor has been going around that Felicity is going to become Oracle, as in the computer whiz from the Batman universe. Now it has a little more gravitas than just a mere rumor. As we’ve covered before, the Green Arrow is essentially Batman in CW’s universe of DC properties. Plus, a cute little video was put out on Instagram not too long ago of Diggle’s daughter playing with a wheelchair on set.
While it’s not surefire evidence, the pieces are starting to fit.
Moreover, The Calculator is set to appear on the show later this season. Who is The Calculator, you ask? The archenemy of Oracle, that’s who. Plus, the writers also revealed that Felicity’s codename will have an ‘A’ in it somewhere. OrAcle.
Ollie Isn’t Reacting Like He Should
Yes, I’m talking about that scene at the grave in the first episode of this season. He shed a tear or two, vowed to kill Darhk, and called it a day. He does not, by any means, look as if he just lost the love of his life. Remember after Tommy died in season 1, Oliver left to go back to Lian Yu for a while? That was his best friend! Imagine what he would do if he lost his future wife.
But it would still be pretty plausible that the grave belonged to Felicity if it weren’t for Barry Allen speeding by to console Oliver. Barry apologizes for being late and asks a grieving Oliver if there is anything he can do to help. Barry has a big connection to Felicity – if she were to die, he would’ve been there for the funeral or at least shed a tear. He didn’t cry at all. As a matter of fact, he seems there only for Oliver’s sake. I’m calling shenanigans already. Felicity isn’t the one in that grave.
Watch the clip and you’ll what I mean.
Who’s In the Grave, Then?
There are two really good possibilities as to who could be in that grave.
Quentin Lance
This is easily the most likely option we have. Lance has been serving as a double agent for Darhk, which is a very dangerous position. He works for Darhk because the villain threatened both of his daughters. In the midseason finale, however, Lance brought in a police force to be able to save Oliver and his friends after they were captured. There is no way Darhk didn’t catch on to this, due to his endless resources. To add to that, if Darhk found out about Lance’s involvement with the Green Arrow, that’d be more than enough cause to kill him as well.
Samantha Clayton
The mother of Oliver Queen’s son. Although Barry and Ollie are the only two that know about Samantha and her son, Darhk has his ways, and easily could have put two and two together. Killing Samantha would be a bold way to get at Oliver. The writers have been building to something like this ever since they showed the son, William. Perhaps Oliver is going to have to raise his child on top of being a vigilante. Could it even lead to the appearance of Connor Hawke on Legends of Tomorrow?