“Leap of Faith” doesn’t explore any new themes that Arrow hasn’t touched on before. The ideas of sacrifice, family, and fate are well-trodden territory for the series, especially in its final season, but the reason that “Leap of Faith” works so effectively is because of the characters and relationships embodying these familiar themes.
The pairings that receive the most attention in this episode of Arrow are fan-favorite duos that haven’t gotten as much focus in recent years as they have in the past, such as Oliver and Thea or Diggle and Lyla (although that’s in large part due to Willa Holland no longer being a series regular on Arrow anymore and Audrey Marie Anderson recurring as a guest star rather than being promoted to regular status). Additionally, there’s the newer, mostly fresh dynamic between Mia and William, which mirrors Oliver and Thea’s sibling bond while also being distinctly its own. “Leap of Faith” highlights different aspects of all three relationships through the prism of protection and shows viewers how certain characters have evolved over the years while others still have some growing to do.
The character who has arguably developed the most since Arrow‘s first season (aside from Oliver himself) is Thea. During Season 1, Thea’s lesser impulses allowed her to become a drug-using party girl who ran away from responsibility rather than being accountable for her own actions. However, now, in the third episode of the show’s eighth and final season, she has evolved not only into a skillful fighter who can hold her own with Talia al Ghul but a mature woman who bestows advice on Oliver with ease, to the point where he jokingly (but still somewhat seriously) refers to her as his “big sister.”
The advice that Thea provides is another twist on issues that Arrow has covered in the past. Instead of reaffirming yet again that she and Oliver need to move on from the mistakes of their parents, Thea chooses to look at Moira and Robert’s failings in a more positive light. She doesn’t excuse their behavior, but she reminds Oliver that their parents lies and schemes led them to where they are today—it led them to become heroes.
And we know the same is true for Oliver and Felicity’s children, even if he doesn’t know it yet. Oliver and Felicity may not have flat-out lied to William and Mia, but their efforts to protect the two of them did cause the truth to be hidden from both of them. Neither knew of the other’s existence for years, and both were forced to grow up without the constant presence of their father, William with his grandparents and Mia with Felicity and consistent training sessions from “Aunt” Nyssa. However, these figurative (and literal) growing pains sent both William and Mia on their individual paths to become the tech whiz and arrow-shooting badass that fight to save Star City on a regular basis in 2040.
But being a hero doesn’t make you immune to the very human fears that we all face, and in “Leap of Faith,” both Mia and Diggle do their best to confront their worries over losing the two most important people in their lives. For Mia, that’s William, who is the only family she has left following Oliver’s death and Felicity leaving on her journey to reunite with him. Initially, Mia shows her love for William through strategic decision with the team or by taking down one of JJ’s Deathstroke henchmen, but he eventually gets her to open up to him in one of the episode’s best scenes. Mia is a character who has needed to spend so much of her life with her guard, constantly aware of the potential threats that could harm her or Felicity; it makes sense that she would not feel vulnerable enough to William about her fear of losing him. That’s why when she does it is both cathartic for them as brother and sister and for us as viewers.
Is the line at the end from Mia about killing William if he ever tells anyone about their talk a little bit cheesy? Of course it is. But it also doesn’t matter in the long run, because we are witnessing the destruction of Mia Smoak’s emotional barriers, in the same way we saw her father’s crumble over the years, and it’s a beautiful and satisfying transformation to watch happen. Plus, William’s response to her, that “Operating from a place of fear is not the way to protect each other,” is so quintessentially Felicity that in almost makes the sequence reflect his and Mia’s parents as much as it mirrors Oliver and Thea’s
While Mia’s concern over William is relatively new, it’s a recent event that jolts Diggle back into his old pattern of worrying for Lyla’s well-being. When Dig tries to remove Lyla from their mission to rescue Sandra and Connor Hawke, she immediately questions him. She had believed they had gotten past these kinds of fears ages ago, but Diggle’s concern has been reawakened by witnessing the total destruction of Earth-2, an experience he compares to “looking at the eye of God.” It’s understandable for Diggle to have this kind of reaction to what he and Oliver saw; watching an entire universe disappear in front of your eyes is a long way from facing off against Star City crime lords. But just because this fear is understandable doesn’t mean it’s justified, which is what Lyla quickly reminds Dig, who re-centers himself and allows them to get back to doing what they do best: saving people.
Unfortunately, while Sandra and Connor are able to be saved, not every character makes it out of this hour of Arrow alive. In 2040, JJ stabs and kills Zoe, who dies in Mia’s arms, making her promise not to tell her father that she’s gone. Mia cries as Connor tackles JJ down and begins to cut his throat. Most of “Leap of Faith” features characters attempting to quell any and all concerns about danger and death, but the final moments of the episode serve as a punch to the face of the viewer, a reminder that, even in its final season, the world of Arrow is still a violent, messy, and vicious one in which almost any person can perish. Does that mean we should allow fear to dictate our decisions? No, but being cautious, careful, and strategic is still important and necessary. Like all things in life, it’s about balance.
But whatever balance existed in our main characters’ lives is guaranteed to be extinguished due to the closing moments of “Leap of Faith,” which see Mia, William, and Connor being transported from JJ’s hideout in 2040 to the Arrowcave in 2019 in a sea of blinding light. Our heroes of the future come face to face with our heroes of the present, and everyone is unsure about when and how and why. Only thing becomes certain: now that their adult children have arrived in 2019, both Oliver and Diggle have even more to lose than they did before. How will they choose to protect it?
Other thoughts:
- So The Monitor is more than likely ushering in the upcoming crisis rather trying to prevent it. Is anyone really that surprised after his conversation with Lyla last week? Plus, the dude’s name is “The Monitor.” Doesn’t sound like hero material to me.
- This is Katie Cassidy’s directional debut, and it’s absolutely stellar. She does a terrific job at capturing the kinetic energy of the fight sequences, especially the ones that take place on Nanda Parbat, and getting strong performances from the Arrow cast, particularly David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Katherine McNamara, and Stephen Amell.
- Really loved the short but sweet moment in which Dig provides young Connor with a little bit of comfort after he and Sandra are rescued. It’s a nice hint of the father/son dynamic the two of them will soon have, even if we won’t see all of it play out on screen.
- Was also happy to see Oliver and Thea return to the mountain on which he fought Ra’s in Season 3’s “The Climb,” which remains, to this day, one of my all-time favorite Arrow episodes.
- “Speedy, you just read Arabic.” “You speak Russian.”
[Photo via The CW]
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