Perhaps some of the immediate pressure to mourn the network-altering – heck, television-landscape-altering – final season has been removed by last year’s finale, which served as a goodbye to Emily Bett Rickards and therefore the original trio. He’s even leaning into the brotherly back and forth of trying to pull a fast one on Diggle. Oliver is quippier than usual, lamenting his supposed years without tequila on Lian Yu, and bringing more puppy-like enthusiasm, like when he hears Felicity on this earth runs Smoak Tech (“Oh good for her!”). Yes, all the impending dread of his death and the heartache of the absence of Felicity are still there, but this is clearly a guy who’s enjoying his swan song, and he’s soaking up every minute of it.
