‘Arrow’ 7×16 recap: Mia and William track down Felicity in 2040 but where is Oliver?

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Arrow Season 7 Episode 16 titled “Star City 2040”. Do not watch if you have not seen the episode or read ahead at your own risk.

With Arrow ending this fall with a 10-episode eighth season, it was time to show fans what the future holds for our beloved characters; on Monday night, the show did just that.

The episode picks up in the future with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) giving birth to Mia (Katherine McNamara) in a house in the middle of nowhere. As Mia grew up, she was trained by Nyssa (Katrina Law). Wow, Oliver’s first wife trained his second wife’s child —  talk about a crazy time for Oliver (Stephen Amell) there. Now it all makes sense where Mia got her skills from and she is rewarded with her very own bow.

We also learn that Smoak Technologies is very much a real thing at this point, but Felicity is working from home to be low-key about any threats. Man, how bad do things get for Olicity before they get really bad? Mia gains access to a mini-bunker by accident and sees the side job that Felicity has been working on. The mother and daughter argue about vigilantism and how Mia does not think they are heroes; this causes her to leave and go to Star City to find her purpose.

The show then time jumps even further in the future to 2040 where Mia and William (Ben Lewis) are climbing the wall to the Glades to find Felicity. Meanwhile, back in Star City, 50-something, still hot Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) and Zoe (Andrea Sixtos) are tracking down where the bombs have been planted. Dinah learns from one of her contacts that Eden Corps —  aka Galaxy One —  paid the SCPD to fake Felicity’s death and they are off to follow the lead. They get a DNA sample from Dale (Raj Paul), Galaxy One’s head honcho, to convert the sample into a passkey to the sublevel. After doing all of that and fighting off several guards, they ultimately are able to find and free Felicity.

Felicity is upset that her kids heeded her warning about coming to find her. She explains that the coordinates were supposed to lead to the bombs that were going to blow up Star City. Felicity refuses to leave until the bombs are disabled, so she and William join Dinah, Roy (Colton Haynes), and Zoe. That’s when Felicity reveals she had to fake her Calculator persona to gain Eden Corps’ trust.

Bad-toupee-wearing Rene (Rick Gonzalez) arrives and reveals the bombs are set to go off that night and Star City will be no more unless they can destroy the “fidget cube” that Dale carries. The gang heads to a masked party, but struggle to identify Dale in the crowd. Once Mia does identify Dale, she follows him to his office but not before she is met by a dozen guards. This is where Nyssa’s training all those years ago comes in handy as Mia kicks everyone’s ass. She fires her bow and destroys the cube, saving the day and Star City.

Rene announces he is putting a bounty on The Calculator, Arsenal and Black Canary. Dale feels Rene helped out his former friends but Rene shoots that idea down. Dale says he plans to eliminate vigilantes for good and shows a strange looking helmet. Hmm is Brainiac coming into the Arrowverse? Because those are the vibes I’m getting.

The biggest question I have is where the heck is Oliver in all this? When Mia and Felicity finally clear the air, Mia notes that Felicity’s mission against Galaxy One seems personal. She asks if it had anything to do with “what happened to dad”, but Felicity replies, “No, that one is on me.” Did Felicity get Oliver killed? Are we talking about Crisis on Infinite Earths? What the heck happened?

Episode Notes

• As Arrow is set to end next season, I couldn’t help but think that this is setting up for a spin-off featuring Mia as the “new” Green Arrow and trying to rid 2040 Star City of its demons. It seriously would be a great show to watch.
• Connor (Joseph David-Jones) and Mia seem to have a thing for each other. I wonder if we will be seeing Diggle or anyone else pop up soon.

Arrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.