With Oliver dead and likely missing for a few episodes, there's no reason the expect that the criminals of Starling City are going to stop misbehaving. The remnants of Team Arrow will need to find a way to step up and carry on with the mission. The best (and most fun) option would be for them to fake that the hero is still alive by putting Roy and Diggle under the hood. Roy has the style and skills while Digg has the size and strength; throw in Oliver's voice modulator and some poor lighting, and they could get away with the bluff for a while. There would need to be a buffer to separate concurrent returns of the Arrow and civilian Oliver, and keeping the hood out on the streets in the interim would simplify things in the long run. Another option would be for Team Arrow to just allow Starling to be inundated with new garishly-costumed vigilantes. Roy in his red leather could cover the archery, Ray in his supersuit could...do whatever he intends to do, and Laurel could fight however Sara's magical jacket beckons each week. Whichever way they go, the surviving members of Team Arrow must continue to embrace their roles in the quest that began as Oliver's and became their own. Diggle may have lost the brother that he thought he could save, Roy may have lost the mentor who swore to never abandon him, and Felicity may have lost the love of her life, but Oliver was never the only hero in the Arrow cave. Now is the time for the other three to save the city without him.
Fiction buff and writer. If it's on Netflix, it's probably in my queue. I've bought DVDs for the special features and usually claim that the book is better than the movie or show (and can provide examples). I've never met a TV show that I won't marathon. Follow on Twitter @lah9891 .
