WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "Purgatory," the latest episode of Arrow, Season 8.
After eight years, Arrow only has a handful of episodes left -- and this next batch is meant to deal with the larger Arrowverse. In fact, the series' next chapter will be as part of the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover; then, the episode after that will star Mia Smoak in a backdoor pilot of sorts for the upcoming Green Arrow and the Canaries spinoff; and after this, all that will be left will be the series finale. Therefore, in a way, the series' latest episode, "Purgatory," worked as a conclusion of sorts, as it brought Oliver Queen back on Lian Yu -- back to where it all began.
In the episode, Oliver returned to the island where he spent the better part of five years for his final mission for the Monitor. And, as it so happens, Oliver faced an old foe in Edward Fyers and his mercenary army, the first villain he ever faced and took down. However, this time around, Oliver wasn't alone -- he had his entire team with him.
The return to Lian Yu certainly brought Oliver's emotional arc to a close... but it also saw a Team Arrow member undergo a brutal transformation right out of the comics.
When "Purgatory" begins, Oliver, Diggle and Lyla are joined by their children, Mia, William and Connor on Lian Yu. The rest of Team Arrow is on its way, with Rene, Dinah and Roy soon arriving by plane. However, Edward Fyers first manifests himself by shooting the plane right out of the sky with a missile. Unfortunately, the plane crashes on the island and all three passengers are pretty banged up. However, it's Roy Harper, aka Arsenal, who has the worst of it: he is pinned down by heavy debris which traps his right arm.
With the wreckage of the plane -- and its leaking fuel line -- nearing an explosion, there is little time to save Roy. Since the combined might of Diggle, Connor and Dinah isn't enough to lift the debris, the only choice they have to save Roy's life is to cut his arm off.
The amputation is quick, if not completely brutal, and when it's done, Roy Harper has now undergone a transformation just like his comic book counterpart.
In the comics, Roy losing an arm is an important milestone for the character -- so much so in fact, that Arrow fans have been waiting for Roy to lose his arm almost as soon as he was introduced on the series back in its first season. In the comics, it was the villain Prometheus who cut Roy's arm off. He would later get a cybernetic arm which would become a signature part of his look. In fact, the transformation is so important that even the Young Justice animated series also featured its own take on how Roy loses his arm, and how he comes to sport a robotic one to replace it.
Now, something that fans have (dreadfully) waited a long time for has finally come to pass. What's more, near the end of the episode, Roy even mentions he might get an upgrade thanks to Diggle's A.R.G.U.S. contacts. Therefore, it stands to reason that Arrow's Roy will also get a cybernetic arm. Of course, with the series coming to an end, we might not see the final result. But then again, with the future now a mystery once again, Roy could always show up elsewhere in the Arrowverse.
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Arrow's final season stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Katie Cassidy as Black Siren, Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke and Ben Lewis as William Clayton-Queen.