There's only one word to describe Thea becoming Speedy in the Arrow Season 3 finale: finally. Fans have been waiting years — literally — for Oliver's younger sister to pick up this particular DC Comics mantle, and while last week's episode gave her the costume, "My Name Is Oliver Queen" cemented her new alter ego. Of course, Arrow had to briefly throw us for a loop before confirming what we all had predicted.
But let's start (sort of) from the beginning. From its very first episode, Arrow established that Oliver sometimes called Thea Speedy as a cute little nickname. It was used sparingly, but caught viewers' attention every time. It suggested an interesting role reversal, as in DC Comics, Roy Harper is usually Speedy, but then Roy became a character on Arrow, so it seemed the series was changing it's mind. However, Roy has a few different alter egos in the the comics, and became Arsenal on Arrow, leaving both Speedy and Red Arrow up for grabs.
So fast forward to Arrow Season 3. Thea has been trained by her secret father Malcolm Merlyn and is a formidable opponent, as we watch her take out a variety of bad guys. Then, she is killed by Ra's al Ghul, only to be resurrected in the Lazarus Pit, which is known to have intense side effects on the people who enter it. If those weren't enough clues that Thea was on her way to a transformation, Roy left Starling City and after he and Thea briefly reunited for one last fling, he passed his Arsenal costume on to her.
Then, finally, we got to see Thea in full costume, showing up to save Diggle in the Season 3 finale. When Oliver decided to retire as the Arrow, Thea decided to officially join the team in his absence and just before he rode off into the actual sunset with Felicity, Oliver talked to his sister about her new role. Thea said that she was thinking of going by... Red Arrow. What?!? After all those Speedy mentions?! Luckily, Oliver quickly shut that down, saying that he'd already told everyone to call her Speedy. Phew.
I don't know about you, but this only made me more excited for Arrow to return next season. Now we officially have a team with even more badass women than men, thanks to Felicity, Laurel, and Thea, and we'll finally get to see Speedy in action. Is it fall yet?
Image: Diyah Pera/The CW
