Oliver is finally out of prison and back in the Green Arrow suit. We finally got some Olicity scenes and Katherine McNamara finally showed up on Arrow. What more could you want out of an episode?
We should be jumping for joy for how long we’ve waited for Oliver (Stephen Amell) to be out of prison and suiting up again, and how long we’ve waited for Olicity scenes, and Katherine to make her debut, but all of this was overshadowed by Oliver’s realization of how much Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) has changed. How could she not? Her husband was in prison and as she said, she was left alone to figure out how to protect herself. She did not come out of this unscathed. She may not have the visible scars that Oliver has from prison, but I actually think her emotional scars go much deeper.
I’m very torn on how I feel about this turn for Felicity. It’s breaking my heart seeing how broken she is and seeing how broken Olicity is. But, I like seeing Emily tackle this different side of Felicity. She needed a good storyline and this is it. We don’t have to agree with everything the writers do. It would be no fun if they wrote just what we wanted to see. I’m very scared to see how she goes from now to faking her death, and yes I said faking because I’m not accepting she is dead.
On a happier note, Oliver is finally the Green Arrow again, and he’s working the SCPD. It was very strange to see him suit up without the hood. I’m glad the writers came up with a way for him to continue to be the Green Arrow. I could never accept it if he never put the suit back on. It’s not perfect and it won’t be easy but it is another chapter in Oliver’s story.
We also finally got to meet Katherine’s character, Blackstar. We’ve waited so long to see her I forget she was playing a street fighter. I guess I wasn’t expecting her to be playing a bad guy. She’s not exactly a bad guy but she’s certainly not a good one. She did seem upset when they told her Felicity was dead. Did these two have an alliance of some sort? That reaction was too much for someone you occasionally work with.
I really haven’t liked the future storyline but I have enjoyed having Roy (Colton Haynes) back. I don’t think the future storyline has turned out the way the writers wanted, at least not yet. I have a little more hope now that Blackstar has entered the story. We are getting a lot of foreshadowing to some pretty bad things coming our way. Who knows when those will take place. I guess that all depends on how many seasons Arrow has left. The writers seem to be lining themselves up for the end, but I’m not exactly sure what their endgame is.
I have to mention that we finally found out who the faux Green Arrow is: Oliver’s long lost sister? I’m not sure I know how I feel about that but we’re probably not getting more on that until after the break.
