Arrow/Oliver has been on vacation, but see what happens on the season premiere! I don’t want to spoil too much, but Oliver does have a new suit to wear! Check out Josh’s recap on the first episode of Season 4 of Arrow, along with both Josh’s and Violet’s thoughts!
Don’t need the Arrow episode recap for Green Arrow? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s Arrow episode, Green Arrow, click here to get directly there!
Episode Recap of Arrow, Season 4 Episode 1: Green Arrow
The premiere of Season 4 of Arrow opens with Oliver in an intense run, but turns out to just be a jog through suburbia. He and Felicity have settled into the home life it appears.
But moving over to the rest of Team Arrow, Laurel and Thea are taking down a semi truck, and Thea seems pretty excited about her butt-kicking. Thea gets in some trouble, but Diggle shows up in his new costume, and provides some help. Canary/Laurel takes out the truck, and the three think they have saved the day. Turns out backup arrived, and the three get pinned down while the bad guys still make off with their stolen goods.
Back at the Arrow Cave, they try to figure out what was stolen, and it looks like it was Kord Industries, which specializes in weapons. These attackers seem to be ramping up, and have earned the name “Ghosts.” Laurel wants to bring in Oliver, but Diggle is against that idea.
At the police station, Captain Lance and other government people try to figure out how to handle the governing of the city, and deal with the crime rates. They get a new visitor, Damien Darhk, who seems to be set on destroying the city, so it can be regrown. He lets slip some threats, and heads out.
Laurel, at work, realizes the city leaders are being targeted, and calls Diggle and Thea to help out. The DA was poisoned, the police station was attacked, and Captain Lance is wounded. Diggle finds another wounded, and Thea tries to save another, but he is already shot. Laurel “suits up” as Canary, and they take down the soldiers, with Lance taking a flesh wound.
Back in suburbia, Oliver and Felicity are having brunch with a couple, and it looks like Oliver is going to pop the question to Felicity. Later in the evening, Oliver gets ready to pop the question, but they are interrupted by Laurel and Thea. Looks like they need help. The two give Oliver the rundown, while Oliver seems skeptical to help out. Felicity seems to be on the girls’ side too.
Oliver heads back to the town, and Diggle is not happy to see Oliver again. He is still ticked off about Oliver kidnapping his wife. But things get crazy with the Ghosts when Felicity figures out what was stolen, and Diggle grudgingly seems in on the plan now. Oliver initiates a plan, but the other team members aren’t really interested in taking orders–until they realize the plan isn’t so bad.
The rest head out, and Oliver and Felicity are left alone. Oliver realizes that Felicity has been helping the team before they even returned, behind Oliver’s back. He isn’t happy about it, and puts some events together as to when Felicity had been helping rather than being in the moment with him. Turns out Felicity would rather be a hero than a suburban wife.
Felicity is able to pinpoint a possible location for these “Ghosts,” which is an abandoned truck depot. Team Arrow arrives, to hear Damien Darhk dish out some punishment to one of his henchmen for causing a ruckus with the semi truck that Team Arrow took down. He touches this guy, and which begins killing the guy. The Team jumps into action, taking down the henchmen. Thea gets a little crazy with the fighting, and Oliver takes notice that she is a bit overzealous. Oliver tries to get answers, and it looks like the train station might be the target. Lance shows up though, so Team Arrow has to make an escape.
At the police station, Lance is not happy to have Team Arrow’s help. She tries to get some information as to where the next target might be, but he doesn’t have great suggestions.
Oliver and Thea head to the train station to try to find these explosives, and Oliver confronts Thea about her lack of restraint when fighting. She isn’t happy to hear it. Moving to Diggle, Oliver tries to talk to him about Thea, but he doesn’t seem to want to talk too much either. To make Oliver’s day even better, Lance shows up and confronts Oliver, telling him it is his fault that the city has fallen apart with his mask.
Diggle at home talks with Lyla, who seems more understanding of what Oliver did to her than Diggle.
Back with Felicity, Oliver is mopey because no one will talk to him. Oliver seems to agree with Lance that he might have been the reason the city fell into darkness. Felicity tells Oliver he needs to be a different person.
Team Arrow returns and couldn’t find the bomb. Turns out that the bomb likely is coming in on a train. We get to then see Oliver suit up in his fancy new suit, so the team can take down the train coming in. Diggle and Oliver head to the train while Laurel and Thea try to evacuate the station. Felicity lets the group know they are on a clock, with about 6 minutes before the bomb causes major damage. Oliver confronts Damien Darhk, who is still on the train. Looks like Damien’s powers are pretty powerful, able to stop Oliver’s arrows. Damien is able to telekinetically send the arrows back towards Oliver. Oliver moves to fists, but that doesn’t go well either, until Diggle shows up and shoots the guy. But Damien manages to escape as Diggle checks on Oliver. The two get off the train, and are able to blow it up before it gets to where it is going.
Back at base, Oliver seems to decide to stay, realizing that Damien Darhk is a bigger problem than anyone knew. Diggle also has a panic attack it seems, when the word “Hive” comes up, and Diggle has a flashback to Deadshot talking about the “Hive.”
Then Oliver holds his own press conference while wearing his new suit, taking over TV channels, announcing himself as the Green Arrow, and his intention to save the city.
As far as the flashbacks go, we see an Oliver Queen hunting down a drug dealer, but clearly pretty new at the crime fighting thing. He winds up tangled in some wires, and approached by Amanda Waller.
She offers to “help” him out, encouraging him to be the savage Arrow. At the bar they are at, it looks like Amanda has drugged him and some men approach…He has been loaded on a plane, and looks like he is going on a mission without his knowing. A couple guys give him a parachute, and force him to jump. Looks like he is going back to the island yet again. He lands, and is immediately captured by a soldier.
In the final scenes of the episode, we see Darhk performing some sort of blood ritual, but he is interrupted by a soldier who brought a guest for Darhk. This guest is Lance, who seems to be working with Darhk, and it looks like Lance doesn’t really have a way to get out of it, now that he is in over his head.
Felicity and Oliver move into Thea’s old apartment, as Thea is living with Laurel currently.
But the final scene is the most intriguing–Oliver visiting a grave, and Barry Allen shows up. Oliver tells Barry he is going to get revenge. Barry leaves. Oliver sheds a tear over this grave, but the grave remains a mystery to us, but seems to be a from a death that happens sometime in the future.
Josh’s Thoughts: Arrow, Season 4 Episode 1: Green Arrow
Overall, I liked the season premiere for Arrow. It’s sort of sad that Oliver didn’t get his suburban life, but it seems like he might be happier as a hero, as Felicity seems to be. I find it a little odd that people wouldn’t put two and two together, knowing that The Arrow is still alive, but I guess the city has seen numerous copycats show up. So it would make sense. It sure would appear ironic that both Oliver Queen and Green Arrow show up at the same time, but oh well.
It was pretty shocking seeing Lance working with Darhk. I am curious to know more about the circumstances that caused this. Was Lance forced? Or did Lance see this as a good way to fix the city? Lance didn’t seem too broken up about his fellow government officials being murdered, which I found less than compassionate on Lance’s part. But now it seems like he is in over his head. I wonder how it all shakes out in the end for him. Maybe he is the one in the grave?
Speaking of the grave, that is a pretty interesting plot device because now the entire season we will be wondering whose grave that is. The super obvious guess is Felicity, but I think that is too obvious. Right now, I really have no idea. It seems to be someone pretty close to Oliver, so it could be Felicity, Laurel, Diggle, Thea, or maybe an outside chance of it being Lance or Lyla, or maybe even a new character. I wonder how long this mystery will be kept.
I actually liked this season premiere better than The Flash, and look forward to the rest of the season. The one disappointment I have so far is the new Arrow suit. Bring back the sleeves please!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 4 Episode 1 of Arrow: Green Arrow
Initially, I wasn’t all that excited about this episode, until it started coming to a close. First of all, I felt like the time that we got to see Oliver and Felicity living in Suburbia was cut way too short. I mean, yeah, we knew he had to go back to Starling City — er, excuse me, Star City, as it’s now called — eventually, but I would have like to have seen more of their domestic life. Then we still have to put up with Diggle’s grudge against Oliver. Let it go, man. Your wife was the one who was the victim, and she understands why Oliver did it. I guess I’m just ready for them to be friends again.
But two things happened at the end that got my attention, and made me interested in what’s to come for the remainder of the season. One was the big reveal that Lance was working with Damien Darhk. Gasp! Did not see that one coming. Up until now, Lance has always been a straight shooter, so it’s very odd that he would be working with this season’s villain. Damien Darhk must be holding something over Lance, blackmailing him or threatening him in some way. I would guess this has something to do with threatening Laurel’s life, but I suppose it could be something else. So this will be quite the interesting twist going forward.
Of course, the other thing was that grave site. It seems like the show is trying to imply that it’s Felicity’s grave, which would make sense, considering that Barry is there, and Barry was her friend. But I’m going to say that’s too obvious of a choice. Besides, I feel like Oliver would have been more distraught than he looked if it was Felicity. Barry too. It could be anyone on the team, really, and I feel like Barry would have attended their funeral, as he has met them all. It could also be someone we haven’t met yet.
Overall, the episode was a good start to this season, which has made me quite interested to see what Season 4 has in store.
Scenes from Arrow, Season 4 Episode 2: The Candidate
Here are scenes from the next Arrow episode, titled The Candidate:
