Arrow Review: Green Arrow (Season 4 Episode 1)

How do you begin a review of the BEST ARROW EPISODE OF ALL TIME?

With lots and lots of flailing, obviously. Arrow has truly stepped up its game in this premiere, setting up Season 4 to be the best yet. I mean, the new Team Arrow, the mysticism, the Olicity, and then that ending? Are any of you still alive out there? Because I’m not sure how to survive this kind of excitement!

Who is in that grave Oliver and Barry are standing over in the flash forward? Felicity? Diggle? Lance?

Ideas are spinning around and around in all of our heads, but we’ll have to wait until midseason to find out.

In the meantime, let’s all gush about how “Green Arrow” doubled down on Olicity in a big way.

Trailers and sneak peeks spoiled that Oliver would be trying to put a ring on it this year, but nothing could have prepared me for the cuteness of these two crime-fighters being happy and in love. Not to mention, how flawlessly it works within the existing narrative.

We open on our favorite couple enjoying the suburbian life, blissfully happy with their morning runs and omlette brunches. Right? Well, maybe not entirely.

Felicity’s under the table tech help for Team Arrow back in Star City should come as a surprise to no one. Her self-worth has always depended so much on the work she does saving the city and helping people. It’s part of the reason she’s such a beloved, three-dimensional character.

Oliver: Felicity, want to play again?

Felicity: What game are we playing?

Oliver: We’re playing the “reason you know so much about the Ghosts is because you’ve been helping the team behind my back” game.

As for the third member of Original Team Arrow… Diggle isn’t exactly wheeling in the welcome wagon when his old partners return.

After all the pain Oliver put him through last year, it’s only right for Diggle to take some time to come to terms with it.

But his cold shoulder towards Oliver might make finding H.I.V.E harder for him in the end. Yep, that’s right! After all these years, we’re finally getting some forward movement on the mystery of Andy Diggle’s assassination. And it might all be in jeopardy because Diggle can’t trust Oliver to help him anymore.

I think we can expect Diggle to stay mad for a while yet, but you could still hear the sounds of a thousand bromance hearts breaking when he laid into Oliver for his inner darkness.

Darkness seems to be the theme of this season (Get it? Because Damien Darhk is here? See what they did there?) not just in terms of inner demons and struggles, but also in the real, evil sense.

After all, Damien has legit magical powers of dark blood magic and what not! Plus, both Amanda Waller and Damien Darhk seem to be of the mind that destruction can lead to better days and healing, if you’re willing to commit to the path.

Damian Darhk: Death is a beautiful thing.

Amanda Waller: Often times, the only way out is through.

So far, I’m not sure how the flashbacks are going to go over this year — nothing can be as bad as Season 3, right? — but so far I’m interested. Back to Lian Yu, you say? Tell me more!

On a lighter note, Thea is loving the superhero life, and she’s not afraid to shout it from the rooftops. Or the back of Laurel’s motorcycle.

Thea: This is so cool!
Laurel: We’re really going to have to work on your definition of cool.

To me, Thea is the perfect emodiment of this battle between light and darkness we’re going to focus on in Season 4. She is still so young and optimistic and excited about life. She brings a levity to the show that it’s been sorely missing the past two years.

But at the same time, she’s haunted by what happened to her in the Lazarus Pit. A darkness and a violence she can’t control are bubbling right under the surface, and we get more than one peek at it in in the premiere. I’ve always been a huge Thea fan, so I’m probably most excited to see her struggle with that duality inside of her this year.

Go Speedy!

Lance, on the other hand, continues to waffle. For most of the episode, he remains firmly in camp “I Hate Oliver and All Vigilantes,” just like last year. And then BOOM, out of nowhere he is working for H.I.V.E and Damien Darhk.

I’m hopeful that this will begin a new, much more interesting arc for our resident lawman, but it also puts him at the top of my list for potential headstone owners. Working with the bad guy? Totally a one way ticket to an arrow in the chest.

Other Thoughts:

• Thea’s superhero voice is remarkably similar to her real voice.
• Another awesome cameo from The Flash. Love these quick crossover moments!
• No sign of Ray, which must mean he’s not scheduled to get life size again just yet.
• How many times are all of you going to youtube those Olicity scenes tonight? Be honest.
• What sort of blood sacrifice voodoo has Darhk got on his side?

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User Rating:

Arrow airs on Wednesdays on The CW at 8/7c.

Lindsay MacDonald

Lindsay is an associate editor for Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer, viewer, and internet addict. Her obsession with TV started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and has been going strong ever since; current favorites include Scandal, The 100, The Walking Dead, and Arrow. She considers a perfect Friday night to be a joint-cuddle-session between an adorable puppy dog and her Netflix queue. Follow @lindsayjoane