Arrow Review: Inmate 4587 (Season 7 Episode 1)
After that frustrating end to Arrow Season 6, our favorite Star City citizens are back with a vengeance, ready to fight, and showing signs of returning to form on the strong Arrow Season 7 Episode 1, “Inmate #4587.”
Oliver’s in prison, William and Felicity are in witness protection, and the Queen-Smoak family is apart and trying to survive.
Of course, things aren’t as simple as surviving, with Oliver facing off against the people he put in prison and a moment of questioning who he really is and Felicity trying to protect William from any kinds of threats.
Felicity: I really, really miss your dad.
William: Me, too.
The Slabside story starts off in a much more promising and engaging way, getting to the heart of who Oliver really is and getting him to come to terms with the fact that he’s not the kind of person to stand back and keep his head down.
Of course, it takes a fight scene – that is phenomenally paralleled—and an emotional conversation with Felicity to get him to realize what he has to do…fight back.
Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards are already kicking off the season with tremendous, heartbreaking performances and it’s highlighted in the fight scene and their reunion scene.
That parallel fight scene is phenomenal as it intercuts nicely between Oliver taking on multiple prisoners that are sent after him and Felicity taking on Diaz. There’s a desperate need to survive on both of their ends, and it somehow ends in similar ways as Felicity eventually gets overpowered, and Oliver gets knocked to the floor and told that Felicity is dead.
Seeing the fight go out of Oliver as the prisoner tells him that Felicity is just gut-wrenching.
Meanwhile, that reunion scene plays to one of my favorite kinds of moments between the pair, the open and highly emotional scenes.
It’s not any big moments, just a combination of small, heartbreaking ones as Oliver pleads with Felicity to keep her and William safe and away and Felicity being entirely done with it all and ready to fight back.
Felicity’s never been one to back down from a fight especially when it comes to people she loves or what she believes is right. From Ra’s al Ghul to standing up to Nazi Oliver, she doesn’t shy away from danger.
So, it’s a fantastic moment when she tells Oliver she’s not leaving, he doesn’t get to decide for her this time, and that she’s fighting back.
It even lights a fire under Oliver to decide to take a stand in prison.
Guard: Don’t be a hero.
While the Queen-Smoak family’s obstacles utterly outshine everything else in the present, we also get treated to something potentially compelling in establishing a flash-forward arc.
The way it’s introduced adds a level of mystery that the ultimate reveal of a future William looking to an older Roy for help doesn’t deflate. If anything, it launches a host of questions about why he is asking Roy for help, how did Roy end up on Lian Yu, when is this all happening, and where are Oliver and Felicity.
It’s a potentially fun arc that I look forward to seeing unfold as Arrow Season 7 moves ahead and excites me in a way that some of the last set of flashbacks didn’t quite manage (with the exception of the final flashback showing Oliver going home).
Then there’s the question of who this new Green Arrow is and what connection they have to Oliver and the team. Showing up after 5 months to start stirring up some kind of trouble is an interesting move and brings up questions about why now?
Random Thoughts
- I’m not going to lie, I’m still kind of mad at the newbies for their choices during the back half of Arrow Season 6, so it’s interesting to see them thriving out there as Dinah makes Captain, Curtis is at ARGUS and Rene is out there doing community outreach. Honestly, I’m still waiting for some remorse or something.
- William being sent away honestly hurts more than I thought it would. I hope he doesn’t stay away for long. He’s already had a rough time with parents in his life.
- I have a lot of questions about how competent the FBI really is if it’s been 5 months and this guy is still on the loose.
- That opening scene paralleling earlier opening scenes to seasons except with William running in Oliver’s nightmare was something else (in a good way).
So, what did you think of Arrow Season 7 Episode 1, “Inmate #4587”? Did the Queen-Smoak family break your heart?
What about that flashforward reveal? What questions do you have for future William?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Arrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Brianna Martinez
Brianna spends her time away from briefs, legal research, and pleadings, watching TV and writing about it. She generally has a lot of feelings about TV, which you can read about here and on Twitter.
One thought on “Arrow Review: Inmate 4587 (Season 7 Episode 1)”
I must rate Arrow Season 7 Episode 1 Inmate No. 4587 as 3.75 stars out of 5.00. Far too much Felicity which knocked down the episode in my view. William is totally boring ( I mute the sound whenever he speaks) and the rest of the Team did not shine, especially Dinah. Dinah was the worse of the bunch. I wonder HOW OLIVER WILL GET OUT OF PRISON, UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS, IF ANY, AND WILL HE CONFRONT THIS NEW “GREEN ARROW”? Stay tuned for more exciting action on Arrow…………..