TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Season 4 Premiere of Arrow: Green Arrow

After what many considered its worst season, Arrow Season 4 has a lot to prove. Mainly that it can keep the interest up throughout the season, not have sloppy and uneven plot twists, and that it can win back fans that helped start the TV superhero revolution when Arrow first premiered. If “Green Arrow” was anything to go by…it might just happen.

“Green Arrow” honestly did the best thing possibly with its start, showing a very happy and content Oliver Queen in his new life with Felicity. It might be odd after all the pain and sadness we’ve seen him go through, but this Oliver was actually really fun to watch. His interactions with Felicity (who I’ll get too soon) was very pure and genuine, which you could argue wasn’t very well seen last season. And then when it was revealed that he was going to propose to Felicity? Wow, that’s cool.

Unfortunately (for him, not in a bad way) life rarely gives us what we want, and the members of Team Arrow came back to ask for his help. Why? Because new players were in town in the form of a highly trained group of people respectively called “Ghosts”. Armed, protected, dangerous, and after highly volatile (see: bombs) materials, it was clear that even the combined strength and tactics of Diggle (rocking his new gear), Speedy (“I told you to call me Red Arrow!) and Black Canary (who’s much more epic than last season) weren’t enough to bring them down.

A keep point to note here is that though we KNEW that Ollie was going to suit up and become Green Arrow, it should not have come easily. And it didn’t, in fact, Oliver was incredibly hesitant on numerous reasons to join. For me, what proved that was Thea’s line about how “you do this one thing and you can come back to your life of domestic bliss” or what not, and Ollie’s expression showed that he knew if he did suit up for “one more time”, it would soon become many more times.

The fun twist though was that Felicity not only pushed him to help out (twice), but she was WANTING to be back in the hero line of work for months! The reveal that she had been helping the team while her and Ollie were traveling the world was hilarious! A true rebirth of the hilarity Felicity brings to the show. All the while showing the truth of the matter, once you enter the hero line of work? It’s hard to go back to a day job full-time and not think about it.

Ok, let me get this out of the way. Felicity is back to the form we want and NEED her to be at. Funny, quick with a wit, and not crying all the time. Her honesty and unintentional bluntness are a staple of her character, and we lost that a bit in Season 3, but its back in full swing now, and I approve.

Another good thing that wasn’t lost was that Diggle doesn’t trust Oliver because of his actions as Al Sah-him. If it went straight to “I understand man, all is forgiven”, it wouldn’t have felt like a Diggle response. But even with Lyla kinda/sorta burying the hachet herself, and Ollie helping save the day, Diggle still isn’t there yet, and that’s good.

Now, onto Damian Darhk. If you think about it, this season really broke the mold in how it unveiled is overarching villain. The last three seasons had either one-off villains to help drive things forward, or a semi-important villain to stir things up. But every time the main villain of the series was held away for later. Not here. Neal McDonough as Damian Darhk was there early, and was there often, and oh what fun he will be!

Calm, intimidating, and quick to the point, Darhk knows exactly who he is and what he wants, and he proved REALLY quickly that he’ll do anything it takes to get it. And he has very mystical means of doing so. His “death palm” and “force stop” was impressive, and his “sacrifice” to the idol shows that this isn’t a Lazarus Pit trick, this is something much different.

The ending of the episode was epic three-fold. As Green Arrow emerged to tell the city the time for hope has come. Which is something I think will be a key factor throughout the season. Then, the reveal that Detective Lance is working for Darhk and his HIVE was interesting. To what end this will go I’m not sure, but it’ll be fun!

Then, the “reveal’ of someone close to Ollie (and most likely Barry as he showed up, name dropped “Zoom” as well) has died was very chilling. Unlike last season though, we don’t know who it is. It’s obvious it could be Thea, or Felicity, or even Laurel (you never know…), heck, it could be Diggle! We don’t know!!! And that’s great, cause it builds up tension without us wondering “when” the “death” will be. Olllie’s response though was very curious. And something many will dissect going forward.

“Green Arrow” set out to prove this will be a very different season of Arrow. And overall it succeeded. The flashbacks were nice, but a bit pointless for now (back to the island, again?), and Thea reverted back to her season 1 self a bit, but overall it was strong. I truly hope it can stay this consistent, and bring the fun and epicness we know and expect from it back once more.