If you’re current on Arrow, then you’re no doubt aware of how Oliver Queen has finally been liberated from Slabside. Granted, our hero’s stay in prison did make for some intense television, but I, for one, am happy to get back to business as usual.
Based on the information we’ve been presented, Ollie will not only be welcomed back to Star City by his closest friends and other appreciative citizens, but he’ll also waste no time in putting on the Green Arrow costume. The latter is a bold move by him, sure, though I’m guessing no viewer would stick around if he were to become a pacifist.
Of course, things will be a little different going forward because, don’t forget, the public at large knows that Oliver is the Emerald Archer. To the surprise of none, this and his time spent behind bars will affect everything in his life, right down to his relationship with Felicity Smoak. In fact, Stephen Amell touched on this when recently speaking with Cinema Blend, saying:
“We have some really fantastic scenes in [Episode] 8. I mean obviously we see each other for the first time at the end of 7, but then pretty quickly I learn that a lot of the stuff that Diaz was saying about Felicity is true. And I thought the way that we worked it out, and we do work it out pretty quickly, we come to an understanding that nothing’s ever going to be perfect.”
Like he said there, Felicity has become a changed woman since Oliver’s stay in prison. Previously, you wouldn’t think of her as holding a gun to someone’s head – even if that person is Ricardo Diaz – but it’s a brave new world. Finding out how Ollie responds to this shift in behavior should prove interesting.
As Amell continued, he pondered where his character will hang his coat at night:
“One of the other things that we talked about a lot is Oliver can’t live in a normal apartment building anymore. Actually, I thought that they should militarize the Queen mansion. I got shot down. I don’t think we could afford to do that! But nothing’s ever going to be perfect or normal about our relationship, and I think that the sooner that the two of them accept that, the sooner that they can move on with their lives.”
With so many questions being raised, all we can do for the time being is continue watching Arrow on Monday nights on The CW in order to find out how the situation will unfold.
