Arrow - Premiere Recap: We Should Call Him Green Arrow!

Arrow kicked off Season 2 tonight with a premiere that saw the fallout of Oliver’s slightly epic failure during last season’s finale. Will Ollie Queen become The Hood yet again? Spoiler alert: We wouldn’t have much of a show if the answer was a resounding no.

Episode 1 of Season 2 of Arrow, “City of Heroes,” saw Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) returning to Starling City after a few months spent recuperating back on his island abode. Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and Diggle (David Ramsey) would have to pull teeth in order to convince the man formerly known as “Hood Guy” to return to the realm of civilization, but we’d eventually get there. Thea (Willa Holland) would need to get caught in the crossfire back home first, but we’d make it there. Meanwhile, Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) continued to do a bang-up job getting banged up by common street thieves, and Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and her father (Paul Blackthrone) both landed new jobs. Well, sorry, Detective Officer Lance! Here is the Recap and Review of Season 2 Episode 1 of Arrow, the Season Premiere, “City of Heroes”!

The CW "Arrow"

As previously stated, the Season Premiere opened with a return to the island hell Oliver had endured for so long before somehow clawing his way back to reality. After Felicity and Diggle took a sky diving trip to get there, though, the island seemed vastly more fun! It almost looked like a relaxing vacation for Oliver, who wasted no time rescuing Felicity from a random land mine situation. Then, just like that, poof! Back to The Glades. We spent no time focusing on return travel.

Oliver’s life back home had been falling to pieces while he spent time moping in the wreckage of an abandoned airplane. His family company had progressively floundered while his mother, Moira (Susanna Thompson), sat bored in a prison cell. A new looming threat from within, Isabelle Rochev (Summer Glau), had begun leeching from the dying company while it was down. Having the Queen family name associated with the murder of hundreds wasn’t exactly working wonders on dragging in new investors either. Both Rochev and Ollie owned 45% of stock in the company at the start of the episode, and when those final shares would be put up on the market by the premiere’s end, not even Oliver’s trust fund was expected to be enough to prevent a total company breakdown. Queen would need to juggle the extreme amount of crime Starling City now faced following the Undertaking with saving his father’s legacy. Isabelle is the kind of woman who always looks angry in pictures, so that would not be an easy task.

The CW "Arrow"

Thea and Roy continued their hot and heavy romance with a romp in the offices of Verdant, Ollie’s club, but a massive bruise on Harper’s side managed to clue Thea in to Roy’s continued obsession with crime fighting. Roy Harper is kind of what happens when a normal person decides to try being a real super hero. I like that he even elects to wear a red hoodie in honor of his predecessor. Roy is more in love with The Hood than he is with Thea. Thea, meawhile, tried oh so very hard to fuel a burning hatred for her mother, choosing not to visit the woman she dubbed a murderess at all while she served her time. Oliver’s return home was well received by the couple, who managed to keep the club in working order during Ollie’s “ski trip.”

Laurel Lance is now working for the District Attorney, and Arrow wasted no time at all throwing her into the midst of a shooting. This woman is constantly surrounded by a barrage of bullets, yet she’s pretty unflappable. It seemed to me like she was the only one at the mayor’s speaking engagement to fight back when a team of about four “vigilantes” broke into the event and began firing randomly. It seems The Hood has inspired others to make the rich of Starling City pay, yet as Diggle would put it, none of them exhibit his restraint or honor. The leveling of The Glades has tremendously angered all of those affected by the tragedy, and these people want their justice. Both Oliver and Officer Lance would visit Laurel at the scene of the crime, and right away I came to notice how a demotion seemed to work wonders on the former detective! I’ve never witnessed someone so seemingly cheery after getting taken down a peg, but to each his own. I guess his newfound fondness for the missing vigilante is to blame. Funny enough, Oliver’s high profile return trumped the team of hooded shooters on the news, alerting them to a new target in Queen himself. If they could take out the name responsible for ruining their lives, they’d have a true victory on their hands.

The CW "Arrow"

The Hood Team would strike during Oliver’s first ever encounter with Isabelle from within the offices of Queen Consolidated. Felicity and Diggle would also get caught in the crossfire, even at one point prompting Oliver to take Smoak crashing through a window and, once again, crashing back inside a few stories down. The incident did nothing but add frustration to Diggle and Felicity’s argument that the city needed the actual vigilante once again, but Oliver still refused to budge. In truth, the death of his buddy Tommy had seriously done a number on his head, and suddenly, the body count required to keep the quest going seemed to be too high of a cost. Tommy died thinking of his friend as a murderer, and maybe he was right. Still, I thought the two had a nice enough goodbye moment during last season’s finale!

Of course, the key to truly angering Oliver is to sideswipe him by hurting his loved ones. Thea and Roy were caught off guard by the attackers that night at the club. Roy did his best to ghetto ninja attack the assailants before they could start putting bullets in the brains of club-goers, but that didn’t stop them from simply dragging Thea away. One moment you’re swapping stories about disappointing parents, the next, its whose fake hand did I just pull off? Roy’s discovery was the only clue Oliver could gather about the situation when he returned to find his sister kidnapped. Finally, we took a trip back to the Arrow Cave! DC Comics fans might get a kick out of this conversation between Oliver Queen and Harley Quinn:

DC Comics

Okay, slight tangent over.

Felicity seemed to have spent all of her free time souping up the joint, not that Oliver even commented. I mean, this lair now looks like an Apple Store! In less than a minute, Felicity managed to find their link, handing Oliver the address of a church the former military man frequented as part of an Undertaking support group.

The CW "Arrow"

Well, what do you know? That’s exactly where the group had Thea all tied up. Thea, in her moment of dire need, broke down about her mother’s innocence, realizing how scared Moira must have been of Tommy’s father’s power. Luckily, Hood Guy swooped in just in time to ruffle some feathers and disarm the men. He’d found another way to do his job, and suddenly the dirty work looked a whole lot cleaner. Officer Lance would pick up the bound thugs, and Ollie would call it a night.

We did check in with Moira during the premiere. First, Oliver would visit his mother upon his return, and Moira would offer up some covert business advice. Thea would close out her arc this week by paying her mother a second visit. The two shared a nice moment of reconciliation and recognized the value in their vulnerability with each other. Thea, I’m going to have to disagree, though. I thought Moira looked great in her prison duds!

Before closing out this recap and review, let’s catch up on this premiere’s island flashback sequence. Long-haired-Ollie and his former team, Slade (Manu Bennett) and Shado (Celina Jade) continued to train months after Fyers was thwarted. Mainly, it’s important to note that a new threat is upon them, but we learned very little this week. Shado was, at one point, captured, and Oliver inevitably ended up brutally bludgeoning a man to death. Give it a few years, and Queen would have a new vacation spot filled with fun old memories!

The CW "Arrow"

The CW "Arrow"

The episode closed by setting off some interesting new plot paths for Season 2. First, Oliver would bump into Laurel at Tommy’s gravesite, and the two would share a moment of support. Neither feels right dishonoring Tommy’s memory with more romance, but the two are indeed bound for life by what they’ve been put through. Unfortunately for Ollie, Laurel seems to hold the vigilante equally responsible for Tommy’s death, as he was allegedly caught in the crossfire between two archers. Laurel, I think that’s a stretch, but maybe it’s time for Queen to simply fill her in. It’s not like she’s not constantly dragged through this mess in any case! Later, we’d also see the final solution to Oliver’s company troubles. Walter (Colin Salmon) might no longer be with Moira, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still Oliver’s family. Walter’s company, a lucrative bank, bought the final shares, negating Isabelle’s power over Oliver and rendering them partners. It seems Ms. Rochev has developed a new respect for the former party boy.

Roy continued to disobey Thea’s orders by seeking out trouble in The Glades. After attempting to rescue a woman from a group of scary sex offenders, Harper would catch what we assume was our first glance of… Black Canary! Roy, that has to sting. First, you’re perpetually a step behind Hood Guy. Now, there’s a rockin’ new lady finishing your jobs for you. We still love you, Harper.

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The Season Premiere closed with a final moment between Ollie and his team. The man formerly known as The Hood picked up a GREEN ARROW and decided that it is officially time to stop being a killer and start being a super hero.

What did you think of the Arrow Season 2 Premiere, Episode 1, “City of Heroes”? Are you happy that we’re witnessing Ollie’s rebirth as Green Arrow? Will Roy eventually fulfill his dream of being Oliver’s sidekick? Will Laurel catch the vigilante? Is Black Canary upon us?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of the Arrow Season 2 Premiere, Episode 1, “City of Heroes”! Cheers, to a stellar new season!