Inmate #4587 Arrow Review 701

      Season 7 heads the viewers  into  new, fascinating directions. . Wow! is the word that came into mind.  It has a  whole  new  feel to the show.  Let's  say, it's  not the Arrow  we used  to know.  The new showrunner has  given us a new Arrow that could not only last  another  season, but could be carried on into the future with new yet familiar characters. It did, however, leave this reviewer with  many questions.

Arrow has  always begun it's new season with Oliver running through the woods, but this time we see William running  in the green hoodie, with Felicity not far behind.  We  find this to be Oliver's nightmare, as we  see  Diaz shoot Felicity.  I also think that this might be a foreshadowing  of the  part William plays  in future events.  

      Flash Forward: Instead of  flashbacks we now have  flash forwards to twenty years into the future.  The new showrunner,  Beth Schwartz,  has said  this will continue the duration  of the show from  now and into future seasons. This technique is used for This  is  Us and  works  well for them.  Will it work for Arrow?  Only time can tell. Some reviewers have stated that the premiere seemed a little confusing.  I think that was only because of the flash  forward sections.  We don't have a connection to the present,  so the flash forwards leave  questions.  I think as we get  further  into the story  the flash forwards  will become more meaningful.  The  flash forwards  can give new life to a  story, but it can be tricky to maintain. The one  thing  about flash forwards  is that is reveals how life will turn  out.  The decisions  Oliver and  Felicity make now affect the future  in many ways.

       Oliver: Oliver wakes up in  prison.  He awakes from the nightmare scene  of the opening and worries that Diaz will find his family.  He  talks  chalk to count down the time. He wants to get out early.  In  the background we hear the song Madness by Ruelle, while Oliver tries to keep his  head  down, while others try to pick fights  with him, beating up  on him.Some on Twitter said the song  didn't fit Oliver, but isn't his life in prison a type  of Madness for him?  He's worried about his  family, and marking time until he  can get out.  Diggle visits  him, and their talk is  important.  Diggle want him to get out  early and encourages him to keep his  head down,  knowing how hard that will  be for Oliver.  Oliver tells him that he does what he has to do.  He's worried about Felicity and William and  wants to know how they are.  In went to prison to keep them  safe. Diggle tells Oliver, "Dont' lose yourself in there." Holding himself in is not something Oliver does well.  One inmate,  Stanley, wrongly accused of murder seeks Oliver out for protection, but Oliver doesn't help him, though you can see that inside himself he wants to.  His  whole goal is to keep Felicity and William safe, and get out of prison early.  Helping Stanley may hurt that.  You can see Oliver feels badly when Stanley is beaten up, but Oliver knew they did  that  only to try  and get to Oliver.  He tells this to Stanley,  but Stanley calls him a  coward.  The lights go out, and  the camera  focuses on a darkened  view of  Oliver.
    Oliver and Felicity:  The parallel scenes of Felicity and Oliver are some of the finest done  on Arrow. Both shower at the same time.  Felicity  walks out and finds Diaz in her  room.  He's found  them.  He wants to kill Felicity and she  fights him, while at the same  time the prisoners  are attacking  Oliver and he's fighting them off. Felicity  fights hard, but ends  up flipped  over on the table and  Diaz looking with hatred and telling her, "Now,  your're really going to suffer."  Scene  switches and Oliver's on the ground, with one man saying, "Diaz has found Felicity, and your wife is dead."

Next we see Oliver pacing in his cell; his hands shaking as he paces the floor with only one thought in his  head.  He needs  to make a phone call, but the prison guard, who is really obnoxious, tells he  get no phone  call, but he has a visitor.   His  eyes are down, and then the looks up  and sees Felicity.  He almost cries.  Emily Bett Rickards and  Stephen Amell nail every  scene  they are in.  Oliver says, "I love you so much."  Felicity, "I've missed you."  Oliver begs for her to back into witness  protection  with new identities, but Felicity tells him that she's sending William away to boarding school in  Cambridge. (Oh please tell me  they won't connect this to Harry Potter.)  Felicity puts her hand  on the glass, and  Oliver presses his  against hers.  They both are wanting the  same things.  Then  Felicity tells  him that she  is going to fight back.  She says, "You don't know how hard it is to not be able  to protect your  family," Did she  really say that?  She  tells Oliver, "You don't get to decide for me  this  time."  Clearly and rightly she is upset still that Oliver made  this choice to turn  himself in  without  consulting her. These two love each  other so much, but I see Felicity frustrated that her life is  out of her control because of a decision Oliver made.  I am certain if he had talked with her and they had discussed it  she  really  might have gone along with it, but he never gave her that chance.  Finally Felicity makes choices for William  and herself.  This also makes for interesting  turn  of events for the show.  We will  see  a whole new side  of Felicity we have never seen  before.  I I  don't think this changes the love these two have for each other.  Oliver's time  in prison will cause both of them to  grow and think  they will  grow  closer.  It's time  we  see  Felicity making  choices.   Oliver wants nothing more  than to protect his family.  I think a  large part of that is because I don't think he felt his family protected him  or Thea.  Some time later, I'm going  to write a post on that.
  His choice affected her,but she had  no power  over it.  Now she's letting him know, she's going to get Diaz.  She  tells him she's going to fight back, and that she loves Oliver, but the  guard  tells  him he has to back.  He won't give Oliver any more time.  He leaves with telling Felicity again that he loves her.  He  just says Ok, Ok.  Is he upset with her choice?  My guess is he is, yet I think he understands too.  Now everything changes for Oliver. Oliver tends to blame himself for everything bad that happens.  If  he's worried that Felicity is  going  on her  own to get Diaz, he  knows she won't be protected.  The whole  reason  for keeping his head  down was so he could  get an  early out, but  if he  thinks Felicity  is in  danger, will he blame himself?  Will he give up?  He's not keeping his head down  now.  In fact, he takes his hand and  erases the times he's  marked  off.  He angry; he fights back.  He takes the Count of  Monte  Cristo book he's had  and he uses it to take down Brick, then he fights back  at the other prisoner, nearly killing  him, and tells him, "You should have killed me."  Oliver holds nothing back  now.  Are you afraid for Oliver's soul?  I am a little.

Felicity and William:  Felicity's a  good  mom.  She  wants William safe, and  she's trying hard. They both want things  to back  the  way they were, but are  those  days  gone?  What do you think?
Felicity as  a waitress with pink hair and piercings, brought back to mind her days before she met Oliver.  Williom doesn't want to go away  without  Felicity.  William  has lost so much.  Will he ever get his family.
The Team:  I like  Rene. He  is the one team member that I have always liked, even when I  got upset  with his decisions.  Rene says,"Oliver  wanted us to carry on."  The other team members belive that carrying on mean to fight in conventional ways within the law.  Diggle is  back at A.R.G.U.S.  Curtis seems to be there in some  capacity, and Dinah is now captain of SCPD.  Rene has his gym in the Glades, and  is teaching other some of the things Oliver taught him.  You don't have to be violent to protect the ones you love.  Sounded like Oliver.  Oliver has influenced  Rene in many positive ways.  Rene thinks the new Arrow is trying to help, so he actually  saves him from arrest, by being Wild Dog, much  to Dinah's chagrin.  Would Dinah really arrest him?  I guess we shall see.  If anyone of the team members were to go, I still  wouldn't be sorry to see  it be Curtis.  The question now is will there be a team again?

Roy Harper:  Roy is back in the future. Why is  William  looking for him?  When William says, "You knew my father," people assume  that Oliver is not alive.  I don't think we can assume that at all.  I  once met a gentleman who had been  one of  my mother's violin teachers.  When I told him who  my mother was, he said, "I knew your mother...."  He  knew my mother still lived, he just had not seen her since she had been  in high school.  So we can't assume  Oliver is dead  twenty years from now.
Colton Haynes said we would be surprised at the role he plays.  I certainly was!

Green  Arrow:  The question now is who is the Arrow?  Could it be Oliver? Perhaps, but I don't think so right now.  This opinion could change in the future.  Could it be Roy Harper?  Possibly.  This guy has a book similar to Oliver in Season One, and he's marking off names.  I  think it could be someone who knows the  team since he saved Rene.  If it's Oliver, how does he got  out of prison without being noticed, especially in the beginning when  he wanted to keep his head down.  If it's Roy, why have the names on the list when he was off  with Thea?  Could it be Malcom Merlin? Or, what if it is really Oliver's half  sister? There is speculation that Oliver has a half sister. Someone leak  future episode titles, and  one is Emiko Queen. So could this be the Arrow? Hmmm.  Going to be an interesting season, isn't it?

Diaz: Will someone please bring this man in, so my two  favorite people can get back to each other?
Why is  he so elusive?  Where is Watson?  Shouldn't she realize by now she needs Oliver?

   Final thoughts:  This season opener certainly surprised me.  I am not sure I like the new direction, mostly because I came to the show for Olicity.  I am concerned  that these two may  have a long  way to go  before they find their way back, but then that makes  for an interesting show. I am not saying that I didn't like it.  I did. It feels like a different show in many respects.  This will change all  the characters we love.   The flash forwards will be interesting as we learn  more and more  about William and Roy and why William needs to find him?   All in all not a bad  episode.  I do fear for my two favorite people, but on the positive side, we  only had to see BS once. :)  What did you think?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section.