Longbow Hunters: Arrow 702 Review

     Arrow continues to be very interesting this season.  The Longbow Hunters arrived and they prove a formidable  force.  The  new showrunner  has found  a way to  keep the feel  of Oliver and  Felicity together  though  they are apart by the use of role reversal:  Felicity goes into the field like her  husband, and Oliver hacks a computer  like his wife. Each  fights for the other.

      Oliver:   Can Oliver fight as the  Green Arrow while in  prison?  What does  it mean to be the Green Arrow?  These are questions that we see Oliver facing in prison.  Oliver learned over the past six years that he has  had to find a different  way. Killing is not the answer, yet he's in a  different environment now.  As he comes out of  solitary,  he says, "My wife and son were attacked. I would do anything  to protect them."  How does he do this now?  He's asked  that question indirectly by Stanley.  I loved that moment when  Oliver wants and needs  information on Diaz to help his family.  Someone  in prison knows Diaz  and works for him.  Oliver needs this information.  Then Stanley says, "WWGAD?"  Oliver seems confused, and Stanley spells it out, "What would Green  Arrow do?"  This viewer chuckled.  Don't you like  Stanley?  In a show that's relatively dark, we need that small taste of lightness.   Then Oliver says, "He'd ask Overwatch to gather  information."  So Oliver and Stanley create a diversion  so that Oliver can hack a computer to find  information on Yorke, the guard. They discover he has an apparently clean record,  and  he has a wife and son.  Oliver tries to warn Yorke that Diaz has men in prison and these men want to kill him, but Yorke refuses to listen.  Brick  later tells Oliver that if he  doesn't use the knife to kill Yorke, he, Brick, will do  it.  Oliver has no choice.  He needs what Brick knows. He goes to Yorke and tells him that he knows about Jenna and Noah. Yorke comes closer and  then Oliver stabs himself saying Yorke did it.  The other guards take Yorke out. Oliver's removed him without killing him.  He said in the beginning he would do whatever it took.  Will Brick give him what he needs?  Green  Arrow had a code of ethics that he follows, and seeing Oliver try to keep that while facing life in prison may be more difficult than he thought.

       Felicity:  Felicity has come to Star City.  Her whole focus is get to get Diaz. I think she thinks her friends want the same things too, but are they willing to pay the price it may  cost?  She wants her family back, and she believes that once they have Diaz, she will have them back. Could getting Diaz shorten Oliver's time in prison? Is  Felicity about to make a deal with Samandra Watson, similar to Oliver?  How will Oliver feel about that?  Is anyone else concerned?  She has a lot of tenacity and viewers appreciate this.  Her sole  focus is in getting Diaz. Nothing else matters, but this can hurt her as well. She had that same focus in season 5.

    Felicity and the Team:  They all had a glass a wine  and said they would be there  to help her.  But one by one  the leave her  except for Rene.  Dinah said to Rene, don't even think of the new Green Arrow.  Felicity responds with "There  is only one Green Arrow and he's in prison."  She's  glue, baby, to Oliver.  Curtis greatly  annoyed  me.  He  didn't  want to  lose his job!  Felicity lost her job, her  stepson, her husband, her home.  She and Oliver made all the sacrifices for the team and for the city. Curtis has a job, a home, and a life. Oliver fights for her, but what about the team? I think Rene may be the one who will be the first to help. We saw  that we told Curtis to "get is balls and go". At first John Diggle annoyed  me. He tells Felicity that  Oliver's in prison, and he's not coming out for a very long time, and she should  accept that.  Really?  Would he accept that if it were Lyla?  I don't think so. But then later, he wants to explain.   He wasn't willing to lose everything that Felicity and Oliver lost. He thought the cost of wearing the suit was  too high and he wasn't willing to make that sacrifice at the cost of his wife and son.  We can understand that, but I am sure Felicity feels alone. She decided she wants to get help from  someone whose only  focus is to get Diaz, so she goes to Samandra  Watson.  That's how it ends  with Felicity and Watson talking. Felicity says, "It's time you lived up to your side of the bargain.  More questions, right?  How can getting Diaz help get her family back?  I guess she could bring William home, he would be safe now.  Would that get    Oliver out of prison faster?  It will keep him safer in prison, since Diaz  has people in prison. 

     The Flash-forward:  I don't know about you, but this reviewer was greatly annoyed at William. Roy asks, "Felicity and Oliver forgot about you?" Pretty much. Then he makes a comment about how Felicity gave him the hosen maybe as a cruel joke.  Really, William?  Felicity would play a cruel joke on you, when she nearly got killed  saving your butt?  He may have abandonment issues, but  did he forget about all his parents and especially Felicity sacrificed to keep  him safe?  I'm sorry, but that annoyed me.  We find out that Felicity wanted William to find Oliver's bow. He's confused as to why since he doesn't know how to use it.  So he doesn't take up archery at Cambridge, I see.  Roy burns the paper found  in the bow after he reads it.  William seemed annoyed, but he didn't press the issue. Whatever it said, it caused Roy to take William and return  to Star City.  The flash-forwards leave more questions.  Has William not seen his parents at all in twenty years?  Some of my readers have posited the question that this parallels what happened in Legends of Tomorrow 1.06. I  watched that episode on Netflix, and found out that in Legends Star City fell apart in 2031. The flash-forwards take place approximately in 2038.  Oliver tells Sara that Felicity, "left when all this happened,"  so guessing that would be 2031.  Everyone else died, but Oliver says Felicity left.  Does that mean she left Star City and is still alive, or did she die?  Do you think there is a connection to the Legends episode? I hope not, because that would not bode  well for our couple.

Something happens  with Thea,  but why go to Lian Yu? More mystery to solve. 

      Longbow  Hunters: Silencer, Red Dot, and Kodiak are forces to reckoned with. Apparently both Dinah and Laurel together have the power to stop Silencer.  I see them working as a team.  These three foes may be a way  to get the team together again. They are powerful, but I am thinking they are self-serving enough to take out Diaz.

     Laurel Lance and Dinah:  I am thinking that Laurel's talk  with Dinah and Dinah's  reaction is the redemption of Laurel Lance.  I have issues with this character on many  levels.  So she's a believable DA with absolutely no experience or training except reading Laurel One's law books?  Seriously?   I do believe in the power of forgiveness, but not sure I find the plausibility of  it here. I think it will take a while for Dinah to accept that since Laurel Two  has turned on everyone more than once.

Final Thoughts:

• Felicity and Oliver carried the night.  Each one works to save the other.
• Can what  is lost ever  be fully recovered? 
• Oliver's finding a way to be the Green Arrow in prison
• Curtis can leave anytime, thank you.
• Will Diaz become as vile as Adrian Chase.  He has people inside the prison to get Oliver, and outside to get Felicity.
• Stanley adds a little comic relief to the darkness of prison.  Will Oliver help him get out of prison?
• I'm wanting Felicity to visit Oliver again.
• Yorke said  something interesting. Oliver only got two days in solitary for what he did. That's not much  time; Yorke said that there were people who saw the Green Arrow as a hero.  So who puts people in solitary? Prison officials, right?  Will they be the ones who help him get out?
• Will we find our couple alive in twenty years?