WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from the second episode of Arrow Season 7, titled “The Longbow Hunters”. Do not read if you have not seen the episode or read ahead at your own risk.
Arrow took another leap into the future in Monday’s episode as we learned more about older William, watched Diggle and Felicity’s relationship struggle, and even saw Oliver starting to realize the different rules of prison life.
Let’s start with the flash forward, shall we? What a shock we had at the end of the premiere when we learned William (Ben Lewis) goes to Lian Yu in the future and meets up with an older Roy Harper (Colton Haynes). But what did we learn this week? So much and yet so little.
First, we find out Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) never came back for William after Felicity ships him off in the premiere episode, but we don’t know why. It’s unlike Oliver or Felicity to just leave their son and not care about what happens to him. I’m curious to see what really occurred. We also find out William has an ex-boyfriend. Yes, that’s right — William is gay!
William tells Roy the arrowhead totem started beeping a few weeks back and inside were some coordinates to Lian Yu, which is why he came to the island. Why would his family send him there? Remember, Felicity told him in the premiere it was used to “reconnect”.
Roy doesn’t want to talk about Thea, which is very interesting on its own. In fact, Roy goes so far as to cut William off when he asks about her; instead, he decides to show William the true meaning of the arrowhead by taking him to a gravesite. The plot is dug up and we find Oliver’s Green Arrow costume and bow. When William asks why Felicity would want him to have it, Roy says they need to go back to Star City, but not before he burns a piece of paper that was tucked inside of the bow.
I think we’ll see an older Diggle, Dinah, Curtis, and maybe even Felicity on our trip to Star City. But the question still remains: Where is Oliver? Dead?
The other plot of the episode involved a struggle between Felicity and Diggle (David Ramsey). Felicity wants to get Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) for going after her family. At A.R.G.U.S., Diggle wants to do things by the book. Felicity screws up the first attempt, angering Diggle. The second time around, Felicity goes back as Overwatch and helps Diggle successfully keep a “super-battery” away from Diaz and his new partners, The Longbow Hunters, despite her anger and disappointment at letting him go.
We also finally find out the reason Diggle did not honor Oliver’s request to put the hood on. He couldn’t do it after seeing what it did to Oliver’s family and could not risk his own family hurting in that way.
Felicity leaves A.R.G.U.S. and says she is going after Diaz and needs to work with someone who will do whatever it takes to stop him. I originally thought, Laurel. Remember her? The evil but not evil then still kind of evil, Laurel? Well, I was wrong. As the episode ends, Felicity goes to FBI Agent Watson for help.
Episode Notes:
- Dinah goes to great lengths to help Laurel and the two share a moment. Laurel says she is still hurting over her not-real-dad Quentin’s death and apologizes to Dinah for killing her true love, Vince.
- Oliver wants information on Diaz from Brick, but Brick wants a favor in return. He wants the guard, Yorke, dead, but Oliver uses a shiv and stabs himself, blaming Yorke. The guard is then removed from the prison.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Let us know in the comments below!
Arrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.