Oliver is in prison. Felicity is in witness protection. Dinah is Chief of Detectives, Rene is back in civilian life and Curtis works for Argus now. But as a mysterious young man books passage to Yian Lu, one question surfaces:

Who’s wearing the hood?

Arrow is at a time in a show’s life where it’s faced with a choice: do the same old thing with slightly different approaches or kick a hole in the speaker, set fire to something and drop the mic.

It does both.

So we get Diaz back, this time as a season regular. We get a man in a hood with a list solving problems to death in Star City. But we also get Oliver as an inmate, Felicity dragged out of her comfort zone and the flashforwards.

Yep.

Those are far and away the most interesting thing here. The reveal that Roy is living on Yian Lu, and that the man who comes to find him is William, sets up so many interesting questions. It’s a credit to the script that the rest of it is just as much fun and a credit too that the most fun plots here are Oliver’s and Felicity’s. Which may not have happened at all last year.

Felicity as the world’s most technically savvy barista is a nice touch. Felicity seeing off an attack by Diaz is impressive. Felicity being so rattled by it she goes on the offensive is flat out brilliant. There’s an air of danger the last season completely lacked here, especially the way Felicity’s actions are tied to Oliver’s. Inmate 4587 still has moves (Witness the shower fight scene) but he’s also trapped under obligations, guilt and self-loathing. All of which begin to fade as the episode ends and Oliver realizes someone else may be wearing the hood, but no one else can be him.

Verdict: Innovatively brutal, character driven and fun this is the best that Arrow has been in years. More please. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart