Arrow is back for its sixth season and wasted no time throwing Team Arrow (and us) back into the action

After last season’s literally explosive finale, the season 6 premiere of Arrow had a tough act to follow. Who lived and died? Did Oliver and Felicity finally get married? Ok, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The sixth season premiere of Arrow picks up 5 months after explosives were set off all over the island of Lian Yu and the fate of every main character was left hanging in the balance. Oliver/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) has returned to Star City to continue his role as mayor by day and vigilante by night. For those wanting to know who survived from last season, the episode immediately got to work establishing that. Other than Thea (Willa Holland), who is seriously injured and in a coma, all of the main characters managed to survive with minimal physical injuries. In particular, Diggle (David Ramsey) appears to be haunted by the events on the island and may have suffered a physical injury as well.

RELATED | Top 5 Things We’re Looking Forward to in Arrow Season 6

The premiere had a fair amount of action and focused on a renewed threat from Earth-2 Laurel/Black Siren (Katie Cassidy), who had the goal of stealing a prototype T-Sphere from Curtis/Mr. Terrific (Echo Kellum). For what? We have no idea but we doubt it’s good news. Amidst the chaos her and her gang created, there was a consistent theme throughout the episode ‒ single parents reconnecting with their children. Oliver is now raising his son William (Jack Moore) after the death of his mother Samantha (Anna Hopkins). Rene/Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) is still attempting to reconnect with his daughter Zoe and will finally get another hearing to regain custody of her. Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) managed to find the location of his son and set off to try to meet him.

Meanwhile, Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) is continuing to face the loss of Laurel with the help of Dinah/Black Canary (Juliana Harkavy) by repeatedly facing off against her Earth-2 doppelgänger. If all of this reconnecting and stopping of crimes weren’t complicated enough, Oliver had his secret identity as the Green Arrow revealed to all of Star City.

All of this set up gave us plenty to sink our teeth into. So let’s get right down to it by meeting our roundtable guests and start discussing the episode!

Adri (@lust_muffin) – Avid TV series watcher, Arrow fan from the beginning

Jon (@jonjoebailey) – Amateur painter, musician and magician

Amina (@emilysdeepika) – Could rant about TV shows for hours, opinionated, Olicity are my always

Penny (@SAEBRfan) – Proud mother of 4, Jane of all trades, who loves reading, sports, TV and Arrow

Donna (@akashathedamned) – Sinceriously fan of all things Stephen Amell

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1. The episode jumped ahead 5 months and immediately got us right into the action again. Would you have preferred to get all of the answers about what happened on Lian Yu right away or do you prefer the approach they went with?

Adri (@lust_muffin): I’m okay with how it was done. We’ve been through 5 years of flashbacks with this show, so I think we’re all aware of how it works by now. The writers wouldn’t have showed us everything at once. But I have to point out that we didn’t actually get all of the answers about what happened on Lian Yu after the explosion. We’ve seen the rest of the team (and Nyssa) ran to the airplane so we know how they survived. And we know what happened to Thea and Samantha. But what about Diggle and Felicity? They were caught right in the middle of the explosions, especially Digg. I would like to see what happened there. How did they make it? And I wish we could see Oliver reuniting with them, since Digg and Felicity are two of the most important people in his life. I would like to see his reaction to his best friend being hurt. I would like to see his reaction when he figured out that the woman he loves is okay (even more after those present day scenes where it was clear they might be taking it slow and trying to figure out how they work with William’s presence, but they’re definitely at the same page again). I would like to see his reaction to the realization that despite Adrian’s best efforts, he didn’t lose everyone he loves. I feel like we might get it later in the season, though. Without the mandatory Oliver flashbacks, the writers are free to use this tool in different ways. Maybe we’ll get that flashback to what happened to Felicity and Digg in the near future. I’m crossing my fingers.

Jon (@jonjoebailey): I would have rather seen what happens on Lian Yu considering I waited ALL SUMMER for them to resolve the cliff hanger.

Amina (@emilysdeepika): I think from a storytelling standpoint, their choice was good in not letting the audience in on everything that went on right away to keep up the suspense but as a viewer, I’m dying to know when and how Oliver found Felicity, Diggle, and the rest of the team.

Penny (@SAEBRfan): I like how they didn’t show everything that happened on Lian Yu in the premiere. It leaves some mystery as to what actually happened and how it effects the present storyline. So that was a thumbs up from me.

Donna (@akashathedamned): I can’t imagine how difficult or awkward it had to have been for everyone but Stephen to handle press questions after the season 5 finale. Did we really think there would be a dramatic shift in the cast? No, but they still had to build the suspense and keep us guessing. I was completely okay with the way they did the trickle approach of introducing the survivors (or not) bit by bit. If I’m keeping track correctly, the only person left (that I care about knowing) is Nyssa. If they don’t bring Nyssa back I will be so disappointed. I have a tiny girl crush on her. My favorite part of the five month time jump was that Oliver was still the mayor. I’m glad that he has been able to walk in those two worlds (thanks Slade) for that long. The item I did have trouble with is the awkwardness with Felicity. Are they or aren’t they?

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2. Other than not knowing the fates of a few secondary characters, almost everyone managed to survive the explosions on Lian Yu. Was this a good dramatic direction to take the show in or did it feel a bit like a dramatic cheat?

Adri: I feel like this was THE worst thing they’ve ever did. Not in terms of story because this was mostly a reaction to the season 5 finale and Adrian putting everyone Oliver loved in a single place and blowing them up by killing himself was a damn good story. But let’s be real here… They would never kill John Diggle or Felicity Smoak. There’s just no way. Original Team Arrow is too much a part of this show. You take one out and it all falls apart. And then there’s Olicity. Oliver’s relationship with Felicity is too important for his journey. Even Adrian Chase knew that and he made sure his last words were to taunt Oliver about how lonely he would be without her. The writers are smarter than to kill Digg or Felicity. They were safe from the start. If you haven’t been living under a cave, you know that Juliana Harkavy and Rick Gonzalez were promoted to series regulars. Why promote someone you’re going to kill? Curtis was touch and go for a second there in my opinion, it could go either way. But I feel like the writers think they finally found the perfect Team Arrow, that these 6 people are the best version of Team Arrow (aside from Original Team Arrow) they could get. It’s really hard to see them killing anyone on the team. Lance was safe the whole time, because Black Siren is right there and the writers would never miss the chance to have some Lance family drama (even though she’s not your daughter, Lance!). Thea… Thea has been in that hospital room close to death too many times, but for people that are up to par with behind the scenes stuff and spoilers, it wasn’t a surprise at all. For the general audience (you know, those people that don’t spend too much time on the internet looking for Arrow stuff) it might have had a different impact, though. The general audience doesn’t know most of the things that internet fans do, so maybe that’s what the writers were trying to do. What I hate about this is not the payoff because that’s what I already expected. What I hate is how it was promoted during the hiatus. Promotion really suffered from it. It’s hard to promote storylines when you’re trying to pretend that 90% of your characters might be dead. They should have gone the “How will this affect each character?” and not the “Maybe they’re dead” route.

Jon: It felt like a cheat. I can see some of the characters came out with some form of an injury. Plot armor can hurt a show’s credibility at times, almost like how the bad guys can shoot an automatic weapon in the arrow team’s direction and not even graze them.

Amina: Honestly, there should’ve been more consequences after such a shocking cliffhanger but I’m just glad that all my favorite characters survived so I can handle a little dramatics from them. I’m sure that the effects of what happened are still weighing heavily on everyone. Especially Diggle (and poor Thea).

Penny: I feel it was an obvious direction to go in as it ties in with present day storylines of the characters as to how they survived and how it’s still affecting them. Also, it’s Arrow, where Death seems to be a dramatic cheat.

Donna: I try my best to ignore and avoid all spoilers. I am not happy when I see bits of casting news or press photos of new outfits on my timeline. The exception to that quirk is Outlander. When it comes to Arrow… I want to be surprised. I assumed there wouldn’t be huge death toll. Barrowman took to social media immediately after the finale so we knew his character’s fate. I saw the announcement regarding Rick and Juliana early on so I knew they were safe. The writers would be cray cray to kill off Diggle or Felicity. That didn’t leave me guessing about the fate of too many other characters. Arrow is dark, but it’s not Walking Dead dark. I don’t feel cheated.

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3. Diggle appears to be suffering from some form of PTSD or a similar condition. How do you think this development will change his role as part of Team Arrow going forward?

Adri: I can already feel that this is not going to be easy to watch. If it’s not PTSD, then it’s some kind of muscle damage because his hand is shaking and that’s the side he was injured in the explosions. Both Stephen Amell and David Ramsey have talked about the aftermath from Lian Yu turning things upside down for Oliver and Diggle. We’re going to see a role reversal. Diggle has always been the Yoda in that relationship, always the one giving advice and telling Oliver that he should talk to people, open up, seek help. I feel like it’s going to be the other way around this time and Oliver will be the one saying the same things to Diggle. We saw in the premiere how he didn’t tell anyone about what’s going on, even though Dinah is aware that there’s something wrong. I think he’ll try to hide it, but people are going to notice it. Kind of like what happened with Felicity and Helix, when she didn’t tell anyone about what was going on but they saw there was something wrong anyway. Maybe he’ll stay at the bunker more instead of going out in the field because he’s afraid he won’t be able to have his friends’ back or that he might hurt them on accident and that’s how they start to notice there’s a problem. I’m sure he’ll need their support more than ever and I’m ready to see Oliver being there for him the same way he has been there for Oliver for the past 5 years. I’m excited to see where this storyline is going.

Jon: Diggle’s character “Spartan” always seemed like a little bit of a forceful add in. Although I do like his character, maybe he’s taking a step back away from guns, which, even though I don’t think they are lethal, always seemed a little out of DC’s character. It’s also interesting how Laurel told him he needed to talk to “an old friend.”

Amina: Diggle’s always sort of been the anchor that holds everyone down when things get rough so it’ll be interesting to see a role reversal when he’s the one that needs help acknowledging that something is wrong. We already saw him take a backseat and stay in the bunker instead of going out in the field so I think this self-doubt and paranoia will only run deeper.

Penny: I think Diggle still has a physical injury (nerve damage maybe) and PTSD, and has not told ALL of the team. Seems he has an issue shooting his gun. Is it because the sound (explosive) or something deeper? He definitely needs to get some professional help. I’m thinking it could lead to trust and safety issues if he doesn’t. It could also lead to him not being on the team for awhile or at least not out in the field. I hope they do this storyline justice.

Donna: I feel like his tremor has to be a newish development. He can’t have kept that hidden for 5 months. So if this tremor just started, I think Diggle will find a solution/cure quickly. He has too much support and too many eyes on him to let this keep him down. Also, the tech side of the bench is pretty solid with Felicity and Curtis’ skills. We need his muscle in the field!

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4. Oliver acting as a single parent to his son (with a lot of help) is completely uncharted territory for the character. How do you think he’ll balance his duties as mayor, vigilante, and father?

Adri: Raisa! I’m so happy she’s back and that she’s helping him. The guy has no idea what he’s doing, but he promised Samantha he would take care of William and he loves his son. He’s trying so hard and it was so painful to see the kid shutting him out. I understand that William just lost his mother and had his life turned upside down in last few months, though. Even if he couldn’t reach his son in the way he wanted to so far, I really think Oliver is doing a good job balancing everything. We’ve seen him take a step back and make William his priority, which right now, I think is really important. Oliver is not alone. He’s not the only member of Team Arrow and while he IS the Mayor, he has Quentin and Rene at City Hall too. I think he has finally learned that he can let other people help him and that is a big character development. As is his willingness to talk about his problems. Felicity asked if he wanted to talk about what was worrying him about William and he said he would love to. Love to! The guy that 2 years ago hid from her the very existence of the kid in question. I’m loving this more mature version of Oliver and I think that as long as he remembers that he has people who love him and want to help him, as long as he’s willing to talk to them and let them help him, he’s going to be able to balance everything. He might stumble around, especially with William, but he’s going to be okay.

Jon: Based on what Slade told Oliver, he may at certain points have to choose his son over being the Arrow. Being the mayor also adds a twist as I’m not sure if people know he has a son.

Amina: I, for one, am so excited to see this new side to Oliver as a father and think the premiere gave us a glimpse of what’s to come between him and William beautifully. As we all saw, it’s been a rocky start and now that he’s been outed as GA, things will only get busier and more complicated to navigate through between his duties and time spent with his son but Oliver is committed and will always be there for William so he’ll do whatever it takes. They’ll be fine.

Penny: I think it’s going to be a struggle. He is committed to doing all three and learning that balance takes time and adjustments. With continuous help from others, I can see him doing it. I think the cliffhanger reveal will definitely affect that balance.

Donna: Oliver is a rockstar… flawed… but a rockstar. He will figure it out. He has grown so much in the last few months/year and with the help of Raisa and Felicity, I think he will manage just fine. Especially when he introduces William to Flash. Clearly William likes the Flash… and since he knows his dad is the Green Arrow, the next logical step is for Oliver to go for the cool dad points. Can we talk about how awesome Stephen is? He is slaying all the complex emotions.

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5. Both Rick Gonzalez and Juliana Harkavy have been promoted to series regulars this season. How do you feel about their roles being expanded?

Adri: Look, I’ll be honest here… Original Team Arrow is where my heart is at. Oliver, Diggle and Felicity are all I need to be happy. That being said, tv shows evolve and change over the years. And Team Arrow has changed a lot over the years. New year? New formation. That has been happening since season 2. If I can’t have only OTA because that would be unrealistic in a sixth season, this is the second best thing. I admit Rene kind of annoyed me until certain point of season 5, but he grew on me a lot. I want to see where his storyline with his daughter goes now that he has another chance. I hope the guy gets to court this time around. Dinah is an improvement from the last Black Canary and her presence was never something that bothered me, even though I don’t know why we need another one when we’ve had more than one version before. At least this one isn’t being hit by parked vans, so like I said… Improvement. She might still grow on me like Rene did (let’s be fair, he had more time) and even if she doesn’t I like her enough as it is for her presence not to be a problem for me. One thing that bothered me in this episode though is that she seemed a little too harsh with everyone on the team. Don’t know what that was all about. But overall, this version of Team Arrow is really good when we compare it to the other versions we’ve had over the years. They might not be my favorite characters on the show but that doesn’t blind me to the fact that they both fit in way more than some characters in the past. Oh, and I really liked their new suits! When that poster of the Black Canary suited up was released, I was a little doubtful about what it would look like on screen but it looks good. Wild Dog’s new suit was a delightful surprise.

Jon: I like both of their characters. I’m excited to see what they do.

Amina: I love having Rick and Juliana on the show. They’re like a breath of fresh air and bring something new to the team that I appreciate and enjoy. Rene and Dinah are, in my opinion, the best additions this team could’ve asked for and I love them both. Rick and Juliana’s dedication and enthusiasm is infectious and I’m happy they’re here.

Penny: I love Rick and Juliana! I think their strengthening roles within the team will allow other team members some much needed personal down time.

Donna: I love it. Team Arrow needs the help. My favorite sport is hockey so while I can appreciate a good jersey, I’m so pleased Rene got an upgrade. Dinah has also been a great addition to the team. She’s mature and bad ass. I still miss Rags… not his rags, but his quiet nature.

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6. Katie Cassidy appears to be back as a series regular for the foreseeable future. Is including Earth-2 Laurel in a recurring role a good direction to head in or is it too painful? And who in the world saved her on Lian Yu?

Adri: My honesty is going to get me in trouble one of these days, but I wish whoever saved her on Lian Yu dies a terrible, painful death. If she’s working for whoever saved her (and this is the impression the episode gives), then is it any different from what happened in season 5 when she was working for Adrian or when she was working for Zoom on Flash? If she’s there to be someone’s minion again, is she really necessary? They’re only repeating the same thing for a third time. I’m not trying to be insensitive, but in my opinion, she’s not needed. It looks like her story is mostly intertwined with Dinah and Lance anyway. By the way, Lance deserves a break. The poor bastard. But what happens once that part of the story is done? We’ve seen more than once (including in this episode) that she loves being evil. What can you do with a character that loves being evil and wants to kill the other characters on the show? I don’t see a lot of ways that this can go and the ones I see don’t end well for her. Whoever took her out of the island has resources though, because a helicopter is not something you can find on any corner.

Jon: It’s almost too painful. I’m hoping she isn’t this season’s villain. They shouldn’t have killed her original off. Based on what Slade was wearing at the hospital, it kind of looked like Slade. (Mirakuru???)

Amina: Well… painful for me at least. We’ve had 5 seasons worth of this drama between Quentin and his daughters and to bring that all back up after we spent the latter half of season 4 honoring Laurel’s memory seems redundant, even though she’s not even really Laurel. Black Siren isn’t really even special in terms of what they could have done in the villain department so there would’ve been no loss there. I feel for Quentin, it must be hard, but it’s just not worth spending time on. As for who saved her…I’m stumped!

Penny: It’s too much. I mean how long can Quentin be expected to suffer? It’s been ongoing in one way or another for too long. Give the man a break. I wish they would leave the doppelgängers to The Flash. I have a guess as to who saved Black Siren but I’m still wondering about the particulars. Cayden James (Helix) possibly, but how does it all tie in? We will see. It should prove interesting.

Donna: I am not a fan of Earth-2 characters on Arrow and I am not enjoying the tortured Quentin plot line. Her return is too painful for Quentin and it’s too painful for me. Just nope. Since it’s been mentioned that Michael Emerson will have a role this year, I’m guessing him. Whoever it is, he has nice shoes and Black Siren seems to know him. She wasn’t surprised when he showed up.

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7. Holy cliffhanger, Batman! Oliver’s identity as the Green Arrow has been revealed to the world. What are your thoughts on that development? Is it permanent or will they find a way to walk it back?

Adri: That ending made my jaw hit the floor. I did not think they would go there in the premiere! For the spoiler junkies like me, we knew it was coming at certain point in the first half of this season, but the season premiere? That got me completely by surprise. The writers have been flirting with Oliver being outed for years, I think this time it might actually stick. He’ll try to deny it, but the FBI agent seems pretty determined so I don’t know if Team Arrow will find a way around it this time like they did in season 3 when Roy took his place. She won’t be that easy to fool. There’s literally a picture of him in the Green Arrow suit out there, hood down, no mask. I want to see what they’ll try to do this time but I’m more excited to see the repercussions of it. What does Star City thinks of the Mayor being the Green Arrow? How it affects the way the team works when they’re still trying to deny that Oliver is a vigilante? What happens when the every day bad guy tries to use his friends and family to get to him? This storyline has a lot of potential and I look forward to see where it leads.

Jon: No episode ever has been without great action, however, every week the previews leave a cliffhanger that’s solved before the commercial break. I feel like he’ll make it appear as if it’s a photoshopped picture. I wonder who leaked it.

Amina: That cliffhanger was amazing. I honestly don’t know how Oliver and the team are gonna get him out of that one. There’s photographic evidence! I think revealing that in the first episode was really good because it’s a solid foundation of where they can take the plot this season. I would think it’s permanent at this point, but you never know. Let’s see what happens next week.

Penny: I was expecting the reveal but holy smokes! Definitely not in the first episode. I really hope that it’s permanent and it works out. It would be a help, I think, for Oliver going forward. Also, how naive (blind) are Star City citizens? Come on Arrow!

Donna: I blame Black Siren for that photo… the question is… am I right? I can’t imagine this being a permanent or multiple episode story line. I expect the team to find a way out of this pickle and soon. We need Oliver to be the Green Arrow. If we didn’t have him in leather pants doing amazing stunt sequences the world would be a sad place.

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Final Verdict: Despite a somewhat divisive resolution to last season’s cliffhanger and some uncertainty about the inclusion of Black Siren, Arrow is still off to a rather strong start

Our roundtable guests found a lot to love about Arrow’s season 6 premiere, “Fallout.” The cliffhanger, which featured Oliver having his identity as the Green Arrow revealed to Star City, was an especially notable moment that may have permanent ramifications for our brooding, hooded hero. Both Rene and Dinah were also well utilized. Oliver reconnecting with his son William opens up numerous storytelling and character development opportunities for him and other characters such as Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards).

While we have nothing against the lovely Katie Cassidy returning to the show in some capacity, we have concerns about the value of revisiting Quentin’s loss of Laurel yet again. That material felt like it had a decent resolution in seasons 4 and 5. Perhaps the show is going in a different direction and that storyline won’t be played out the way we think it will. But for now, we’re cautiously optimistic. Not everyone was happy with the way the season 5 cliffhanger was resolved. It’s great that everyone’s favorite characters survived but the shockingly low number of injuries felt somewhat weak from a dramatic standpoint.

Moving forward, we can’t wait to see how Rene and Dinah are further developed and integrated into the team, and we really want to see Diggle in the field again. Overall, Arrow seems to be off to very solid start and teased us with just enough unanswered questions to get us excited for the next episode.

ARROW returns next THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19th at 9/8c on THE CW