‘Arrow’: Oliver Queen’s Flashbacks’ Next Location, Diggle Deals With Laurel’s Fate, And Felicity To Return To Team Arrow?


Arrow has been known for many things in the four seasons that it has been on the CW Network, and one of its unique facets has been Oliver Queen’s flashbacks, as they have been giving fans a glimpse into Green Arrow’s origins. Arrow has been in Star(ling) City, on the island, in China, back on the island, but just when you thought the mystical totem is why he was on the island in Arrow Season 1, you would be mistaken. Comicbook reports that Arrow Executive Producer Wendy Mericle revealed that there will be one more stop in Oliver Queen’s flashbacks.

“I don’t want to tip too much, but it’s a very good possibility that we’ll finally find out how Oliver got that Bratva tattoo and how he learned to speak Russian.”

Oliver Queen’s flashbacks have made Arrow interesting and unique, even to the point where other shows seem to have copied the formula, but most fans likely have been a bit bored with Season 4’s formula. Arrow Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim knows this, and echoes his own sentiments about how well Oliver Queen’s flashbacks have been going this season.

“Part of the appeal of the flashbacks — certainly in the first two years, but I think the first three years — is seeing what a big difference it is between Oliver Queen in the present day and Oliver Queen five years ago. The problem is that we are telling a five-year story in the flashbacks of Oliver becoming the guy you met in the pilot. So the deeper you get into the flashbacks, the closer he becomes to being that guy, and, thus, you lose that element of the flashbacks that was so interesting, which is how different he was … That’s something we have struggled with this year.”

John Diggle in Arrow season 4
[Image via Arrow Season 4 Screenshot | Courtesy Of CW | Cropped, Resized]
Oliver Queen’s flashbacks are not the only thing struggling at this stage of the game in Arrow Season 4, so is John Diggle a.k.a. Spartan. Access Hollywood reports that Diggle is handling Laurel’s death a little harder than the others, save for Oliver Queen. Diggle is going through it post traumatic stress-style, according to David Ramsey. John Diggle’s response has more to do with his decision to trust his brother, Andy, and the ramifications of it.

“What has happened to his brother — the betrayal, the not-death, the H.I.V.E., the not quite H.I.V.E. — he is on an emotional tailspin, his wife now a part of this organization, ARGUS, which clearly has its own agenda that he’s never really fully agreed with, so I think we’re looking at a Diggle who … this is a nuts and bolts kind of guy. And there was a great line that Lyla had during the Suicide Squad episode of Season 2. … She [said] very clearly, ‘You see the world in black and white, and the world is much more complicated,’ and I think that’s always been his Achilles heel … The same thing that makes Diggle strong in that he sees it black and white and therefore he’s honorable and super loyal and he will take the grenade, is the same thing that is his Achilles heel.”

Laurel Lance on her death bed
[Image via Arrow Season 4 Screenshot | Courtesy Of CW |Cropped, Resized]
With Oliver’s former love and Black Canary alter ego Laurel Lance now expired, many fans have wondered what comes next. Arrow fans, or some of them, have been interested in seeing Felicity Smoak return to the team, despite the fact that she has already been replaced in her former position.

According to International Business Times UK, showrunner Wendy Mericle said Felicity could still return to Team Arrow, but an Olicity return is highly unlikely.

“She’s broken up with Oliver and she’s also broken up with the team essentially. And in Episode 19, we’ll see the undoing of one of those decisions. She could come back to the team and that does not mean that she’s back together with Oliver.”

Arrow Episode 19, “Canary Cry,” will return a week late, but it will certainly be an episode to watch for Arrow fans, as Oliver Queen, John Diggle, and the rest of Team Arrow cope with loss, they must also find a way to defeat Damien Darhk and Malcolm Merlyn.

[Image via Arrow Season 4 Screenshot | Courtesy Of CW | Cropped, Resized]

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