His name is Oliver Queen. After Five Seasons of a show, they established him with only one goal, to save his city… alright anyway. For five seasons Oliver’s mission was the guiding principle of the show. He’s the center of the show, he’s the (Green) Arrow. However, this season they have saddled him with a kid (a risky proposition for any show, let alone a superhero soap opera). So they decided to re-calibrate the show. Diggle is the Green Arrow, for now. And the last two episodes showed Oliver being content on the sidelines.

However, that all is irrelevant tonight because “Slade returns and asks Oliver for help in tracking down his son. When they learn Joe has been taken hostage by mercenaries, their mission to save him gets complicated by a terrible revelation that could shatter Slade’s hopes of reunion forever.”

Slade is arguably the best villain in the Arrow annals and his presence in season 2 elevated the show to heights it almost never topped (yes, yes, Prometheus). It will be interesting to see more of ally-Slade than mortal enemy Slade after last season’s finale. And what will Oliver’s return to the field mean for him going forward. (He’s obviously going to be Green Arrow again, just a matter of when)

So discuss that all here. Oh and Vigilante is going to be back too.