The vigilante is back from vacation. Or is he?
The first episode of the CW's "Arrow" in the new year starts off with a six-week time skip, as Oliver retires The Hood while recuperating from his injuries at the hands of the Other Archer.
He's spending quality time with his family and generally avoiding anything dangerous until a firefighter is killed in a fire under mysterious circumstances.
He happens to be the brother of Laurel's best friend. When Star City's wrongs need righted, who do you call?
Only Oliver isn't answering. It takes a few motivational speeches from Diggle to get him back into a warrior's mindset, plus plenty of screen time for their shirtless antics.
On the home front, Walter's missing and Moira plays the weeping widow again, and Tommy and Laurel realize they're not ready for the next step in their relationship.
Queue more killings. Two more firefighters burn before Ollie gets his head back in the game and confronts the killer, who turns out to be Firefly, with a new, tragic backstory.
Revenge is the name of the game, and Garfield Lynns is just a player who can't handle being burned. After his fellow firefighters abandon him in an inferno, he decides to track them down and finish the job, melted face aflame with rage.
The Hood makes quick work of him, though. At this rate, "Arrow" will churn through every bit villain in DC canon by the third season.
Count Vertigo, or someone inspired by him, anyway, is slated to appear in just two weeks, so maybe he'll stick around for a while.
And, of course, Merlyn is still at large, and no one but the viewer knows his secret identity as Moira's business partner and Tommy's father.
This episode eases viewers back into the storyline and the action stays slow throughout. The climax is more of a whimper, and Firefly disappoints. No visions in the flames, no pyromania, no gliding.
But perhaps this episode serves to set up future events. We glean that Tommy and Laurel aren't a forever thing, that Moira is ready to take over Queen Consolidated, and Robert Queen's list finally moves back into the spotlight.
We also see our first glimpse of a map of the Island. Could its secrets be far off?
"Arrow" has hit a bit of a mid-season lull, but six weeks of uninterrupted episodes are on the way, and they promise to tie up some loose ends.
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