A lot of things have changed as we enter the fifth season of ARROW. Oliver is back to being a lone vigilante (albeit with tech support from Felicity) after Laurel’s death and Thea and Diggle’s “retirement”. He’s also got a new high-profiled job as Mayor (Mayor Handsome, the papers call him). And he’s struggling to figure out how to juggle both aspects of his life while the city is overrun with crime.
Here’s what you need to know about the season premiere of ARROW:
Dones’t Play Well With Others. It’s the kick-off party for the city’s Anti-Crime Initiative and Oliver is busy out on Arrow duty, while Thea is covering for him at the event. While Felicity is trying to remotely disarm a bomb that Oliver finds, another vigilante in a hockey masks steps in to help. Oliver doesn’t want his help and we learn this guy has crossed paths with the Arrow before. To help dissuade him from participating further, Oliver puts an arrow through his leg. But maybe it’s time to start considering additional team members because flying solo as the Arrow means he barely has any time to actually do his new mayoral job. Meanwhile, Felicity is encouraging Oliver to put together a team and has suggestions for new members, but Oliver believes Thea and Diggle will come back. Not only that, he thinks the new vigilantes are all unqualified and would be in too much danger…especially after what happened with Laurel.
Public Relations. Thea’s big job at City Hall seems to be saving Oliver from himself. When he accuses the police of corruption at the ACI gala, she pulls him away from the reporters. Of course, he’s actually right and we see that some members of the SCPD are acting outside of the law, but she’s still concerned about his image.
A New Bad Guy. The corrupt cops aren’t the worst thing happening to Star City in the season premiere. A new villain — Tobias Church — walks into town and decides to make a name for himself by kidnapping Oliver and a few others during a statue dedication ceremony honoring Laurel/Black Canary. For a minute there you’ll be amused by Oliver fighting off his captors with his usual skills before realizing he’s just supposed to be Mayor Handsome.
Fallen from Grace. Oliver learns that Lance is back in town — he’s separated from Donna and he’s fallen off the wagon. Oliver suggests that Quentin find purpose again and help him out, but Quentin isn’t interested. Laurel’s death is still clearly an open wound for the man.
Less Restraint. Oliver is back to killing again and Thea is upset about it when she helps out a kidnapped Oliver. He says it was a mistake to take the high road before — either he has to do what’s necessary or he shouldn’t be out there at all. But Thea doesn’t want this and never wants to kill again, so she refuses to rejoin his team. We’ll also learn exactly what Laurel told Oliver before she died.
Don’t miss the season premiere of ARROW tonight (October 5) at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.